Free · A Mini-Workbook
You are doing fine. So why does it feel like this is it?
Five honest questions for when your life looks good from the outside — and something still feels quietly missing. One evening, a pen, no one watching. See where you actually stand, before you try to change anything.
Tell me where to send it
Free. One quick email to confirm, and it is yours. No spam, no catch — and you can leave whenever you like.
If this sounds familiar
On paper, everything is fine. That is exactly what makes it hard to say out loud.
You can pay the rent on time. You can take the vacation once a year. And on the first morning back, you put the uniform on, walk through the same doors, and feel that familiar weight settle onto your shoulders. Same shifts. Same tasks. Same everything. It is the coming back that hurts the most.
When you try to say any of this out loud, the people who love you all say the same thing. You have a good job. You should be grateful. And they are not wrong. But after the conversation ends and you are alone again, the feeling is still there.
So you stop saying it. You carry it quietly through another week, and the weeks turn into years. And all the while, the work keeps charging you — the sore back, the short patience, the energy you no longer have for the people you come home to. A bill you stopped noticing, because it became normal.
You are not lazy. You are not ungrateful. There is nothing wrong with you. You are a human being who needs more than a paycheck to feel alive.
But before you change anything — the job, the city, the plan — you need one honest look at where you actually are. That is the step almost everyone skips. It is the only thing this little workbook asks of you.
What you get — free
Five questions, one honest evening.
Is This It? is a short PDF mini-workbook — the opening of The Alive After Hours Workbook, the companion to my book. It is not something to read. It is something to write in. Take a pen, give it one quiet evening, and answer five questions no one else will ever see.
Inside the mini-workbook
The five questions
By the end of the evening, you will have named — in your own words — exactly where you are, what it is costing you, and the one word you want your life to move toward. Most people never stop long enough to do that. It changes what every next step looks like.
Free · Arrives by email
From the work behind it
An honest start — backed by an honest book.
These five questions open The Alive After Hours Workbook — the companion to my book, Alive After Hours, rated five stars by readers on Amazon. Here is what they said.
How this book changed the way I think
“What stood out to me is how honest and relatable the book feels. He isn’t just trying to sell a dream or tell people to quit their jobs and become millionaires overnight. Highly recommended for people who are feeling stuck in their job.”
Practical lessons beyond the job
“Instead of promoting unrealistic shortcuts, Tom shares how he used his free time outside of work to develop new skills and create additional income streams. The advice is realistic, relatable, and easy to apply — even with a busy and demanding work schedule.”
Must read!
“Great book for self-motivation. Highly recommended for any age group. I learnt a lot from Tom’s stories, and the envelope chapter is particularly emotional.”
Who is sending it
I am Tom — a hospitality supervisor in Toronto. I moved from Vietnam to Canada at fifteen, with no English. Twelve years on the floor later, my life finally looked good on paper — promoted, stable, a vacation once a year. And still, one night after a long shift, the question I had been avoiding for months surfaced anyway. Is this it? These five questions are what I made myself answer next.
I am not a coach, and I have not made it. I am a few steps ahead of where you might be tonight, turning around to hand back what I have learned. When you join, you will also get an occasional honest note from me about money, work, and building something quiet on the side of a job. No hype, no pressure.
— Tom Pham
Take the honest look.
The questions are free, and they take one evening. The only real cost is the one you are already paying — another year of carrying the same weight without ever putting it into words.
One of the five asks: if nothing changes, where will you be in five years? You can keep carrying that question. Or you can sit down tonight and answer it.
Get the free mini-workbookWe can do this. I really believe that.
— Tom