The Unwritten Job Description: How to Redesign Work and Life on Your Terms
We spend a lot of time reading job descriptions. But what if you wrote your own?
What would it include? What are you already doing that isn't written there? And, most importantly, what no longer belongs?
This book is about seeing clearly the work you're carrying, the choices you're making, and the unspoken rules shaping your daily life, then deciding what you actually want to show up for.
This is not about quitting your job, chasing work-life balance, or optimising yourself. It's about recognising what you've been following, understanding why it doesn't serve you, and choosing a way forward that actually feels true to you.
What you won't find here: productivity hacks, morning routines, or another framework to "fix" yourself.
This is about unlearning, before upgrading.
Start reading now
This book is being written in public, now in its final stretch. New chapters land monthly, and you can start right now with the first three, free.
Get the first 3 chapters here:
By the end, you will
→ See clearly what's actually yours in how you work, and what you inherited without choosing it
→ Reconnect with your values and energy as the real anchors for your decisions
→ Have a practical framework to redesign your work-life architecture: boundaries that hold, change tested in small steps, no need to blow anything up
→ Be living a version of work and life you can actually sustain, not just survive.
Tools and exercises included so you implement as you read, not after.
Who this is for
Most people who pick this book up have already built something: a career, a reputation, a life that looks, from the outside, like success. And yet something keeps nagging. Not loudly. Just a persistent, quiet sense that the map they've been following was never really theirs.
This book is for those people: thoughtful enough to know something needs to change, experienced enough to be suspicious of easy answers.
It doesn't tell you what to want. It helps you figure out what you already do.
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