We are who we are and where we are is the result of thechoices we have made in our lives. Manyof us who hold full time jobs, tend to live our lives in the time left overafter all our ‘work’ is done.
While our jobs might be very gratifying and intellectuallystimulating and might give us plenty material comforts, what it might not giveus, is quality time for ourselves. Yes, I mean ourselves. Not our friends, notour family or children but ourselves.
We are moving into an age of ‘new traditionalism’ whereinconcepts such as ‘family first’, ‘material pleasures are not the end goal ofour lives’ are gradually taking over. Smart people are taking a leap intoradical careers, redefining their work in a manner that gives them more timefor fun and fulfillment.
As a result of this evolution, we are seeing many people,especially women, opt out of their traditional corporate lives to take on muchmore liberating, deliberately designed, often revolutionary, careers. So whynot consider designing your life in a way that your happiness is the focus ofyour life and your work life is designed to support that and not weaken thatconstruct?
Designing your life starts with a basic understanding of thekind of person you are, of the things which have always excited you and thethings you really love to do. Not just this but another critical question to beanswered is, as an individual, what things do you regard high in value. Theintrospection is the toughest and the most critical step in getting startedwith the redesign.
The next step is really fun! It is to imagine your dreamlife and pen it down “ write about it or use pictures to describe it. Whatreally helps is to chart out a week in as much detail as possible - in an ideallife, what would a typical week look like?
This, superimposed with what your priorities and yourpassion, can throw up some interesting revelations, often resulting in starkand revealing conclusions. For instance, you may realize that you are reallynot in the right profession as that does not play to your strengths or that youmay, really, be in the right profession but need to fundamentally restructureyour work life in a way that it fits into the ideal week much better, perhapseven consider relocating to a different city.
The question is, do we believe we are ready to challengeourselves and step out of our comfort zone to create a better life forourselves?
The good news is that there are professionally trainedcoaches who can help you in making this change.
Cribbing is passé. Action is in. Be the change you want tosee. Design the life you want to live and allow yourself to make the changesyou need to make to live that life.
What better resolution than redesign your life for happinessthat lasts? Happy 2013!
Namrataa Arora is a certified coach and specialises in lifeand career transition coaching for women across the world
