Do Over, by Jon Acuff

Jon Acuff is a writer, entrepreneur, and sometimes comedian who has found his niche telling people how they can make the most of their careers and work life.  Do Over: Make Today the First Day of Your New Career explains itself in the title, but, in my view, didn't live up to the promise of the cover.

Acuff emphasizes building your career savings account: relationships plus skills plus character, all multiplied by hustle.  When a job change happens, whether by one's own choice or by someone else's, it helps to have the CSA full of lots of credit. 

This alone is a great policy.  Develop and maintain great relationships.  Work on your skills and acquire new ones.  Keep your character and work ethic exemplary.  And in the midst of it all, hustle, work your tail off.  This is great advice for that new graduate in his first job, the near-retiree, or anyone in between. 

But the point of Do Over, moving to a new career and all, is a whole other animal.  For Acuff, who's a creative writer with an entrepreneurial bent, jumping from company to company to his own deal makes sense, for him.  But people with more specific skills and training, or with more general administrative skills, I think this is a miss.  The whole time I was reading, I was thinking, yeah, this isn't for me, or for most anyone else I know.

He's a funny guy, and fun to read, and certainly the idea of the career savings account is solid.  But for someone looking for "next steps" to a new job or career, he or she might want to look elsewhere.