On an episode of Cal Newport’s podcast, he talked about lifecycle-centric planning.
The episode was great and led me to this blog post on his website.
The primary message is this:
“Fix the lifestyle you want. Then work backwards from there.”
– Cal Newport
The entire premise flips career planning on its head.
Instead of planning how our jobs build our career, we should plan the evolution of our lifestyle.
What life do we want to leave at each phase?
What jobs will support that lifestyle?
My Perspective
I use this concept in coaching.
However, I didn’t have a name or framework for the activity.
Nor did I recognize how the approach really flips career planning upside down.
You can see a bit of my approach in the Letter to My Future Self post.
The Strategic Life Plans post takes the vision and starts to create the plan needed to get there.
There are a lot of people dissatisfied and unengaged with their current job.
In fact, the 2024 report from Gallup, suggests that 77% of employees are not engaged at work.
Maybe the reason for some is that their job and lifestyle aren’t aligned.
They are working to fit their life around the job.
Rather than their job fitting into the life they want to live.
There will be tradeoffs in the lifestyle / career decisions.
However, with the future goal set, we can start making the moves to get to the life we want.
Your Turn
Have you considered your job in the context of the life you want to live?
What does that vision look like?
Are there steps you can take today to start to plan the path to get there?