Have you heard about Dan Miller’s book, 48 Days to the Work You Love? It’s kind of a classic-in-waiting book for finding work that is interesting, meaningful, and profitable. And there’s some really good stuff in it. In fact, But there’s one blatant – almost-too-obvious issue with the book that I have to tell you about. All that, coming up in this video.  

I picked up Dan Miller’s book, 48 Days to the Work You Love over at Half-Price Books in our area. I also listened to this book a couple times on Audible, so I’m pretty familiar with the contents and it’s a good book. But there is one criticism at the end. Stick around and we’ll get to it. But first, the good stuff. 

Takeaway #1: Vision for Work You Can Love

If you have ever been in a job you loathe, you know the anguish that comes with that predicament. It’s no fun. Worse than that, it’s soul crushing. You may actually be in one of those jobs right now. I’ve been there and I can feel your pain.  

Proverbs 18:14 (ESV) tells us, “A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”

If you are stuck in a spirit-crushing job and don’t know what to do, it can wreck your vision for the future and your productivity in the present. Which brings me to the first takeaway for Dan Miller’s book.

Miller gives us the vision for finding work you will love. He addressed the mindsets that hold people back and peppers the chapters with snippets from other people’s lives to illustrate the overarching vision for the book: you can find work you enjoy and oftentimes you’ll get paid more than you’re making now in the new role.

Here’s one illustration Miller gives on page 154:

“I recently worked with a young lady who had lost her job, in which she earned over $70,000. Panicked and convinced she could never find another job in that income range, she had decided she would have to start her own business. However, after identifying her unique areas of competence, I advised against that and encouraged her to do a creative job search. In a short period of time she had 2 offers on the table; the clearly better fit offered her a base salary of $89,000. We discussed the offer, the fact that it was a great fit, and she went back and asked for $98,000. They settled at a base of $94,000 with some additional benefits, bringing her package to approximately $105,000.” 

This is a story of just one person, but it illustrates the possibilities that we sometimes cannot see when we’re stuck. Stuck in a bad job. Stuck in a toxic company. Or just stuck with a bad attitude. This book may give you a vision for a new life you’ve been dreaming about.     

Takeaway #2: Time-Bound Path to Find Meaningful Work

Whenever you take on a project you’ve never done before, you’re facing a set of unknowns. Whether it’s putting together a new piece of Wayfair furniture or coaching a little league soccer team for the first time, the more complex the project the more unknowns you face. But if you have a guidebook for the new project, that helps bridge the gap from unknowns to completion that can help simplify the process. Something like a Dummies book can make a world of difference in a new role. 

Landing new work, work that you actually enjoy, may be a project you’ve never done before. Miller provides a path to doing that in a relatively short amount of time. The section before the introduction is called, “Your 48 Day Schedule.” In this short section, he outlines what you should do in just under 48 days to land a job that will be much better than your current work setup. 

There’s practical steps like “Day 16: Create your resume and list your skills and abilities…use the sample resumes found in the Appendix to help create the resume you are confident will open doors for you – to the work you love.”

There are mindset exercises like “Day 12: List your dreams and passions. What is it you find naturally enjoyable? If money were not important, what would you spend your time doing? When do you find the time just flying by?…You must include these in some form in your work – otherwise it will be missing a critical element.”

I love how Miller gives a time-bound path, in this case 48-days of focused activities, to help create a new work reality. It breaks down a complex problem into simple steps.

Takeaway #3: Distinguishing Career from Calling

The third takeaway from Dan Miller’s 48 Days to the Work You Love is related to your calling and how it’s different from your career. Your calling, or vocation, is the big picture mission for your life. Miller describes it on page 40: 

“The word vocation comes from the Latin vocare, which means “to call.” It suggests that you are listening for something that is calling out to you – something that is particular to you. A calling is something you have to listen for, attuning yourself to the message. Vocation then is not so much pursuing a goal as it is listening for a voice. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen for that voice telling me who I am. Vocation does not come from willfulness but from listening.”

Calling or vocation, then is not you deciding what to do with your life. It’s more about hearing what you ought to do with your life. God is tied up in this “calling” process. If you’re beating yourself up about what you should do with your life, Miller would suggest stepping back and trying to discover what you were made to do: what God made you to do. 

Career, on the other hand, is an application of a calling. Miller writes on page 41, “A career is a line of work but not the only way to fulfill your calling. You can have different careers at different points in your life. Conversely, two or three different careers can all support your calling.”

To Miller, careers can come and go. What will matter to your long-term work satisfaction is fulfilling the overarching calling on your life through whatever career you may be in. He gives the example of a calling of helping reduce pain and suffering in the world and how that calling could be fulfilled in several careers including physician, counselor, teacher or scientist. Those are very different careers, but they could be bound together in the same calling. 

