Hello and welcome, Reader!

Writing a book is one thing.
Finding the people who need it is another.

Once the manuscript is finished, there is a whole new part of the journey: making the book visible and discoverable to the right readers.

I knew exactly what kind of readers I wanted to find for Why Smart People Stay Too Long in the Wrong Career.

People who recognize themselves in its pages; people who may be asking the very questions that led me to write it in the first place.

So I went looking for them on Reddit.

I spent the weekend reading dozens of posts and hundreds of comments, trying to see whether I could find people who were already asking the questions explored in my book.

And I found something I didn't quite expect.

You may recognize yourself

I found a restaurant owner who had a financially successful business, great colleagues around her, and plenty of reasons to feel grateful. Yet she wrote:

I found someone earning good money who said:

And someone else who confessed:

And then in the same post:

“I always saw work as this prison that we all eventually get sent to, even as a kid. But I also clung to this hope of: "Ah well, maybe when I'm older I'll find something I like, and it won't feel so bad."

These weren't people who had obviously made bad career choices.

Some had built exactly the kind of careers other people would be happy to have.

And yet something wasn't right.

What struck me most was how often they were asking other people what to do.

They were looking for advice, experiences, recommendations, possible solutions.

And Reddit is very good at providing those.

But as I kept reading, I found myself thinking:

What if advice isn't the thing we need first?

What if, before asking “What should I do?”, we need to ask:

“What's actually happening to me?”

The question behind the book

This is the question that has occupied me for years.

For more than a decade, I've worked with people navigating career transitions.

At first, I thought I was helping people gain clarity, build confidence, identify possibilities, and take the next step.

But over time, I became increasingly interested in something else.

People often already knew that something wasn't working.

They weren't necessarily lacking information.

They weren't always waiting for a better opportunity.

And sometimes they weren't even confused about what they wanted.

They simply hadn't fully acknowledged what was unfolding.

Last autumn, while working on The Next Chapter Journey Project, I saw this pattern again.

People started their journeys.

They reflected.

They explored possibilities.

And yet some stopped before they reached the change they had hoped for.

I began asking myself why.

Why do smart, capable people stay so long when they already sense that something no longer fits?

The more stories I listened to, the more answers I found.

• Recognition.
• Investment.
• Identity.
• Permission.

And underneath all of them was something I kept returning to:

We need to understand why we stay before we can decide what to do next.

That's where my new book began.

The book is now real

​Why Smart People Stay Too Long in the Wrong Career is now available.

It's not a roadmap telling you which career to choose.

It's a collection of real stories, reflections, and questions about what happens before we make a meaningful change.

You may recognize yourself in some of the stories.

You may disagree with some of the ideas.

You may simply find yourself asking questions you haven't asked before.

And that's exactly what I hope for.

An invitation

I'm now looking for a small group of Letters of Change readers who would like to be among the first to read the book.

I'd be happy to give you the eBook for free.

What I'd love in return isn't a particular kind of review.

I'd simply like to know:

• What did the book make you think about?
• What did you recognize?
• What surprised you?
• What stayed with you after you finished reading?

And if, after reading, you feel like sharing your thoughts publicly on Amazon or elsewhere, I'll be genuinely grateful.

But that's not why I'm inviting you.

I'm inviting you because I want this book to become a conversation.

Perhaps you are one of the people who has been asking these questions quietly for a while.

Perhaps someone you know is.

If you'd like to be one of my early readers, just reply to this Letter and tell me.

I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Elena