How Will You Measure Your Life?

by Clayton M. Christensen , Karen Dillon , James Allworth

Number of pages: 240

Publisher: Harper Business

BBB Library: Personal Success

ISBN: 978-0062102416



About the Authors

Clayton M. Christensen : is an American scholar, educator, author, business consultant, and religious leader,

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Karen Dillon : Karen Dillon is the former editor of Harvard Business Review magazine

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James Allworth : A native of Australia, James Allworth is a Fellow at the

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Editorial Review

From the world’s leading thinker on innovation and New York Times bestselling author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen, comes an unconventional book of inspiration and wisdom for achieving a fulfilling life. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma, notably the only business book that Apple’s Steve Jobs said “deeply influenced” him, is widely recognized as one of the most significant business books ever published. Now, in the tradition of Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture and Anna Quindlen’s A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Christensen’s How Will You Measure Your Life is with a book of lucid observations and penetrating insights designed to help any reader—student or teacher, mid-career professional or retiree, parent or child—forge their own paths to fulfillment.

Book Reviews

“A highly engaging and intensely revealing work….Spiritual without being preachy, this work is especially relevant for young people embarking on their career, but also useful for anyone who wants to live a more meaningful life in accordance with their values.” - Publishers Weekly

“Well researched and thought through material.”- Forbes

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Wisdom to Share

It’s impossible to have a meaningful conversation about happiness without understanding what makes each of us tick. When we find ourselves stuck in unhappy careers—and even unhappy lives—it is often the result of a fundamental misunderstanding of what really motivates us.

True motivation is getting people to do something because they want to do it. This type of motivation continues in good times and in bad.

It’s possible to love your job and hate it at the same time.

The opposite of job dissatisfaction isn’t job satisfaction, but rather the absence of job dissatisfaction.

Feelings that you are making a meaningful contribution to work arise from intrinsic conditions of the work itself. Motivation is much less about external prodding of stimulation, and much more about what’s inside of you, and inside of your work.

As soon as you find yourself focusing on the tangible aspects of your job, you are at risk of constantly chasing a mirage. The next pay raise, you think, will be the one that finally makes you happy. It’s a hopeless quest.

Change can often be difficult, and it will probably seem easier to just stick with what you are already doing. That thinking can be dangerous. You’re only kicking that can down the road, and you risk waking up one day, years later, looking into the mirror, asking yourself: “What am I doing with my life?”

How you allocate your resources is where the rubber meets the road.

If the decision you make about where you invest your blood, sweat, and tears are not consistent with the person you aspire to be, you’ll never become that person.

The person you are at work and the amount of time you spend there will impact the person you are outside of work with your family and close friends. Try as you might, it’s very hard to wall off different parts of your life.

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