Cate Sevilla - How to Work Without Losing Your Mind

An invaluable guide to surviving professional life. Cate Sevilla is insightful, inventive and so supportive Viv Groskop, author of How to Own the Room

A brutally honest, beautifully practical guide for anyone reassessing their priorities in work and life. This book is a masterclass in swerving burnouts and resetting boundaries Lucy Clayton, co-author of How to Go to Work

Explored with huge heart and unending empathy, I implore every millennial and gen Z woman to read this, whether theyre at the start of their career or its zenith Laura Jane Williams, author of Our Stop

A timely and provocative book that is at once empathetic about the challenges work presents and empowering on how to overcome them Bruce Daisley, author of The Joy of Work

Entertaining and practical; moving and funny; and, most importantly, a helping hand from someone whos been through it Emma Gannon, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Multi-Hyphen Method

A frank, funny and kind guide on how to turn a job into a career Ailbhe Malone, editor, Strategist UK

A thought-provoking and practical guide to the ever-evolving world of work, Cate Sevillas words feel particularly comforting and clarifying during these uncertain times Yomi Adegoke, co-author of the bestselling Slay in Your Lane

Oh, how I wish Id had this book ten years ago! Cate gives both the sympathetic hug and the firm shake by the shoulders that so many of us need to navigate the world of work right now. Its hilarious and helpful with so many on-point insights that youll wonder if shes been reading your Slack messages (she hasnt) Lauren Bravo, author of How to Break Up with Fast Fashion

Its funny and smart and incisive and smashes every narrative were fed as workers (and women). And its way beyond being an essential book on work culture; its an essential feminist text. The women who read this employees, managers, wherever they are in the structure will be changed by it. Its nothing short of radical Terri White, editor, Empire

Fearless and funny! If you feel like work is getting or letting you down Cate is here to give you a hug and offer you practical advice. All of our careers are now full of change and uncertainty and Cates book will help you to take control and look after rather than lose your mind! Sarah Ellis, co-author of The Squiggly Career

I wish Id read it before ever entering an office, and I one hundred per cent hope anyone who ever has to manage me reads it Flo Perry, author of How to Have Feminist Sex

This is a genuinely useful, smart, thoughtful and beautifully written exploration of a subject that affects us all, but we know so little about. I do not use this word lightly (or much at all if I can help it) but Cates brilliant book is genuinely EMPOWERING Daisy Buchanan, author of How to be a Grown Up and The Sisterhood

I cant think of a better time than the darkness of a covid winter to sit down with this wonderful book and re-assess your relationship to work. Cate Sevilla has a wisdom about the working world that is rare in its depth and sensitivity. She can teach you how to fix a bad work situation or to spot when its time to walk away. Her book will teach you how to survive at work without sacrificing your soul from dealing with bad communication, awful managers and impending burnout, to setting boundaries and getting organized. Everyone who works has to read this book Hannah Jewell, Washington Post

This is the only professional handbook I want or need Reading her book makes it feel like youre sat across from a friend you can tell anything to before leaving with multiple life-changing revelations including how lucky you are to have Cate Sevilla in your life Anne T. Donahue, author of Nobody Cares

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First published by Penguin Business in 2021

Copyright Cate Sevilla, 2021

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover design by Holly Ovenden

ISBN: 978-0-241-43967-8

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

For my husband and my therapist.

I couldnt have done this without you.

In the early months of 2020, when many of us were still battling new years resolutions and very much still believing that 2020 would be our year!, it turned out that globally, collectively, if not completely universally 2020 would very much not be our year. At least not in the way we had hoped. Rather than a year filled with exciting travel or finally going to Glastonbury, 2020 became a year filled with uncertainty and loss, unprecedented change and new beginnings that none of us asked for or wanted. To put it lightly, the majority of 2020 was fucking awful.

Covid-19 changed all of our lives in ways that we will be trying to comprehend for a long time. The grief, from loss not just of life per se but also of normality and life as we knew it, came in waves. At times it felt like a tsunami. For many of us, this was made most apparent in our working lives. Work, for those lucky enough to have it whether a 9 to 5, steady freelance gigs or enough paid hours to pay the rent was what gave our days, weeks and lives structure the takeaway coffee on the way to the station, the podcasts listened to on our daily commute, the faces of colleagues seen day in and day out, the misery of train delays on the way home. The global pandemic blew all of this to smithereens. People worldwide lost their jobs in incomprehensible numbers.

The world of work has been changed in unprecedented ways. People who had never worked from home before were suddenly doing it every day. People who previously had no idea what Zoom was were suddenly using it several times a day for important meetings (and the occasional pub quiz). Suddenly we were all that guy on the BBC whose wife and child burst into the room while he was Skyping a report on BBC News. Those of us who had previously been told that it was impossible for us to do our jobs remotely or part-time from home were shown that, well, that wasnt exactly true.

For all the parts of work that have changed, altered or shifted there is one element that has stayed the same, and has often been amplified: STRESS.

Bosses are still maddening. Colleagues are still profoundly irritating. Balancing family and work is still daunting. And how to progress in our careers without burning out is still a huge question that so many of us are searching for an answer to. More than ever, we are wondering how to work without losing our minds and that is exactly what Im here to help with.