Book Review: “No More Mondays” by Dan Miller

With a subtitle like “Fire Yourself and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work,” I knew as soon as I saw it that No More Mondays was not your ordinary career guidance book.  Of course, as a regular listener to author Dan Miller’s 48 Days podcast for several months, I should not have expected anything less.

The basic premise behind No More Mondays is that your work should not just function as something you do between weekends.  The “Thank God it’s Friday, Oh God it’s Monday” mindset that plagues so many is simply not healthy, and it is no way to spend the majority of the conscious hours in your life!

The career advice in this book is not as brazen and abrupt as the subtitle may imply.  Dan Miller does not suggest that you “fire yourself” immediately and live among the unemployed (although I suppose you could then use the tools found in his previous bestseller 48 Days To The Work You Love).  Instead, he is simply stressing that you are in control of your career and your life, and it is up to you to escape the rut you may find yourself in to pursue truly fulfilling work.

No More Mondays is filled with inspirational quotes and good general guidance, but it doesn’t stop there.  Along with many real-life examples of those that have escaped “Cubeville” to find work with a passion, many historic and even childhood metaphors are used to make key points.

One of my favorite lines from the book recalls a classic Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown complains to Linus that his lunch is the same every day.  When Linus asks Charlie who makes his lunch, Charlie Brown replies “I do.”  If you want different  results, you must do something differently.

But please do not get the impression that this career-guidance book is simply 253 pages of fluff and generalizations.  Far from it!  Dan Miller provides a myriad of practical, real-life examples of unique and fulfilling work.  And he provides tools for helping you to find your personal vocation (or calling) in life.

At first glance, it may seem like the entirety of No More Mondays is devoted to entrepreneurship, consulting, inventing or online business opportunities.  And while these types of work are covered thoroughly, the traditional model of work is discussed in detail as well.  The idea is not necessarily to leave your 9-to-5 job, but to revolutionize your job to ensure you are fulfilling your life’s passion with your work.

Why a Review of No More Mondays Here at Engaged Marriage?

So, I obviously enjoyed this book.  If you haven’t read the “About” section of Engaged Marriage, you may assume that No More Mondays must have transformed me into an internet marketer or a jet-setting freelancer.  Far from it.  I am an engineer with a fairly traditional work model.  Heck, I’m married to a teacher!

So, why would I write about this book, especially on a website aimed at improving marriages?  First and foremost, our careers and our finances have a huge impact on our quality of life and our relationship with our spouse (and others).  While I enjoy my “day job,” I know there are many others reading this who truly would benefit by “firing themselves” and pursuing a new direction in their career.  And their marriages would certainly be strengthened as a result of their improved mood, sense of fulfillment and financial success.

However, the real reason that No More Mondays holds such a special place in my heart is because it was this book that led me to create Engaged Marriage!  During a vacation with my wife a few months back, I felt a real calling to do something creative with my life (some “right brain” stuff to balance out all of my “left brain” engineering work).  I picked up No More Mondays to read on the beach in Cancun, and it truly changed my life and the paradigm through which I view work and life.

The specific idea of a marriage website was not quite formed in my head by the time we flew back home.  But the wheels were turning and I experienced the greatest flood of inspiration and creative thought that I can recall in my entire life.  As I spent more time thinking it over and clarifying where my real passions in life are found, I knew that I needed to do something to help others (and my wife and I) experience an awesome marriage.  And I thought that a website would be the perfect vehicle to engage a wide audience of those who shared my desire to live a fulfilling life with the ones they love.

It may be obvious, but I highly recommend that you read No More Mondays.  I would rate it a 9/10 on the EM Awesomeness Scale.

If you would like to buy your own copy, just click on any of the links in this post and you’ll be taken to Dan Miller’s site where you can pick it up at the best possible price.  He even offers autographed copies and extra goodies like electronic versions at no extra charge.  After you have given it a read (or two), please provide a comment on this post and let me and the readers know what you think!


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Tags: Book Review, Career

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