Angie Dixon's Books

Your Heart's Work: How to Get the Perfect Job . . . Even in a Bad Economy

This is not your typical career guide. I do cover résumés and cover letters, of course, but I devote far more time to market research and positioning yourself as the solution to employers’ problems.

So in that sense, Your Heart’s Work is a self‐promotion guide.

In another sense, it’s all about building the life you dream of, and finding, as the title says, your heart’s work.

It’s a personal development guide, in that sense. And I hope it is the right amount of each of these things for you.

This is not a static book. You’ll find exercises and action steps at the end of each chapter. Working through these will help you get the most out of the guide and insure that you really get what you’re after: Your Heart’s Work.

And you won’t go through this alone; I’ve included a cast of characters to advise you. Each is a composite of people I have written résumés for, employers I have worked with, and a little bit of myself, in some cases. These “avatars,” as I call them, help me illustrate the points I’m making. While they are real people, they’re played by actors in this book.

Dear Seeker,

I have spent twenty years of my life seeking the One Way to live which would bring everlasting happiness, fortune and success.

I stopped reading. “Ma’am,” I said, “This isn’t one of those get rich quick schemes, is it?”

“Keep reading.”

So I did.

I discovered that seeking financial reward, seeking happiness, seeking love, seeking peace, seeking happily ever after, was the surest way never to find them.

Instead, I learned, from many wise teachers and from the lives of many contented and spiritually fulfilled people, that life is a road, and that building the correct foundation for that road is the only way to create a worthwhile life.

Seeker, if you are still reading, I will show you the eleven disciplines, the foundation of a full and happy life. Each discipline is a block in the foundation. As you read the pages, arrange the blocks. When finished you will have your life’s foundation. But only if you build this same foundation in your own life.

Tuesday Afternoon

Dear Carrie,
This afternoon I’m waiting for a letter from the art organization I applied to.

I’m very excited about the prospect of getting into this prestigious organization
as a photographer. But I only told a couple of people, including your mom, that
I was applying.

I didn’t want to hear about how difficult it is to get in, how few photographers they have, or how unlikely it is that I will make it. I didn’t want to hear “Don’t get your hopes up.” In fact, I wanted to get my hopes up.

I think we need to get our hopes up.

When we constantly live expecting the worst, that’s usually what we get. Don’t expect anything, I learned at a young age, and I didn’t get much.

Get your hopes up every time you have a chance. You’re going to be disappointed from time to time, but I have never regretted getting my hopes up, even when what I was believing for didn’t happen.

It’s good to have dreams and aspirations. What fun would it be to go around hinking nothing good ever happens? I know from experience: Not much.

Let me learn that lesson for you. Get your hopes up.

Love,

Angie