The Success Trap: Why Good People Stay in Jobs They Don't Like and How to Break Free

by Amina Aitsi-Selmi

Overview

WINNER: Business Book Awards 2021 - Personal Development & Wellbeing

Do you feel trapped in a toxic work culture? Or stuck in a job you're great at... but that you don't actually like? Why do good people stay in bad jobs for so long? The Success Trap answers all these questions - and shows you what to do about it.

An estimated 80% of individuals in the western workforce want to change job - if you're one of them, then this book will enable you to understand why, help you reconnect with what's really important to you, and provide practical tips and tools to empower you to take control of your own career.

Written by specialist coach and consultant Dr Amina Aitsi-Selmi, this book builds on her years of experience as a physician, in healthcare policy, and coaching and consulting with hundreds of individuals and organizations. Combining her personal expertise with scientific research - including Google's Project Aristotle and the Global Happiness Council's Workplace Wellbeing report - it provides insights and useful takeaways you can use in your own work life. Don't stay stuck in a job you hate - let this book help you escape The Success Trap.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789665642
Publisher:	Kogan Page, Ltd.
Publication date:	12/29/2020
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	0.55(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Dr Amina Aitsi-Selmi M.D. Ph.D. is the Founder and Managing Director of Next Generation Coaching & Consulting Ltd. She works with individuals and companies who want to understand how best to work and lead in the 21st century, including clients from organizations such as the NHS, the BBC, the World Health Organisation, The Boston Consulting Group and the Royal Air Force. With over 20 years' experience, she's dedicated her career to helping people create healthy lives and environments; first as a physician, then as a health policy expert and now as a specialist consultant and coach.

Table of Contents

* Section - 00: Introduction; * Section - ONE: THE SUCCESS Trap - why people stay in jobs they don’t like; * Section - 01: The challenge of work in the 21st century; * Section - 02: The makings of a career crisis; * Section - 03: The High Achiever Paradox, imposter syndrome and other work identity traps; * Section - TWO: BREAKING FREE from the Success Trap; * Section - 04: Goal-driven versus creative flow; * Section - 05: Slow down to speed up; * Section - 06: Unlearn your limiting beliefs; * Section - THREE: THRIVING OUTSIDE the trap; * Section - 07: Practical freedom – tools to reconnect, respond and receive; * Section - 08: Turning uncertainty into opportunity; * Section - 09: From the employee-expert mindset to the entrepreneur-leader mindset; * Section - 10: Work cultures that liberate; * Section - 11: Conclusion – ‘It always appears impossible until it’s done’; * Section - 12: Bibliography; * Section - 13: Index

Editorial Reviews

"Amina Aitsi-Selmi has written a timely, deep and practical book. The illusion of stability and predictability is disappearing fast. We will all make many career choices in our lives. She explains how to make those choices by uncovering your individual answers to four fundamental questions: who are you, what do you value, what do you want and what do you love? Answering these questions, and breaking habits of thought and behaviour, creates freedom and awareness. You travel beyond fear of change or goal addiction to work that is fulfilling and meaningful, and Amina is your wise guide."

Dr Stephen Burt

"Even for those not blessed with a grounding dose of self-doubt, the career success that seems for a while only to breed success can suddenly also bring burnout, a loss of the creative urge or a reluctance to strike out in new directions. By helping you through this high-achiever paradox, Amina Aitsi-Selmi can show you how to rekindle that sense of true purpose that gets the best out of you and all those who work around you."

Edwina Moreton OBE

"As a society and as individuals we should want more from our working lives. Amina Aitsi-Selmi's insights, gathered from many years of coaching, help us understand why we accept less than we should and how we might go about making our work an integral part of living the best life we can."

Matthew Taylor

"I believe this book provides an opportunity to reflect on how we can all engage to work together to provide a better future in a volatile, uncertain and complex time."

Professor Virginia Murray FRCP

"Long-term achievement means finding long-term behaviours that will deliver success. Amina Aitsi-Selmi's considered thoughts start with science to embrace her extensive coaching experience. If you want to change your life, you need to change yourself, and this book will show you how."

Alderman and Sheriff of the City of London Professor Michael Mainelli

"The Success Trap is a superb guide on how to overcome fear and embrace the entrepreneurial spirit within all of us. The principles in this book enable you to navigate career choices, discover passions and make the impossible possible. Learn to overcome the self-doubt plaguing your mind and listen to the maddening little voice in your head that says, 'What's really stopping me? Why wait for others to capitalize on my idea?' Only then can you begin your first steps towards making your dreams come true."

Michael Zhou

"Success and happiness are not the same thing. Yet despite this, many people stay in superficially successful but deeply unfulfilling jobs that they don't like. Aitsi-Selmi addresses this paradox, writing with compassion and insight into the modern world of work. Everyone who has ever worried about whether they are happy at work will find something valuable in this book, which provides an eminently practical approach to escaping the Success Trap and living a happier and more fulfilled life."

Professor Geraint Rees FMedSci

"This is a timely and much needed book, especially now that the old world of work is being recalibrated and new ways of working are emerging. Toxic workplaces will not be able to survive and many people will want to break free to work at humane workplaces or work for themselves. I warmly welcome this book."

Professor Vlatka Hlupic

"Thanks to the fear of change, it can be agonizing for high achievers to move on from 'good' jobs that no longer feel fulfilling: it means choosing uncertainty and growth over the illusion of safety. But it's the path to a life of greater meaning and joy - and in this wise and generous book, Amina Aitsi-Selmi provides all the encouragement and practical guidance required for making the shift."

Oliver Burkeman

"In a time of high uncertainty, we have to rethink how we approach our life and our careers. The Success Trap provides valuable insights into how we can all make smart and aligned career (and life) choices in a fast-changing world."

Dr Christian Busch