Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career by Herminia Ibarra is a study of how people undergo a significant career transition. It isn’t your usual “What should I do with my life?” book, because it turns the conventional process on its ear.
At some point in your life, you probably took a test to determine your personality type (e.g. Myers-Briggs) and received a list of suitable careers based on the test results. Ibarra throws this method out the window. She asserts that the best way to figure out what to do with your life is to test possible careers/vocations, which she refers to as possible selves. Rather than introspecting to figure out your “true career,” you should go ahead and try out appealing possibilities. Everything you try results in more data that you can then feed back into the process, until the best self is identified.
The book isn’t a “how to” book. Ibarra studied people who’d already undergone a significant and successful career transition, to see how they did it. It turns out that the path to a more fulfilling career is a zig-zag one, not a straight line, and the process can take years. Just about everyone in the book made the transition incrementally, not in one abrupt step. Some did this while working; others did it while on sabbatical or because they suddenly found themselves unemployed.
For example, one popular way to test the waters is to volunteer for a position that will give you a taste of a potential career. Another is to take a course. Yet another might be to join an organization related to a possible self. You can do all this while still working at your current job. You take a step toward a potential career and gather real data, rather than just daydreaming about what could be and building up some fulfilling fantasy career in your mind that doesn’t actually exist.
I was laid off from my job late last year. Since then, I’ve been doing what Ibarra describes. Without consciously following any process, I gave myself the freedom to try out different things, and yes, I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve tried things I always thought I’d enjoy, and discovered they’re not for me. Conversely, I’m seriously pursuing a couple of avenues I’d previously dismissed. Seeing what I naturally gravitate toward when I have time on my hands has been extremely informative. I agree with Ibarra—actual experience definitely trumps “thinking about it.” Of course, it can also shatter dreams.
I nodded a lot as I read the book; in fact, I was amazed at how much I could relate to the process she describes, probably because I’m in the middle of it. 
It can be scary at times, so I was glad to read about others who have gone through the same thing and ended up much better for it.
If you’re contemplating a career change or undergoing a career transition, I recommend Ibarra’s book.
