Live and Let Work: A Guide to Enjoy Your Corporate Job

by Tim Allard

Your calendar is overloaded with meetings. Your inbox is filled with unread email. You hear the ringing of buzzwords and corporate jargon in your head. In other words, it’s a typical workday.

Your job might be rewarding, and you might even enjoy your day, if not for these annoyances.

Isn’t this just 'normal’ for a corporate job? Does it have to be this way?

No. There is a better approach.

Live and Let Work is a new mindset for the corporate employee. It looks at all of the little things that we take for granted in the work environment - email, meetings, presentations, jargon, goals, and more - and frames them with a new perspective. A perspective that says we can gain control and even enjoy these things. A perspective that says we don't have to waste our lives being bored and overworked.

Live and Let Work begins by covering the following aspects of the corporate workday:

Email
Meetings
Presentations
Motivation and Efficiency

The book then covers a set of soft skills that are critical in the corporate job / work environment:

Word Choice
Jargon
Setting Expectations
Setting Goals
Be Yourself

This book is a call to action: Remove the obstacles from the corporate environment and replace them with the things that allow you to gain control and be effective. Make room to be yourself and enjoy your day. Learn to Live and Let Work!

101 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2022

About the author

I'm as surprised as you are that I have an Author Bio. I've spent the last twenty years pursuing a career in engineering, working in aviation, defense, and space. I've also held roles in management, research and development, team leadership, and quality. My hobbies include all kinds of racing, enjoying music, and more recently being a Dad. Nothing about my upbringing or education would suggest that I would become a published author but...here I am!

I've found that in life you gain the most valuable perspectives by doing the unexpected. If you follow the script all the time, you don't learn anything novel - you simply learn what has already been learned by those before you. For a long time, I thought that I was just drifting in the wind, looking for something to be passionate about, hoping it would find me. But throughout that time, I was trying new things, looking for new ways to approach problems, and building a wealth of experience that I didn't even know I had until I started writing about it. Once I did, I couldn't stop.

I managed to trim down my thoughts for my first self-published book, Live and Let Work, in the summer of 2022. I've had a blast with the experience, and plan to write more in the future. I still work full-time as an engineering manager, which I think is a rare perspective for an author. Most self-help and nonfiction books about corporate culture come from retired and ex-company people, looking back and drawing conclusions from past experience. With me, you get the perspective of someone who is in the thick of it, someone who hasn’t figured it all out yet – but still has time, and still believes it’s possible!

Aside from writing about work, I’ve also spent many years writing music. While I’ve discovered that I’m not a skilled musician, I do enjoy writing lyrics. I might explore that path in the future. The world always needs more poems. How is that for a unique perspective? An engineer-poet. Describing the world in the beautiful language of calculus.

Whatever I do, I look forward to publishing more of my work in the years ahead!

Reviews

[Darylle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful, non-preachy guide to getting the most out of the rough parts of an office job.

[Tim Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

For handy for returning to the office

This is great timing for me transitioning from years of working as a freelancer to full-time employment for a company. It's full of wisdom and Allard offers up some great tips on how to get the most out of your workday, including saying no to meetings! Also teaches you gratitude and appreciation for your job.

[Ell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good things about this book. While there is no reinventing the wheel here, the framing of the information is spot-on, useful, and well-organized. Whether you ae new to corporate America or have spent 30 years in it, there are some golden nuggets and helpful reminders in this book.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone on the eight to five grind, this book would be a breath of fresh air on what works-and it starts out by going over the typical work day, the emails, meetings and so on- and how to reframe a lot of things including your perspective on everything that comes your way.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

[Kim Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book filled with tips about how to help love and enjoy your corporate job. Very much needed in these times.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.