A BLOG ABOUT CAREER TRANSITIONS AND LIFE DECISIONS
What if you woke up tomorrow and the career you have no longer exists? There’s no office, no email, no job, no commute, nothing. Gone. I asked this question to my coaching clients this week and I was delighted by their response. Most clients felt a sense of relief while others experienced fear in facing the unknown. As we moved forward with the Odyssey Plan (part of the Designing Your Life methodology), I asked, “What would you do if money and status didn’t matter? What, if anything would change?” That was when they went full throttle into their alternate career path and let go of the unknown with ease and self-confidence. This small but effective practice reminds me of rivers that flow into the ocean. The rivers represent our career journey and we are only given a certain amount of time for the ride (88,000 hours, in fact). Do we spend the time rushing to the bigger ocean that will inevitably appear at the end of our odyssey or do we take a risk and explore smaller streams? In my Odyssey Plan, I would scale my business, write more books, and take more risks. If money and status were no obstacles, I would be satisfied in knowing that I have already accomplished so much by creating a business and that the next step would be to create space for others to take it over some day. Then I would take my sea kayak out into the open water and explore the small inlets. Photo Credit: Curioso Photography on Unsplash Link Cited Source: Burnett, William and David J. Evans. 2016. Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
