Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life

Written by Jane Pauley

Narrated by Jane Pauley

Jane Pauley, “America’s baby boomer” (Tom Brokaw), offers an inspirational guidebook “chockablock with keen insights for career transitions…Compelling” (USA TODAY).

In 2014, every baby boomer will have reached the milestone age of fifty. For most, it’s not an end, but the beginning of something new. Research has shown that people in their fifties are more vital now than they were only ten years ago. They’re saying, “I’m game, I’m up for it, I want to do more.” Jane Pauley, one of America’s most beloved and trusted broadcast journalists, offers humor and insight about the journey forward. The New York Times bestseller Your Life Calling is a fresh look at ideas that have been simmering since boomers first entered midlife with a different perspective on the future than any generation before: that there was more to come—and perhaps the best of all.

Jane is not an advice giver but a storyteller. Here she tells her own and introduces readers to the fascinating people she has featured on her award-winning Today show segment, “Life Reimagined Today.” You’ll meet Betsy McCarthy, who traded in her executive briefcase for knitting needles; Gid Pool, who launched a career as a stand-up comic; Richard Rittmaster, who joined the National Guard Chaplain Corps; Trudy Lundgren, who took her home on the road in an RV; Paulie Gee, who opened a successful pizzeria in Brooklyn; and many more.

“Jane Pauley is a wonderful guide to all the different ways you can open new doors in life, many of which lead to unexpected places. She shows with humor and insight why the journey to reinvention can come from all kinds of places and produce all kinds of joys” (Michael J. Fox). Your Life Calling is delightful, compelling, and motivating for anyone asking “What am I going to do with my supersized life?”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jan 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781442367777

Jane Pauley

Jane Pauley has been a familiar face on TV for more than thirty years. She served as cohost of Today from 1976 to 1989, anchored Dateline NBC for eleven years, and in 2004 became the host of her own daytime program, The Jane Pauley Show. Her memoir, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue, was a New York Times bestseller. She lives with her husband, Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, in New York City.

Reviews for Your Life Calling

[rvhatha · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I enjoyed this book and found it helpful and inspirational, it wasn't what I was expecting: it's really a series of loosely-connected vignettes about people who've reinvented themselves in middle age. While their stories are varied and intriguing, there's not a lot else going on here. In other words, if you're looking for a self-help book or a "how-to" guide to changing careers, this isn't either of those things. What's interesting about reading it, though, is discovering the radically different paths and approaches the featured individuals took to their reinvention. That's also what's most reassuring here: the realization that there isn't a "secret" to figuring out what's next on your journey, or a single way to get there. Also, I have to say that while I appreciate Jane Pauley's voice here, I got a little tired of hearing about her *own* transformations. They were remarkable and inspirational, but at times they overwhelmed the other people's stories, and sometimes they went off on tangents that seemed irrelevant (for example, do we really needs tips about staging your house when it's on the market?).Nevertheless, I recommend this to anyone who's pondering the questions that middle age prompts: is this all? What will my legacy be? What do I really want to do with the remaining third of my life?

[undermyappletree · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I never looked toward my later years as “retirement” – I bristle at the word. Instead, I looked forward to the day when I could work fewer hours, accept less pay and do more satisfying work. I thought that day would be 10 years in the future. I wasn’t planning on the company I worked for closing their doors leaving me unemployed. A disaster or an opportunity? I wasn’t sure. This book came along at the right time for me.I now believe it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. The problem is momentum – we tend to keep doing whatever we are doing because change can be unsettling or impractical. As a member of the baby boom generation, and one who had the same career for 20 years, I am the target market for this book, a series of inspiration stories. These are people who accepted the challenge to change their careers after many years of working in a field that was not giving them the satisfaction they needed.This is not a self-help book. It doesn’t tell you how to change but instead inspires you to look beyond what you are doing now. What did you love to do? Your passions, your hobbies? Sometimes it takes the first half of your life to realize what you really have a passion for and when you do it, it will not feel like working.She acknowledges that not everyone will be able to quit their job at age 55 and reinvent themselves. Many of the people she writes about are already retired or had sufficient income to retire early. But some found themselves in the position I’m in – lost a job but didn’t want to go back to the same career – and were able to make the change. I’m still working on it, but I know it’s possible. Whatever your situation, these stories will inspire you to look forward to the day you can change your life to one with more balance and fulfillment.At times we all need a little inspiration and encouragement to help us realize that what seems like an impossible goal is something we can achieve. A good read even for those who have not yet reached 50 – you’ll be getting there soon enough.Audio production:I listened to the CDs in my car over the span of a few weeks. As this book is a series of stories, it is the perfect book to listen to in bits and pieces. Jane Pauley was the obvious choice as the narrator and does not disappoint. Even if I were reading the print version I would be hearing her voice in my head. The audio version would be a good choice for people who don’t often listen to books and want to try out the format. The short, engaging stories don’t require heavy concentration and it’s easy to regain focus if your mind wanders for a moment.