Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You

by Terri Trespicio

Overview

One of the Best Feel-Good Books of 2021 by The Washington Post

A hilarious and honest not-quite-self-help book in the vein of Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies and I Used to Have a Plan.

Every person on the planet wants their life to mean something. The problem is that you’ve been told there’s only one way to find that meaning.

In Unfollow Your Passion, Terri Trespicio—whose TEDx talk has more than six million views—questions everything you think you need: passion (fun, but fleeting), plans (flimsy at best), and a bucket list (eye roll), to name a few.

Instead, she shows you how (and why) to flip society, culture, and the #patriarchy the bird so you can live life on your terms. Trespicio effortlessly guides you through her method of unhooking yourself from other people’s agendas, boning up on the skills to move you forward, and exploring your own creativity, memory, and intuition to unlock your unique path to meaning—while also confronting the challenges that stop you in your tracks, like boredom, loss, and fear.

Unfollow Your Passion is a fresh and fearless “must-read for anyone looking for a more meaningful life” (Mel Robbins, author of The 5 Second Rule).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982169268
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	12/21/2021
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	918,930
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Terri Trespicio is an award-winning writer, in-demand speaker, and brand advisor whose TEDx talk, “Stop Searching for Your Passion,” has been viewed more than six million times. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College and won first place in the Baltimore Review’s 2016 literary contest. Her writing has also been featured in Marie Claire, Jezebel, Business Insider, and others. Visit TerriTrespicio.com for more information. 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 Unsubscribe

Chapter 1 How to Unsubscribe from Other People's Agendas 11

Chapter 2 Why You Can Stay in Your Comfort Zone 22

Chapter 3 Unfollow Your Passion 32

Chapter 4 Dump Your Bucket List and Figure Out What (Actually) Matters 41

Chapter 5 Why You Probably Overpacked for This Trip 57

Chapter 6 It's Not a Sin to Get Wickedly Curious 67

Part 2 Uncover

Chapter 7 You've Got Mad Skills 79

Chapter 8 Practice Makes Purpose 94

Chapter 9 No One Was Given a Script 107

Chapter 10 Why You Didn't Miss Your Calling 123

Chapter 11 Making a Living vs. Living Your Life 136

Chapter 12 How to Stand Out When Everyone's Peddling the Same Shit 146

Chapter 13 Never Rely on Anyone Again 164

Part 3 Unleash

Chapter 14 Abandon Your Plans 181

Chapter 15 Boredom Is a Detox for Your Soul 194

Chapter 16 Questioning Commitments Doesn't Make You Noncommittal 204

Chapter 17 Tell Your Critic to STFU So You Can Get Some Work Done 216

Chapter 18 Stop Fixing What Isn't Broken 228

Chapter 19 Why It's Not Worth Obsessing Over Forever 240

Chapter 20 Set Yourself Free 249

Acknowledgments 263

Notes 265

Index 270

Editorial Reviews

10/25/2021

Viral TEDx speaker and “brand adviser” Trespicio urges readers—especially women—to free themselves from “the tyranny of dopey ideas” that set “contradictory” goals toward a life well lived, and instead discover what they truly “want and need.” With a light touch, Trespicio dismantles hoary admonitions such as to “get out of your comfort zone.” There’s no need to climb Mt. Everest, she suggests, when volunteering for new work roles or trying out a fresh skill can be challenging enough. Trespicio breezily covers such topics as choosing one’s own agenda, dumping the expectations of a “bucket list,” not overpacking the (emotional) baggage, and ignoring that “inner critic, the unbearable Karen of brain.” Journaling and other exercises reinforce her lessons on how to transform a comfort zone into a “greenhouse... where living things thrive.” For example, she suggests pasting up a “skill cloud” of Post-It notes as an effective method to visualize how many abilities one already possesses. Stories of successes and failures from Trespicio’s own life (from playing the sax in grade school to getting laid off from a job) blend with anecdotes from others on how to face adversity: as Trespicio recalls, “luggage was lost and life went on.” It’s a rare book that can effectively mix words from Viktor Frankl and Dilbert, but this one pulls it off. Trespicio dishes pragmatic advice with finesse. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Engaging, no-nonsense, and challenges conventional thinking in all the best ways? Terri Trespicio’s Unfollow Your Passion is everything I love in a self-help book and then some! Read it and remember: it’s your life and you get to make—and break—the rules.” —SARAH KNIGHT, New York Times bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

“Right here, right now, when it’s so needed, Terri Trespicio arrives. This book holds the key to a box that only you can unlock.” —SETH GODIN, author of The Practice

“As the original multi-passionate entrepreneur, I’ve been saying for years that the push for a single passion is outdated. In Unfollow Your Passion, Terri Trespicio writes with power, style, and wit about the question we all struggle with: What is it I should, or can, do with my life?” —MARIE FORLEO, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Is Figureoutable

“Unfollow Your Passion is A. MUST. READ. for anyone looking for a more meaningful life. Compelling, funny, and actionable, no motivation required.” —MEL ROBBINS, internationally bestselling author of The 5 Second Rule and The High 5 Habit

“An especially meaningful and much-needed read as the workplace continues to change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.” –Booklist

"It’s a rare book that can effectively mix words from Viktor Frankl and Dilbert, but this one pulls it off. Trespicio dishes pragmatic advice with finesse." –Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher