Product Description

This new edition of the classic bestseller has been revised and expanded to help readers of all ages—from new college graduates to recent retirees—develop a practical strategy for achieving their own vision of the good life, elegantly defined by the authors as "living in the place I belong, with the people I love, doing the right work, on purpose." Leider and Shapiro use stories, personal examples, and innovative exercises to help readers evaluate the burdens they carry and decide which help them live well and which merely weigh them down. This new edition draws upon a decade of additional research to provide new strategies for coordinating work, relationships, place, and purpose and includes several versions of the self-assessment inventories that are directed toward "repackers" at different stages of life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37879 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From the Publisher
"Full of the right questions rather than the wrong answers, Repacking Your Bags will help you figure out where you want to go in your life and what you really need for the journey."—Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline

"Leider and Shapiro help us to see how many extra burdens we’ve been carrying around and how to lighten our load."—Gloria Steinem

About the Author
Richard J. Leider is a founding partner of The Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm in Minneapolis. He is the author of The Power of Purpose, Life-Skills: Taking Charge of Your Personal and Professional Growth, and The Inventurers: Excursions in Life and Career Renewal.

David A. Shapiro is Education Director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children and author of Choosing the Right Thing to Do. Leider and Shapiro are the coauthors of Whistle While You Work.

Customer Reviews

Thinking about your baggage?
Simply put, this book is about considering the choices you've made in life, and making decision based on this idea: "Live in the place you belong, with the people you love, doing the right work, on purpose."

Leider and Shapiro use the metaphor of repacking your bags for the journey ahead, mindfully considering what you need to carry with you for your vision of a happy, joyful, purposeful life, and what you can unpack and leave behind.

The book contains some inspirational stories, and a number of soul searching exercises. I was challenged by some exercises, which promote dialogue with others as part of the process. Figuring out a life path can be easier with the help of others.

Why only three stars? I grew weary of the repacking metaphor, found some exercises too simplistic to aid me, and lost interest once the focus moved on past finding purpose (about 1/2 the book) to other related topics. I give the parts that spoke to me five stars, and less to the rest of the book.

Highly Readable
This book dares you to have a "Time Out" from the busines of everyday and examine your life. It reminds you that life is a journey and as such, you have to continually pack and repack to lighten your load. Although it caters more to couples, everyone can benefit from it. This is a must read for someone who's standing at the crossroads of life. The exercises at the end of every chapter are very helpful. Read it, it might help you to throw away some unwanted stuff in your life.

And Then What?
Although I was excited by the premise of Repacking Your Bags, I didn't feel that it lived uop to my expectations. The book is well-written and has interesting examples of people making life changes, but somehow the process never becomes completely clear. Perhaps there's not enough in there about how to unpack the bags and how to decide what to leave behind. Perhaps there's comething amiss in the organization. Despite some excellent information, this just never comes to gethe as a process.