Books
Life is work, and work is life. Amanda has never been able to separate those things (and no longer tries!) She understands now that when we improve the quality of our work, we improve the quality of our lives. Amanda has held 18 different jobs in her 40+ years, and she's been good at a couple of them. She's also been fired from a couple of them, and now she gets it. The joy (or the lack of joy) is not in the job - it is in us.
In her first book, Wake Up to a Happier Life, published in 2007 by Shadow Mountain, Amanda talks about finding your soul's work, what the Buddhists call your "right livelihood." Whether you quit your job tomorrow, in five years, or never, there are tools we can all use to have more joy in our work. Amanda tells us we begin where we are, by giving away whatever we crave. So, if we want appreciation for our work ("Don't they know they'd have to hire 3 people to replace me?"), we appreciate people. If we want respect ("Nobody gets my contribution around here. This place would shut down without me!"), then we begin with respecting people. It is Amanda's greatest wish that her first book will encourage the disguntled worker (or even just the bored one), lighten the heart of the single mom who is struggling to do it all, give a laugh to the avid reader who is just seeing what she has to say. The book is available online in hardcover or read by Amanda on CD at http://www.deseretbook.com.
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Amanda's second book, Change It Up, has just been released. http://www.deseretbook.com. It's a book about looking at change differently, perhaps in a way that takes some of the fear out of it. It's a book that speaks to the challenges of our time, both personally and professionally. Amanda noticed that people, despite what they may say, actually like change - at least change they choose. They love a new hair style, a new living room. They love the warmth of spring and new car smell. So why don't they enjoy other changes that may be pleasurable, but that they didn't select? Amanda looks at changes large and small, welcome and dreaded, in this hands-on book.