Are you living a life that no longer fits who you currently are and what you value? It’s highly unlikely that you would wear a ten year old outdated business suit from the back of your closet or work a strategic plan based on ten year old market factors. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to make critical organizational, career and life decisions based on obsolete information and objectives. Personally, I am often amused by what I thought was significant ten years ago. Most likely, ten years from now I’ll be equally amused at what I currently deem important.
Your Ongoing Authentic
Life
Suppose it’s possible to continually live an
authentic life – a dynamic one that’s an ideal fit for you throughout your life.
Would you sign up for that reality? What would you be willing to do and/or give
up in order to attain this type of life? I fully believe that this form of genuine
living is possible if you are willing to focus on truly matters to you and
release your attachment to historical judgments regarding who you should be. Living
authentically can initially feel more than a tad scary and disorienting; it may
even distress others who may be invested in your former identity. I propose there
are significant upside gains to be had through consistently releasing what no
longer fits your desired identity and lifestyle.
Your Life Redesigned
Please be assured that I am not advocating that you
become completely self-involved and flee from your current commitments and responsibilities.
What I am suggesting is that it is possible to live a personally meaningful and
authentic life, one that aligns with your evolving identity and honors your cherished
commitments. This ongoing process requires intentional redesign of the aspects
of your life that have ceased to be personally satisfying. Life Redesign
empowers you to generate your most revitalized professional/personal identity. Your
redesigned choices and actions will look very different depending on your life
and career stage, as well as your personal responsibilities.
Key Elements
Life Redesign is a cyclical process based on several
key elements: awareness, redesign planning, action, evaluation, strategic
tweaking, acknowledgment and presence. Awareness includes your core values,
strengths, challenges, personal life/career goals and occupational trends and
realities. Critical awareness questions to consider include: “What are your
core values? What do you love to do? What skills and added value do you have to
offer an organization or client? Where might it be possible to do work that you
are both good at and passionate about?” In the early stages of your career, it’s
often necessary to make what I refer to as “means to an end” choices. This frequently
involves accepting a non-optimal position as a means to connect with your
targeted organization or facilitate a career change, pursuing advanced degrees
and acquiring/mastering skills that are considered essential for your targeted goal.
Life
Redesign planning requires a viable flexible approach that sets you up for initial
success to sustain motivation and organically lead to preferred results. My
work with clients on this element is focused on creating a structural strategic
action plan designed, one that utilizes discrepancies to generate forward momentum.
Subsequent ongoing evaluation of tactics, actions and outcomes is critical to
ensure honoring and working with changing market and personal conditions. It’s
not unusual to be so focused on the outcome that we forget to enjoy the
journey. A critical element of the redesign process entails acknowledgement and
celebration of large and small successes
The First Step
Intentional ongoing commitment to Life Redesign empowers you to life an authentic life - one that is highly gratifying and serves to enhance your work and relationships; it requires that you periodically step into the discomfort of the unknown, release what no longer fits and invest in yourself and your potential. What one step can you take today toward facilitating your Life Redesign?
Janet
For related posts,
check out the following post links:
Thinking Small for Big Results
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