A New Edition of The Personal Futures Workbook

It was something of a surprise to me to realize that the new version of the Personal Futures Workbook that I’ve been working on is the Fourth Edition. The first was a 30 page workbook that was actually an appendix to my dissertation, which was formally approved in very early 2006. The next year, I expanded the Workbook to over 90 pages so it would be useful in workshops. It was well received.


In early 2008, I slimmed the workbook down to 50+ pages, produced it in Acrobat PDF, and posted it on my web site. This (3rd edition) was very well received, because people could bring their notebook computers to a workshop after downloading the Workbook. Especially well received, because the download was free! Soon the website was getting traffic from all over the world. Fifty or sixty different countries every month.

Then friends in different countries translated the workbook, and I added the Spanish and German versions to the web site, also as free downloads. In the meantime, I was writing It’s YOUR Future… Make it a Good One!

I knew I needed to update the workbook to match the chapters in It’s YOUR Future…, but writing, publishing and releasing the book just gobbled up all my time. Over the holidays I was able to catch up on a number of things, including updating my skills on Acrobat, so the new version of the Workbook is pretty much complete and in the hands of reviewers. It will be posted at www.personalfutures.net by January 15, and if I need to make corrections I can continue to do so.

What’s new or different? First, I realigned the chapters in the Workbook to match It’s YOUR Future…, adding a few worksheets as well. Then I added some color and more photos, making collages for each life stage and for each of the forces of change, the Personal Domains.

This edition of the Workbook will continue to be a free download with a Creative Commons license, so the Workbook will be available and shareable anywhere that people can access the Internet.

It’s YOUR Future… Make it a Good One! is now available at online bookstores in much of the world and on my web site, www.vernewheelwright.com . The list price is $17.50 for the paperback edition and $8.99 US for electronic versions. Amazon offers It’s YOUR Future… for Kindle, and Apple’s iBookstore should have it available for the iPad during January.

I have had inquiries from publishers in a number of countries that have expressed an interest in translating and publishing It’s YOUR Future… but no decisions have been made yet. So 2010 has been a busy but gratifying year. I even signed up for a Facebook fan page for the Personal Futures Network and am on Twitter (@urfuturist).

I’ll be traveling to Mumbai next month to speak to the World HRD Congress, and to receive an award. I will speak about Leadership and the Long Term Perspective.