Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I explore ideas focused on the future of work and how to design legendary careers. Every week, I share something I’ve written, a few things I’ve enjoyed reading, and something great to listen to. If you find it interesting, please share it!
The Writing:
You're 95 years old and lying on your deathbed.
I give you a gift - the opportunity to share your most important life lesson with the you of today.
What do you say?
The old cliché suggests the advice wouldn't be to spend more time at work but instead to spend more quality time with the people you love, which makes complete sense. After all, how fast does life seemingly disappear, often without being able to remember what's happening from one day to the next? It can feel like you're stuck on a treadmill: work, life, work, life, work, life.
Except, it's not really as simple as just deciding to divert your time, is it?
You're not going to just quit your job and spend all day, every day with your family, even if you wanted to (remember those looonnng lockdowns?!).
No, the critical word in that sentence above is quality, and the point the cliché misses is how exactly we gain fulfilment in life.
I've recently pivoted my career and, in the process, spent countless hours reimagining the relationship between my work and personal life. It quickly became clear that the two are interconnected.
When I'm happiest in my personal life, I notice improvements in my approach to work.
When I'm engaged in the type of work that I love doing, I am a nicer person to be around at home.
And when I stop to recognise and celebrate my progress, I'm far likelier to find harmony between work and life.
Why am I mulling over this question over now?
Firstly, during a recent conversation, legendary executive coach Marshall Goldsmith posed it to my Future Work/Life podcast guest Mark C. Crowley. It's the type of question I love - a thought experiment encouraging you to take a step back and get some perspective. Allowing yourself to do so makes a difference to your psychology and positively impacts how you subsequently prioritise your time.
There's another reason - we're experiencing particularly turbulent times.
Having only just emerged from a global pandemic, we're entering an economic downturn. In the UK, there's a general mood of resignation and disillusionment in the air. Not helped, of course, by the gradual replacement of our political leaders by a growing cast of semi-professional clowns. Against such a backdrop, it's tempting to batten down the hatches. To play it safe. To make career decisions that err too much on the side of caution.
But beware of standing still.
Rewind to early 2008, and you may recall, the world seemed similarly downcast as the impact of the financial crisis was biting. Although I wasn't thinking about my decision-making in as much detail as I do now, you might still consider my career choices unusual. Because that was the moment I decided to quit a safe job in the City to pivot into a new industry, doing a job I'd never done before. The economic conditions weren't ideal, but the alternative was to stagnate in a job I hated.
And it was in my new gig that, a year later, I met my future business partner.
At that point, we were still in the middle of what became known as The Great Recession. What did the world need, we discussed? How about a new start-up flogging an unproven digital media buying model? What could possibly go wrong?!
Well, although the next ten years weren't always easy, it turned out to be the right career move, not just because the business proved successful, but because I could continue making progress.
What would 95-year-old me have advised at the time?
Stop doing something you dread every day and take a calculated risk.
And there's another important word – 'calculated'. Because I'm not advocating you just quit your job today to pursue a pipe dream. During the research for my book, I interviewed hundreds of people and surveyed thousands more. One key lesson I discovered was that, in most cases, those who successfully pivoted careers either:
Started side projects before making a big career move.
Squirrelled away roughly six months of financial runway.
Did both of the above.
So, you could just sit out this tricky upcoming period out and kick off your career again afterwards.
Or perhaps now's the time to create a plan for how to make a move and to continue making forward progress.
As Dan Pink shared with me when we spoke on the Future Work/Life podcast earlier this year:
"We have a very good sense of what future-you is going to regret. Future-you is going to regret not building a stable foundation for your life. Future-you is going to regret not taking an appropriate risk. Future-you is going to regret not doing the right thing and future-you is going to regret not building connections to people you love. And that's it."
Have a lovely weekend,
Ollie
My book, Work/Life Flywheel: Harness the work revolution and reimagine your career without fear, will be published on 17th January 2023. You can pre-order your copy HERE.
The Listening:
Mark Crowley made a similar call ten years ago when he wrote the first edition of his book, Lead From The Heart.
With its focus on the importance of the heart – metaphorical and physical – on achievement and motivation, the book wasn't necessarily in step with other leadership books at the time. One marketing consultant told him never to "use that f*cking word again". But he'd done his research – through a 25-year career and preparing the content of the book – so he ignored the advice and pushed on in what believed in. A decade later, this approach doesn't seem quite as unusual, does it?
Listen to our conversation here.
The Reading:
As this Economist article points out, one shift that the increase in home working seems to have made is how sick you have to be to take the day off.
There’s much talk of the loss of connection when you’re not going into the office regularly. Can that also affect your sense of belonging? This is an interesting piece from Behavioral Scientist that explains the adverse effects of ‘belonging uncertainty’, and how a ‘social-belonging intervention’ might help. Something for leaders to consider.
Ever have any opinions that others don’t agree with? If so, read this article Kellogg Insight on “How We Justify Our Unpopular Opinions”.