Description
In the 1980s, professionals embraced the notion of a fast track as the surest path to success. Today, setting the pace for the 1990s is a new breed of career trendsetters: downshifters, who are taking control of their careers rather than allowing their careers to control them. These professionals are not dropouts. They are not giving up the intellectual, emotional and financial rewards of professional success. Instead, they are learning to place limits on their careers in order to devote more time to their families, communities and their own needs beyond work.
Business journalist Amy Saltzman is the first to look at the entire downshifting phenomenon. She offers an eye-opening overview of how our exhausting drive to succeed-as individuals and as a society-has developed, and how our attitudes toward work and leisure are changing. Saltzman reveals some startling statistics: While the average professional's work week has increased by approximately ten hours since the mid-1970s, a majority of Americans would be willing to take a salary cut if it meant they could have more family and personal time.
Clearly, more professionals than ever before are searching for ways to lead more balanced lives. Here, Saltzman identifies the five innovative "downshifting" strategies, and presents role models for each:
โข Back-trackers-who choose self-demotion in order to have more time and less stress.
โข Plateauers-who intentionally stay in place and in control by turning down promotions.
โข Career-shifters-who transfer their skills to less pressured fields.
โข Self-employers-who go solo for more control over work hours and location.
โข Urban Escapees-who opt for more hospitable, less stressful environments.
ISBN:9780060165796
