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The Unwritten Job Description
How to Rewrite the Rules of Your Working Life
We spend a lot of time reading job descriptions. But what if you wrote your own?
What would your working days actually look like? What would you want to be doing beyond the title and the role? What would you want more of, less of, or none of?
The Unwritten Job Description is about the rules we’ve come to accept around work: how much we should work, what success should look like, what we’re supposed to be willing to trade for it, and what we’re supposed to want next.
Some of those rules are useful. Some aren’t. And some were never really ours to begin with.
This isn’t about quitting your job, finding your dream career, or escaping to Bali. You might do any of those things. But they aren’t the point.
It’s about questioning the rules before you decide what to do next.
This is not a book about productivity hacks, morning routines, work-life balance, or fixing yourself.
You’ll find practical questions and exercises to help you see the rules you’re following, rewrite the ones that no longer fit, and redesign how you work.
This is about unlearning, before upgrading.
By the end, you will
→ See clearly the rules you're following at work, and which ones you inherited without choosing
→ Understand what you actually want from your working life, and what you're no longer willing to trade for it
→ Have a practical way to rewrite the rules that no longer fit, and test what could work instead, without needing to blow anything up
Tools and exercises are built in so you can put the ideas to work as you read, not after.
Who this is for
Most people who pick up this book have already built something: a career, a reputation, a working life that looks successful from the outside. And yet they’re asking whether it still fits.
Maybe they’re thinking about doing something different. Maybe they’re looking for a new role. Maybe they’re wondering whether they can keep working this way for another ten years.
Whatever the immediate question, this book starts somewhere else.
It’s for people who want to step back from the decision in front of them and look at the rules underneath it: what they’ve come to expect from work, what they’ve been willing to trade for it, and what they might want to change.
It doesn’t tell you what to do. It gives you a way to work that out.
Inside this book
PART 1 — AWARENESS
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Chapter 1 — Why Does Success Feel Like This? The difference between what looks good and what feels like yours
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Chapter 2 — The Invisible Script How we unconsciously inherit models of work, success, and worth
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Chapter 3 — When Pushing Hard Doesn't Add Up Recognising the signs that something's off
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Chapter 4 — The Pause Before the Pivot Creating space to listen to what you really want
PART 2 — DISCOVERY
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Chapter 5 — Redefining Success (Without Burning It All Down) Practical tools to challenge your metrics
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Chapter 6 — What You Actually Stand For Discovering your core values and using them as anchors
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Chapter 7 — The Energy Audit Identifying what drains you vs. what fuels you
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PART 3 — BY DESIGN
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Chapter 8 — Designing with Intention A framework to redesign your work-life architecture
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Chapter 9 — Setting Boundaries That Stick Realistic ways to protect your energy and time
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Chapter 10 — Courage in Small Steps Testing new ways of being without needing to quit tomorrow
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Chapter 11 — Living the New Job Description Integrating, sustaining, and evolving your aligned life
What readers are saying
Insightful for anyone with a job!
"Even days and weeks after putting these first few chapters down, my reflections and resulting insights are still with me. I love how the book has so many questions that really make me pause for thought. For both myself and my boyfriend, I was able to apply the themes and archetypes to our situations. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of this book, to bring more language and 'permission' to some of the unhealthy, outdated and unnecessary ways many of us are approaching our work." Natasha Whalley
Is work becoming a chore? Now I know why
"We think of our jobs as something we do. But Serena thoughtfully dives into how our relationship with our work matters. Based on her experience and those she's helped, she draws you in by painting a true picture of what's going on inside. Then she lays a framework to help you see it more clearly which empowers you to make decisions for yourself.
If you're finding your enthusiasm for your career flagging, this is a must read to get clarity before anything else." Michelle Skalnik
About the author
I'm Serena Martino. I started my tech career at Google during its hyper-growth years, went on to lead complex, fast-growing teams, and have since coached 300+ executives one to one. This book comes from what I've seen up close across all three: that achievement and alignment are not the same thing.
Hear the story behind the book