The Story of Sam: The Little Philosophical & Practical Guide to Unemployment

By SP Miller

The Story of Sam: The Little Philosophical and Practical Guide to Unemployment is a short inspirational guide to staying sane and productive during unemployment.

The book starts with a short illustrated fable about Sam’s trials and tribulations as he goes through the stages of unemployment. We follow Sam through the common ups and downs of the job search, giving the unemployed reader a sense that he or she is not alone—one day Sam is invigorated by learning new things, the next he can barely make it out of bed, as he’s let down once again by the slog of the job search. The fable ends with the uplifting triumph of Sam finding a new job, which he celebrates with friends and family.

The fable is followed by brief commentary with advice on how to make the most of one’s unemployment, including the Five Commandments for a Healthy Job Search.

The commandments teach people how to look at unemployment, not as a traumatic event, but rather as an opportunity to develop themselves in ways they didn’t think possible: “By the time you return to work you will be a stronger and wiser person, and one day you’ll look back on your unemployment as a stroke of good luck.”

Sam encourages people to engage in new activities, pursue their passions, and take on something they’ve always wanted to do. He uses himself as an empathetic example, taking advantage of his time between jobs to learn how to cook.

He also shows people how to make their job search a less daunting, more digestible task. While people often think they need to spend all day, every day looking for work, Sam offers a more balanced process: Spend at least two hours a day on your job search and use the rest of your time for new activities and broadening your horizons.
At the end of the book, Sam rewards his readers with his recipe for a delicious chicken pot pie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SP Miller
• Release date: Jun 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476044132

SP Miller

Three years ago, in the throes of the Global Financial Crisis, I found myself freshly unemployed. At that time, rather than give into fear, I decided that I would think differently about unemployment, accentuate the positive, and use the time constructively – to develop myself in ways I had not thought possible. I focused on exercise and cooking, two things which I enjoy to this day. I also wrote The Story of Sam as a quasi-spiritual guide for myself. The Story of Sam was of tremendous help to me in getting through my last period of unemployment. It is a truly novel approach to unemployment. The Story of Sam will inspire the millions of people who now find themselves jobless to see unemployment not as a life-threatening trauma but as an opportunity to become a stronger and wiser person by the time they return to work. I am an honors graduate of the University of Michigan and Columbia University with a M.A. in Comparative Literature. I have lived all over the world, including a seven-year stint in Shanghai, China, where I taught at a Chinese university and then worked in management for a major American textile company.

Book preview

The Story of Sam

The Little Philosophical and Practical Guide to Unemployment

Published by Sam Miller at Smashwords

Copyright 2009 by Sam Miller

Illustrations copyright 2009 by Morinaga Migu.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author