Have you ever been there? That spot.
You know the one.
The place where you wish you could just start again.
The moment when the walls cave in and you realize that where you are isn’t where you want to be.
You want a do over.
A restart.
That’s exactly where author Jon Acuff was when he left working with Dave Ramsey, a success financial and leadership guru, to pursue a career on his own as an author. In his newest book Do Over, Jon describes what it takes to invest in a “career savings account”. These are the relationships, skills, character, and tools that you will need to successfully accomplish a “do over”.
I listened to this audiobook and the thing I loved the most was that Jon makes me believe in myself. I’m actually in a season of newness in my career. I’ve shifted into a role that is different that what I’ve been doing for some time now. It feels very much like a “do over” and the tools I learned in this book will be revisited often. I’ve already started re-listening to Do Over with a pen and notebook open to take notes and draw my own graphs and charts.
I would recommend getting the hard copy of this book vs the audiobook. Jon often references charts and sketches that are obviously in the book that are left to the imagination when simply listening.
From Jon Acuff
It took me sixteen years to write this book. That breaks down to a brisk twelve words per day. But it wasn’t the writing that took so long. . . . It was the working.
I had to work at big companies and small companies. I had to get hired and fired several times. I had to find my dream job, then walk away from it. But after all that, I can now say the following with absolute certainty:
You already have everything you need for an amazing career. In fact, you’ve had it since day one.
Starting on the first day you got paid to scoop ice cream or restock shelves, you’ve had the chance to develop the four elements all great careers have in common: relationships, skills, character, and hustle. You already have each of those, to one degree or another.
Now it’s time to amplify them and apply them in a new way, creating a Career Savings Account™. This unique approach will give you the power to call a Do Over—whether you’re twenty-two, forty-two, or sixty-two. You’ll have the resources to reinvent your work and get unstuck. You’ll even rescue your Mondays as you discover how to work toward the job you’ve always wanted!
Just as a bank account protects you during a financial crunch, a Career Savings Account™ protects you during a career crunch. You need a CSA because you’ll eventually face at least one of these major transitions:
- You will hit a Career Ceiling and get stuck, requiring sharp skills to free yourself.
- You will experience a Career Bump and unexpectedly lose your job, requiring strong relationships to survive.
- You will make a Career Jump to a new role, requiring solid character to push through uncertainty and chaos.
- You will get a surprise Career Opportunity, requiring dedicated hustle to take advantage of it.
It took me sixteen years to figure out how to call a Do Over on my career. Please don’t wait sixteen more seconds before starting yours.
