The Life+Work Algorithm Has Shifted
Have you found yourself saying, “The current make-up of my life+work isn’t working anymore.”
You aren’t the only one. I hear it in my coaching practice, and, of course, there’s been the abundance of discussion about the Great Resignation, Great Rethink, Great Re-Shuffle or Great Re-[fill in with your favorite].
What I would say is that as a society the algorithm around life+work has shifted. Our former model no longer computes. The factors that define life and work fulfillment have changed. And we are looking inward vs. outward to define those factors.
I see this as a collective moving forward in an adult stage of development, moving from should to could. According to Robert Kegan’s adult development model, over time adults move from operating from a socialized mind to a self-authoring mind. Keegan’s research has shown that the majority of adults (58%), operate from a socialized mind, while fewer at 35% operate from a self-authoring mind. Most people ask themselves, “What should I do?” rather than ask, “What would I do if I could?” I believe more of us are moving towards “could” vs. “should” and that the percentages will shift.
It’s important to note that we go through all stages of adulthood as we age. Thus, it is normal to attune to the world around us until we better know ourselves and move to the next stages. We use outside cues and societal norms to guide us, but at some point for some of us it stops working. There is a call to attune to ourselves and our lives instead.
The pandemic has been that call. We are asking:
What do I want for my life?
What work is satisfying to me and what is my ambition now?
How do I support my life and life stage?
People are a bit unnerved by this shift, because society tells us to find a path rather than embrace continual life+work exploration and growth. But the truth is, we evolve. We age, we change, our lives change.
That’s why to have sustainable, fulfilling, ambitious work from decade to decade, we need to embrace a proactive practice to grow and learn about ourselves over time, while considering our life+work together.
And that’s what Sustainable Ambition is about: crafting fulfilling work, while also living a fulfilling life, from decade to decade. With the end goal—experience more joy in your professional and personal lives with more ease and less angst and guilt, while still being ambitious.
Sustainable Ambition lives at the intersection of: You+Life+Work. It pulls you forward into defining what you want for your life and your work and considers how your life needs to integrate with your work.
It means defining success on your terms, crafting work to align to your satisfaction and ambition at your current stage, and adapting life and work structures to be supportive and create more ease.
Based on research over the last year and learning from the podcast over the course of 50 episodes, I've been re-thinking the Sustainable Ambition Model and how to articulate it aligned with the above.
Many tenets remain, but the way I'd articulate the model now is:
1. Attune to you. Attune to your definition of success to make life+work personally rewarding.
2. Align your work. Align your work to what’s satisfying to you and your ambition now to make it regenerative.
3. Adapt to your life. Adapt life+work structures to support sustainability and make life+work responsive.
I’ll share more in the coming weeks, but for now I’ll leave you with 3 evaluative and exploratory questions to consider if you’re feeling like your algorithm has shifted, too:
Evaluative Questions:
Rewarding: On a scale of 1-10 (1=low, 10=high) how would you rate how rewarding your life+work is? Are you feeling successful and fulfilled with where you are putting your attention in your life?
Regenerative: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your energy and excitement about your current work adventure? Are you satisfied with your work and aligned with your ambition now?
Responsive: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the sustainability of your life+work? How much ease are you experiencing in your life+work integration?
Exploratory Questions:
Attune to you: How would you define success and life fulfillment for you now on your terms? What will make your life and work rewarding? What will make it feel fulfilling and joyful?
Align your work: What would make your work satisfying now? What is your current ambition? What is calling to you as your next adventure or growth arc?
Adapt to your life: What smart life and work structures can you put in place to support making it all more sustainable?
As you play with the model, know that Sustainable Ambition as a practice is aspirational. And that admittedly means it isn’t easy! Nonetheless, I believe we can find more fulfillment and joy and peace and ease if we proactively embrace an approach when we’re standing at life+work inflection points that call us to ask what we want now, what will be satisfying to us in the moment, honors our desired ambition, and adapts to our life given our current stage.
There’s more to come on Sustainable Ambition’s evolution and how it can apply to managing one’s work over time, in the moment, and on a specific project or task.
In the meantime, a final inspiring question: what would you do if you could?
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Sustainable Ambition™ is about crafting a fulfilling career to support your life from decade to decade.
It is centered around articulating your personal definition of success and achieving that without burnout while honoring your personal aspirations and ambitions as they ebb and flow over time. The end game—more fulfillment and ease in your professional and personal life, while still being ambitious.
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