I found myself burned out and stuck not knowing what to do. I had ordered so many self-help books about changing career but what I really needed was this book. I loved hearing about other people’s stories, and even though I was not in the same profession as the individual characters in this book, I saw pieces of myself in each character.

I cried, I empathised, I nodded in agreement and rejoiced when I came to the end of each story. I was no longer alone thinking I was a failure in my career and life. I was “normal” and knew that my “superpowers” had made me successful in the past but were not being used anymore due to extreme stress in my current role. I’m on the road to recovery and lucky to have had the help of Lucia along the way.

I read this book having just been made redundant from a company I’d worked in for almost two decades. Before I opened X Change, I didn’t even realise I needed to redefine my career. I was intending to find mirror-image job in a mirror-image firm. Then I read the first story. I was hooked. I read the second and started to really think.

Each story oozes with different personalities. Every account is inspiring, but none of the challenges and struggles that were faced along the way have been hidden or sugar-coated. As I turned the pages, I read nuggets of motivation that came together in the realisation of a new purpose for working-me that feels exciting and liberating, and I can’t wait to get started!

This book is perfect for Professionals that are at a stage in their career where all of a sudden, it's not enough. Perhaps you have a passion that is nagging you to pay more attention to it. Maybe how you thought you would feel when you'd achieved what you have professionally, is very different and not quite as exhilarating.

Stepping off the hamster wheel is difficult. Realising you're not alone and that many others have been through this, had these very same thoughts, is invigorating.

X Change crams in dozens of examples of people succeeding in traditional careers but wanting more, but I found myself reading through them easily and lightly - due to Lucia’s inventive way of personalising each story. And then she pulls out the eight secrets the stories share in a way that makes sense, and helps us to consciously think about our own paths with practical actions that focus on next steps.