Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose

(Paperback)

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From award-winning journalist Jennifer Breheny Wallace, an illuminating look at how being relied upon by others can solve our most pressing personal and societal challenges.

In a world where loneliness, burnout, and disconnection have reached crisis levels, Jennifer Breheny Wallace offers a transformative solution: mattering. Through vivid storytelling and groundbreaking research, Mattering: The Secret to Building a Life of Deep Purpose and Connection reveals how feeling seen, needed, and valued isn't just a nice-to-haveit's essential for our wellbeing and society's future.

Filled with stories of individuals who have discovered the power of mattering, from the story of a fire chief who re-energized his emotionally exhausted team by helping them see their long-term impact, to a woman who transformed her grief into a movement helping thousands rebuild their lives, Wallace shows how mattering can be cultivated in every sphere of life. She demonstrates that when people feel they truly matterthat their presence and contributions are noticed, needed, and missed when they arent thereeverything changes. Productivity soars, relationships deepen, and communities strengthen.

Drawing on compelling research and intimate portraits of people who've discovered the power of mattering, Wallace provides a practical blueprint for creating lives of deeper meaning and connection. She reveals:

• How small acts of recognition can transform workplace culture and prevent burnout
• Why helping others often energizes us rather than depletes us
• How to build "mattering spaces" that foster genuine connection in our communities
• Practical strategies for navigating life transitions while maintaining our sense of purpose

Perfect for readers of Bren Brown and Adam Grant, this timely book offers both hope and concrete solutions for our modern crisis of disconnection. Mattering isn't just another self-help guideit's a revolutionary framework for rebuilding the connections that make life meaningful and creating positive change that ripples outward from ourselves to our relationships, workplaces, and communities. With clarity and compassion, Wallace shows us that the antidote to our cultural crisis of isolation isn't to turn inward, but to recognize how much we matter to each other. This book will forever change how you think about your role in the lives of others and offer a path to a more connected, purposeful life.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR NEVER ENOUGH:

"This deeply reported book is a wake up call for all of us. Skyrocketing expectations and the unrelenting grind to achieve are doing immeasurable damage to an entire generation but as Jennifer Wallace persuasively argues, it doesn't have to be this way." -Katie Couric

"Recently a sixteen-year old high school student asked me, "Is achievement the same as success" I wish I could have handed her this book. Because if achievement is all you're chasing, it will never be enoughbut if you matter to your friends, family, and community, you'll always feel like a success. Jennifer Breheny Wallace offers a much-needed perspective on why mattering matters most." -Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit

"In Never Enough Jennifer Wallace takes up one of the toughest questions in all of parenting How do we give kids every opportunity without asking too much of them and delivers clear, compassionate, actionable answers. Never Enough is more than a wise and practical parenting book it's a pathbreaking introduction to one of the most powerful ways to protect our children's mental health: mattering." -Lisa Damour, New York Times bestselling author of Untangled and Under Pressure

"Written with a reporter's eye, a parent's heart, and insights gleaned from leading experts in psychology and neuroscience, as well as heart-breaking and heart-warming wisdom from the parenting trenches, Never Enough is the book for our times. Journalist Jennifer Wallace offers a fresh and refreshing framework (with loads of practical advice) to help parents raise children in ways where healthy, happy and successful aren't tradeoffs. Buy this book: Help your kids get what really matters." -Ned Johnson, bestselling co-author of The Self-Driven Child

"This book will be eye opening and, honestly, maybe scary for a lot of parents. It is also importantly full of solutions. A necessary read." -Emily Oster, New York Times bestselling author of Cribsheet

Author Bio

Jennifer Breheny Wallace is an award-winning journalist and author of the instant New York Times bestselling book Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic and What We Can Do About It. Her second book Mattering in the Modern World: A Solution to the Crises of our Time is based on five years of research and an original global mattering survey.

After graduating Harvard College, Wallace worked as a producer at CBS 60 Minutes," where she was part of the team that won The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and frequently appears on national television programs to discuss her work.