Book Review: "48 Days to the Work You Love"

48 Days to the Work You Love was written by Dan Miller and it changed my life. I heard about the book from my husband, who is a huge follower of Dave Ramsey. The book was recommended on Ramsey's radio show.

If any of you have ever read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, you learned that the purpose of life is to use the gifts that God gave you to serve others. I think that is a great message. However, when I finished reading it, I was no closer to my purpose than I was before. The reason? Because I didn't know what my gifts were. I am not musically inclined, or an artist, and I am a complete failure at sports. Therefore, I felt that I must be untalented and have nothing to offer.

In the book 48 Days to the Work You Love, Dan Miller takes the concept of The Purpose Driven Life about 4 steps further. There are questions and action items at the end of each chapter, along with a timeline for you to follow. At the beginning of the book, you are asked to commit to writing down the answers to these questions and following through on the action items. By writing down my answers, it helped me to see patterns in my life that I maybe would not have seen if I had just thought about the answers.

This book not only helped me discover my gifts, but my personality traits and activities that I enjoy doing. After I had uncovered these little gems that had eluded me most of my life, this book guided me to also determine how I might use my natural talents, personality traits, and things I enjoy doing to help other people. It then led me to recognize how I can make a living helping other people.

Now, discovering your work life goal is only part of this book. It also discusses the importance of having balance in all of the areas of your life and how your job fits into all of that. The areas of balance are financial, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual. Lastly, most of the second half of the book is an action plan on how to make your purpose a reality. It discusses tips on writing your resume and getting it to the right people, job interview skills, advice on starting your own business, and ways to learn to love where you are right now.

In summary, if you are feeling uncomfortable in your current work, realize that it may be what Miller calls "divine discontent," and that there may be a reason that you are unhappy. Maybe God wants you to be using your true gifts somewhere else. Maybe He wants you to be using them right where you are but in a different way. You owe it to yourself, to Him, and to the people you surround yourself with every day to find out.