A Workbook by Ilka Sommer

Leaving Well — The Inner Work of Leaving a Career You've Outgrown

The inner work of leaving a career you've outgrown.

For the quiet season when you know the work is over — even if nothing has broken, even if from the outside everything looks fine. Not another five-year plan. A gentle, honest way to understand why you can't move, and what it would take to move well.

Get the workbook — $19 Look inside

✓ 21-page fillable PDF
✓ Instant download
✓ 14-day refund

Cover of the Leaving Well workbook, cream with a gold sunrise emblem

Fillable · type & save

If this is you

You've imagined leaving so many times it has become background noise. You don't know who you are on a Tuesday without this job. And most of your reasons for staying begin with the word but.

The hardest part of leaving is almost never the plan. It's the quiet question underneath it: who am I, if I am not this? This workbook is for that question.

What's inside

Six guided parts, and a mirror to begin

The Staying Audit

A quiet mirror — ten statements and your personal reading.

Part One · The Freeze

Why you can't move yet, and how to meet the freeze instead of forcing it.

Part Two · What the Work Holds

The dozen things a job quietly carries — belonging, structure, a story about who you are.

Part Three · Fear or Grief?

Telling the two apart, and answering each in its own language.

Part Four · Testing the Other Side

Three small, low-stakes experiments to gather evidence instead of demanding certainty.

Parts Five & Six · Decide, then step

A decision made from lower than the fear — and one honest step you can take this week.

A reading, not a score

The Staying Audit gives you a season, not a verdict

Ten quiet statements, a gentle tally, and a reading that meets you exactly where you are — then points you to the part of the workbook written for you.

0–6: Not yet — and that's information too.
7–14: The first whisper.
15–22: You're in the hallway.
23–30: You've already left in the ways that matter.

A glimpse — your full reading unlocks inside.

Peek inside

Designed to be worked in, not just read

Every box is fillable, and the hardest exercises come with a worked example — so you're never staring at a blank page. These are glimpses; all 21 pages open the moment you buy.

A glimpse of the Staying Audit — The Staying Audit

A glimpse of the Identity Inventory — The Identity Inventory

A glimpse of Your Reading — Your Reading

Who it's from

“I have left more times than most people will in a lifetime — cities, relationships, and several versions of myself, including the one who was very good at work that had quietly stopped fitting.”

I'm Ilka Sommer. I write The Art of New Beginnings, and I've stood at the edge of work more times than I can count. This workbook is the map I wish I'd had — and if you'd like a hand to hold, a small number of one-to-one coaching conversations are open. My email is inside.

Before you buy

A few honest answers

Is this for me if I haven't decided anything yet? +

Yes — especially then. It's built for the in-between season, before the plan exists. It won't push you toward the door; it helps you hear what you already know.

How do I fill it in and keep my answers? +

Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) or your device's Files or Books app, type straight into the boxes, tick the audit, and choose Save. Some quick-preview windows won't remember your writing, so save a copy first if in doubt.

Do I need to print it? +

No. It's fully interactive — designed to be worked in on screen. Print it only if you'd rather write by hand.

What if it isn't the right fit? +

Email me within 14 days of purchase and I'll refund you in full, no questions asked.

Leave well — slowly, honestly,
and still entirely yourself.

21 fillable pages. A reading that meets you where you are. One honest step you can take this week.

Get the workbook — $19

Instant download · Works on any device · 14-day refund, no questions asked