Once again, Miller distinguishes between a calling on a person, basically what God would have someone accomplish in life and a career which is an application of that calling in a particular job. Make sense? 

Takeaway #4: Salary-Boosting Negotiation Hack

One of the core tenets of Dan Miller’s book relates to getting a better job. And part of that better job relates to compensation: how much will you be paid in the new job. Much of the book is about putting as much in your favor as possible. That way you are pursuing the right opportunities, preparing for the right opportunities, then landing the right interview and nailing the interview process. A very important part of the interview process is about compensation and Miller gives a secret, salary-boosting hack that I hadn’t heard anywhere else. It’s described on page 155 and 156. Here it is:

“Keep in mind that if you have handled the interview as described, salary did not come up until you decided you wanted the job, and the hiring manager decided he wanted you. At that point, and not until that point, you are in a position to negotiate. Also, keep in mind that if you have done an effective job search, you should be talking with more than 1 company anyway. Here is the timing for discussing salary. Speak at the peak.

• Why would we hire you?
• We think we like you.
• We really like you.
• We’ve got to have you!
• PEAK
• We’ve got you.

Notice something about this salary negotiation hack: it takes into account the emotions of the hiring manager. Remember, they have a need. And they want to fill that need with the best candidate. If you come across as too needy or too nonchalant, that’s not going to help your negotiation posture. Instead if you come across as eager to contribute, but not too eager for the dollar signs patiently waiting for the right time, you stand to make more than you would otherwise. Only when they signal that they really want you, should you negotiate your compensation. It’s a pretty cool hack that I’m planning to try out in my next contract or salary negotiation. 

Takeaway #5: A Push to Change 

The final positive takeaway from the 48 Days book is Miller’s encouragement to change. He dedicates an entire chapter to it in chapter 2. The chapter is littered with anecdotes and stories intending to motivate a life transition. One of those stories is found on page 27 and 28:

“A neighbor saw an old dog lying  on a front porch. Hearing the dog softly moaning, the neighbor approached the porch, He asked the owner why the dog was whimpering. The owner, said, ‘He’s lying on a nail.’ The neighbor asked, ‘Well, why doesn’t he move?’ To which the owner replied, ‘I guess it doesn’t hurt quite that much yet.’

A lot of people are like that old dog. They moan and groan about their situation but don’t do anything. How bad does the pain have to get before you get up and do something else? If you are in a negative environment, take a fresh look at yourself, define where you want to be, and develop a clear plan of action for getting there.”

If you’re stuck, and you know it, sometimes you need a push. You need a little encouragement from a friend, a book, a podcast, or a YouTube video to tell you that you don’t have to be stuck. There are alternatives to the suck you find yourself in. Personally, Miller gave me a healthy push to make a change in my own life, part of which was starting this channel. So if you need a little push to make some changes in your life, buy the book and checkout chapter 2. It’s a good one.    

What’s Wrong with Dan Miller’s Book…

Alright, the moment you’ve been waiting for. The one major, almost-too-obvious issue I found with Dan Miller’s book. The title of the book is 48 Days to the Work You Love. That’s a pretty big promise: spend 48 days doing what Miller tells you to do and you’ll be doing the work you love just shy of 7 weeks. Paint me skeptical, but I’m not seeing it for everyone who will eventually find work they love. Just two examples to dispel your naivete if you believed Miller’s title:

• To the high school student who wants to run a Chick Fil-A – and who will love running a Chick Fil-A when he does. He can apply to work at the only Chick Fil-A around, but they may not be hiring. In fact, he may have trouble in school and the Chick Fil-A manager doesn’t want to invite problems into the franchise. The student may need to get another fast food job to prove their worth then apply to Chick Fil-A years later to do that work. Then he has to work for years at Chick Fil-A for the chance to get to own a location. Let’s be generous and call it 7 years. That’s slightly longer than 48 days.    

• The brain surgeon, who loves brain surgery. Her training took 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, and 5-7 years of residency. That’s at least 13 years of post-high school education to get to do what she loves to do. That’s a bit longer than 48 days.
  

I think you get the point. Sometimes, finding work you love can take 48 days. Many times it takes longer to land the dream job. For me, back when I shifted to a new career I really enjoyed, it took me about 8 months to land a position and I don’t think that path could have been shortened by much. So when Miller is talking about 48 days to work you love, take it with a grain of salt. It could take 48 days or 4-8 years or 13 years if you want to be a brain surgeon. Miller has a catchy title, but not exactly reality for everyone.

Despite my reservations about the title of the book, Miller has some outstanding ideas for anyone looking for a change out of their current situation so I still recommend it if you’re stuck and aiming for work you’ll actually enjoy.

All the best!