“This is a rare book: both profound and useful” - Seth Godin
Life-changing guide to a more fulfilling work life, inspired by cultures and companies around the globe
If you're feeling overworked, disengaged or apprehensive about the future of work or your career path, Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better is the perfect guide to question the way you think about your workplace and put yourself on a track to a more fulfilling life. Written by Tim Duggan, media entrepreneur and author, who has helped thousands of individuals create their ideal lives through his renowned workshops, this book takes readers around the world to see how different cultures interact with work, revealing how we can implement new ideas to improve our own approach.
In this book, readers will learn:
- Why reversing your thinking about work can have such an oversized impact using the three things you need to live a fulfilling life right now
- How to easily reset your life-work balance to use tools like remote, hybrid and flexible work properly
- What leading research says about work and happiness and how to put theory into action
Entertaining, inspiring and highly practical, Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all individuals who are seeking to not just tolerate work, but love what they do.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The end 1
Harsh truths 5
Wrong direction 9
A better way 13
Default mode 16
Work Backwards 19
Life
The games we play 24
A life worth living 29
We can’t unsee 37
Make life work 42
Work Backwards Step 1: Create a MAP
Meaning 50
Meaning at work 54
Job crafting 58
Meaning outside work 62
Purpose vs meaning 64
Anchors 67
Know your anchors 70
Anchoring yourself 72
Priorities 78
Life-work balance 82
Full circle 84
Coming full circle 99
IRL Exercises: Life 102
Money
Happy go lucky 120
Work-and-spend cycle 124
Work Backwards Step 2: Know your ‘enough’
Handy man 134
Money and happiness 138
Backwards Budget 141
IRL Exercises: Money 148
Work
Ceiling cracks 156
1. We are overworked 161
2. We are disengaged 163
3. We are apprehensive 166
Myths and realities 171
Your future of work 177
Work Backwards Step 3: Use the right tools
The upside-down swan 180
Reframing the tools 188
Tool: Remote working 190
Tool: Hybrid working 200
Tool: Flexible working 211
Tool: Four-day work week 221
Tool: Career breaks 231
Tool: Sabbath time 241
Tool: Artificial intelligence 247
Tool: Better meetings 254
IRL Exercises: Work 259
Conclusion: The beginning 269
Endnotes 273
Acknowledgements 289
About the Author 291
Index 293
