What Works

What Works

by Tara McMullin
Released November 2022
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119906070

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Book description

Set and achieve your goals in a brand-new way for a more fulfilling life

In What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting, celebrated speaker, coach, and author Tara McMullin shows you how to transform the way you set and achieve your goals to create a gentler and more fulfilling way to work toward what you truly want. In the book, you’ll explore what’s driving your pursuit of “more” (more money, more things, more prestige, etc.), set commitments to help orient your growth, and organize your actions as part of a holistic learning process.

The author’s actionable strategies and tools go beyond mere platitudes about “slowing down” and “appreciating what you have” to a concrete demonstration of how to prioritize practice over achievement. You’ll also find:

  • An antidote to our culture’s relentless pursuit of “more”
  • Ways to end the habit of constantly striving for something else at the cost of your own wellbeing
  • Strategies for ending your internal monologue of constant comparison to other people

An essential book for the productivity obsessed, unfulfilled career ladder-climbers, and overachievers who are ready to try a new approach to life and work, What Works represents a powerful and exciting new way to tackle life’s challenges.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Introduction
    1. Shoot for the Moon
    2. The Problem with Positive Thinking
    3. Achievement Is My Middle Name
    4. What Works?
    5. Notes
  6. 1 The Validation Spiral
    1. The Question of Worthiness
    2. “I'm busy!”
    3. Dejà Vu All Over Again
    4. Undercommitment
    5. How Goals Fuel the Spiral
    6. Reflection:
    7. Notes
  7. 2 Why Are We So Obsessed with Goals?
    1. Winners and Losers
    2. We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover
    3. Remember, Time Is Money
    4. You Think You're Better Than Me?
    5. Overcoming
    6. Reflection:
    7. Notes
  8. 3 Who Am I without the Doing?
    1. Who Am I?
    2. Without the Doing
    3. On the Internet
    4. Who Am I Becoming?
    5. Reflection:
    6. Notes
  9. 4 The Satisfaction of Practice in an Achievement-Oriented World
    1. What Is Practice?
    2. Thinking Interdependently
    3. Achievement-Orientation Is Learned
    4. I Can't Get No…
    5. Reflection:
    6. Notes
  10. 5 Calculating Capacity
    1. Time
    2. Physical, Mental, and Emotional Energy
    3. Money and Skills
    4. Renewable Resources
    5. Exercise:
    6. Notes
  11. 6 Growth without Striving
    1. I'm Not Lost, I'm Exploring…
    2. Goals versus Commitments
    3. Personal Values
    4. Self-Efficacy
    5. Exercise:
    6. Notes
  12. 7 Choosing Your Destination
    1. Who Do You Want to Become?
    2. Your Personal Vision
    3. Naming Your Vision
    4. Exercise:
    5. The Growth Edge
    6. Set Your Commitments
    7. Exercise:
    8. Notes
  13. 8 Choosing Your Direction
    1. Make Your Map
    2. Wanting to Change Is Only the First Step
    3. Pursuing a Strategy is Practice
    4. Notes
  14. 9 Buying In
    1. Buying In
    2. Let Go of Discipline
    3. Accountability and Motivation
    4. Cultivating Buy-In
    5. Reflection:
    6. Notes
  15. 10 Planning Projects
    1. Time to Brainstorm
    2. Choose Your Projects
    3. Next Steps
    4. Exercise:
    5. Closed Loop Projects
    6. Open Loop Projects
    7. Routine Projects
    8. Make Your Plan
    9. Notes
  16. 11 Follow-Through, Self-Sabotage, Margin
    1. Planning as a Feedback Loop
    2. Following Through
    3. Planner, Know Thyself
    4. Self-Sabotage and Complicit Suffering
    5. Leave Room for Margin
    6. Reflection:
    7. Notes
  17. Conclusion
    1. So What Works?
    2. Note
  18. Acknowledgments
  19. About the Author
  20. Index
  21. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: What Works
  • Author(s): Tara McMullin
  • Release date: November 2022
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119906070