“Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.”
– Katherine Whitehorn
A few weeks ago, I listed several theories or approaches when searching for a job or career.
Well, while my family and I were out on our annual camping trip these last couple of weeks, the experience of spending most of my day outdoors reminded me of a relatively new idea for career planning.
The concept I’m speaking about can be called ‘life-centric career planning.’ And it suggests that a person should think about the kind of lifestyle they want and then think about the type of career or job that will allow them to live that kind of life.
Using Lifestyle to Guide Your Career Search
I first heard the term ‘lifestyle-centric career planning’ after listening to the podcast of one of my favorite authors, Cal Newport. In his book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Newport expands on this idea.
The central premise behind lifestyle-centric-career planning is that you identify the life you’d like to live and then work backward from there. For example, if you want to spend most of your days outdoors, choosing a career that allows you to be in nature regularly is where you would start your journey or job search.
If you’d like to work from home with a lot of independence and freedom, you would choose a career that allows for that lifestyle. Perhaps, for example, a career in the field of information technology.
Lifestyle-centric career planning essentially puts your lifestyle – what you want to do when you’re not working – as the core foundation through which all other decisions and job search selection flows.
A Natural Evolution of Our Current World
I find the idea behind lifestyle-centric career planning to be a natural evolution of the world we currently live in. Here are a few reasons why I think this approach to career planning can work.
1. You can accomplish a lot remotely.
I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that the COVID pandemic led to a revolution in how we work. Employers of many industries discovered that high-quality work could be accomplished remotely, so long as a person had a decent internet connection. As a result, people can search for a job or a career that allows them to work from home while also being employed in a field of their choice.
2. The world is more connected now than ever before.
Regardless of where you live, you can have an online business. Put another way, you become an international merchant when you advertise your skills, services, or products online. This reality is a game changer when it comes to career planning. It means you can turn a hobby or interest into a money-making operation, giving you unprecedented freedom when choosing how and when you work.
3. People are realizing that work is integrated into life rather than as something separate from life.
One of the messages in my book on balanced living is that the term “work-life balance” is outdated. The term is outdated because, among other reasons, it sees “work” and “life” as two separate entities. Instead, work needs to be integrated into life. When you live a balanced and meaningful life, you realize that you need to focus on the many parts of life, with work being just one part. If you spend time thinking about the kind of life you want to have first, you can decide the type of work that best integrates into your idea of a balanced life.
Summary
Like many of you, I grew up with the ever-pressing question: What do I want to do when I grow up?
Instead, asking someone what they want their lifestyle to look like might be more helpful. Thinking about the kind of life they want to have first might help them to narrow their job search and make the career selection process more meaningful and less stressful.
Richard