I don’t think that I’m the target market for this book. I can see how it might be useful to some people – if you’re really unhappy and dissatisfied in your career, and not sure how to change things to make your career into something that you’re more satisfied with, I can see how this would be helpful.
I’m really lucky in that I like my job – the adults and scholars I work with are wonderful, and I enjoy the type of work that I do. I feel challenged in my current role, and I want to advance in my field. I can see myself working in school operations in the long term – the specific title and responsibilities I have will probably change over time, but I really like this work.
In “The Genius Habit”, Laura Garnett makes the case that regularly reflecting about your performance at work, using the kind of template that she uses with career coaching clients, is the key to being happier with your work and with your career.
I don’t think she’s wrong – I think that reflecting about your career (and also your life in general) is helpful, and I think that taking time on a regular basis to look at where you are and decide to keep going in that same direction or to pivot makes good sense. I just don’t think that using her exact template for reflecting is that critical, and I don’t think that her specific performance tracker is terribly earth shattering. I think there’s a real benefit in figuring out for yourself what type of reflection works best for you, and finding a form of evaluating that fits your values and your life.