Worried About Your Career? 5 New Books Expand What Is Possible

You’re not a telemarketer. Your goal isn’t to sell anyone on your life choices.

In an uncertain economy with high inflation and low job prospects, it’s understandable to be worried about your career. Even if you have a job but your career isn’t where you want it to be, you might second-guess your life choices. This is where the right book – with new information or inspiration – can help.

Here are five new books to help you escape a rut and expand what is possible:

1. Retire Often by Jillian Johnsrud

Every seven years, we take a whole year off. We would only have to set aside an extra 10 or 15% a year to cover our costs.

The thesis of Retire Often is that sabbaticals of one month or longer (Johnsrud calls them ‘mini-retirements’) are important to your career and life and more accessible than you think. Johnsrud makes a strong case for why mini-retirements give you a boost (e.g., to level up skills, to go after a passion project, to refresh and recharge) and provides detailed and comprehensive advice on how to plan, pay for, negotiate and even brand your time off. The negotiation and branding advice make Retire Often a worthy addition to your career reference library. Beyond the excellent tactics shared, the book provides encouragement and inspiration to think unconventionally.

2. The Accidental Business Nomad by Kyle D. Hegarty

It’s not what you say, it’s how you are perceived

If mini-retirements get you dreaming about travel (or you’re already sold on an international career), then The Accidental Business Nomad will give you the motivational boost to go for it. Hegarty details his own extensive experience starting, growing and shuttering multiple businesses in Asia. In addition to the fun firsthand accounts, Hegarty provides useful advice on learning about and transitioning into different cultures. If you haven’t yet thought about going abroad yourself, this book may inspire you to expand your career globally.

3. Primetime by Margie Lachman

The bottom line: You can take control of the way you see life in the middle. And what you expect to happen plays an important role in the way things actually turn out. Those who believe they are in control of their lives are happier, healthier, and less likely to suffer cognitive declines.

While also about learning and transitioning, Primetime focuses on the age transition, specifically midlife, which Lachman broadly describes as ages 30-70. Lachman is a psychology professor and Director of the Lifespan Lab at Brandeis University. The book is not at all a dry, academic text, though it does feature statistics, surveys and research studies. Along with the underlying evidence, Lachman shares interesting anecdotes of midlife thrivers and provides thoughtful exercises and checklists to help you expand what’s possible for your middle years.

4. They All Came To Barneys by Gene Pressman

Barneys had seen me through my twenties, my thirties, and most of my forties; marriage; two kids; the deaths of my grandfather and my father; more money than I could have imagined and more twists of fate than I’d wish on my worst enemy. Now my marriage was over, Barneys was in the rearview mirror, and I was knocking at the door of a very young fifty.

While not a traditional career advice book, They All Came To Barneys is a riveting business biography for entrepreneurs, aspiring business owners, family offices, NYC historians, and industry watchers of retail, fashion, luxury and advertising. Pressman shares the growth of Barneys from the men’s clothing store founded by Pressman’s grandfather to the expansion into women’s, children’s, and high fashion in the second and third generations. Pressman also covers Barneys’ expansion across the US and internationally, leading to its bankruptcy.

Along with informative business anecdotes about merchandising, marketing and retail strategy and operations, Pressman gets personal about growing up in a family business, 1970s NYC disco culture, and numerous celebrity sightings (e.g., working with Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell before they were supermodels, introducing young designers from Europe and Asia to NY). This is a decade-spanning book but still a breezy read. The sheer expansiveness of the story stretches what’s possible in an individual career.

5. The Laughter Factor by Adam Christing

Humor isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the missing link for leaders. Laughter skips the formalities and says, “I see you. I get you. I like you.”

In a tough job market, we need to laugh more than ever, making The Laughter Factor an excellent choice for right now. Filled with jokes, wordplay and other humorous examples, the book also offers important leadership advice. Its subtitle is “The 5 Humor Tactics to Link, Lift, and Lead”, and Christing delivers with five different ways to use humor to improve collaboration, communication and motivation, increasing performance and potential for you and your team.