Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life

Career coach Hellerer’s savvy first book is aimed at “underfulfilled overachievers” who are living “great-on-paper lives... but still find themselves secretly dissatisfied.” After obtaining a prestigious position at Google by age 29, the author was riddled with anxiety about her inability to appreciate her success. Upon quitting, she set out to discover “what the fuck I was meant to do with my life” and found fulfillment as a life coach. Drawing lessons from her own experience, she encourages readers to move in their “own personal right direction” without worrying about the outcome. To do so, they must strip fear-based thoughts away from their “true self,” which she describes as a type of intuition that “lives in the body” as “a sense of warmth and alignment.” As an example of how accessing one’s true self can help with decision-making, she describes how a medical student deciding between specialties found that imagining a future in neurosurgery made her “feel hot and nauseous,” while psychiatry “resonated in her body.” Throughout, Hellerer debunks myths that undergird a success-driven society, including that difficulty has inherent moral value (“There’s no gold star or fulfillment bonus for extra struggle”), while outlining a positive, individual-focused approach that prioritizes happiness over certainty. It’s a smart, refreshing look at what it means to build a satisfying life. (Sept.)