Blogpost by Elizabeth Ribons
"If we are clear on our core values, develop our lives from there and hold that boundary we can navigate our life, careers, and businesses in a way that redefines success...Now is the time when we can create change for ourselves and our lives. -Elizabeth Ribons
There was a time when terms like 'scale', 'disrupt', and 'crushing it' were used to motivate and empower us to "Have it all" , but no longer does that appeal -at least not in the same way. "Having it all" is evolving into a new definition.
With so many leaving the workforce and not rushing to go back...It is clear there is a major shift pertaining to the masses with how we live and work.
A recent article in the NY Times Magazine The Age of Anti-Ambition reflected that while employment is up, there are still many who have left and not returned. Employers are not fully tracking that employees are no longer putting "the job" first and are in a place of strong negotiation. Many are just burnt out, sick, have children or parents to care for, or are searching for a better way of life and work. The issue is real.
This current Career & LIfe reset will define how we will continue to live and work and how we approach it. No longer is our career front and center. Is our work important? Absolutely, but not worth burnout. We are all collectively asking "How can we do this better?"
Many are seeking a higher quality of life while grappling with this new hybrid way of working. There is no clear answer yet because the masses are still reorganizing and reassessing the quality of their lives, mental health, and well-being, taking all of it into account as they reconsider what work is now. Yes, people need to earn but that is where many are questioning their lifestyles and whether they want to devote so much time to climb the ladder of success. And, how are they defining success now?
The Stress of the Climb... At What Cost?
There is no mistake that this is a defining moment in time because now more than ever, many are looking at life and work as integrated and the big question?... What is important? What are they trading their life for? What is truly valuable? "Having it all" no longer appeals in the same way. It doesn't mean ambition is a past endeavor. It's a shift in perspective.
This culture change could be one that many benefit from as they were not experiencing fulfillment in their work. It is a time when so many are stepping back that it cannot be ignored. We have to work, but employers are having to become empathetic and flexible to retain skilled employees.
Years ago, Tim Ferriss authored a bestselling book The 4 Hour Work Week extolling the virtues of leaving the 9-5 behind and redefining what "rich" is. He shares a tale of the Fisherman and the American Businessman that aptly portrays the BIG idea of scaling and the 'quality of life' question. The tale supports living with more flexibility and freedom, earning - but not living to work. Living a different sort of 'rich'.
This is what the workforce is experiencing...Figuring out how they will integrate life and work and live a "rich" life. Tim Ferriss is an entrepreneur and has designed his life to fit his criteria to live fully. Was he and is he ambitious? It seems so but he did it differently.
Times of Change Bring Opportunity
This new age of hybrid work brings many opportunities to the workforce and with anything, change takes time.
I like to call it a snow globe moment where everything is in flux, then settles and we are clear on the path going forward.
But the key? Is holding close to our own values, our boundaries, and realizing we too can design our lives.
Now more than ever. The technology is in place, has been proven to work and we have options.
This is something I speak about, teach, and will soon release a book on. It is particularly important we get very good at knowing what the center of that snow globe looks like(our core values) - even when things are shaken up, disrupted.
I have been choosing my career and life this way for several decades - even walking away from those "dream jobs" or opportunities to put my life and values first. It was counterintuitive decades ago because the culture was to run toward the collective goal.
Now, the goal is to work and live in a way that meets our life goals.
More Now Than Ever, Change Is Cycling At A Higher Pace
The masses are feeling it, they don't quite know how it all will play out, (does anyone ever?) But, with newer opportunities, strategy and clarity on core values? They are considering their NEXT Career & Life and they can continue to employ this perspective as change comes along...And it always does.
Change is not easy but the pandemic has accelerated something that needed to happen and - ever the optimist - we can take this moment to define what success means to us and how we are going to continue to create our lives and define what is important for us.
Life design can sound a bit cheesy, but this is what all who have quit are doing. They aren't clear on what they'll do next quite yet, but they know they aren't going back to what was. They are creating - designing - life and career intentionally, integrated, and with a purpose that serves their lives now and utilizes their talents.
Design is intentional, always asks for the criteria, and then creates solutions.
With Change Comes Adjustments
When I closed my business all those years ago and was home with a little baby - I knew I would start another business eventually, but I was intentionally pausing for what mattered to me. However, I was alone in my choice, most women worked - the ones I knew at least.
I did not consider how very lonely I would feel. I adored being with my daughter but was not stimulated socially or intellectually. I had to begin again and develop a framework and habits to sustain my well-being.
Many are suffering now because of the stress of working at home and managing it all, and maybe are not taking into account the expansiveness they had working at a job and how their lives have gotten smaller because of the pandemic and remote work.
I wrote in an earlier blog, Wanting More, that a recent article in the WSJ reported that tired parents are using social media to fill up and find they are even more depressed and unhappy afterward. I provide simple tips to get back to feeling joy and fulfillment in these uncertain and changing times. Not a fast fix but something to consider.
Simple and effective is more powerful now than bigger and better
I have shared them with my groups, in my masterminds, and with friends. All are agreeing that more screens are not the answer for sustaining them. They now have to be the stewards of their schedules and their well-being.
Employers weren't fulfilling these needs either but the social interaction the varied overlap of our days? Those happened without our being intentional about it.
That is the trade-off for this new integrated life working flexibly, and the new era of work.
Work is necessary. Yes, to sustain us financially, but it truly is so much more. It invests us in life, it (hopefully) utilizes our talents, answers needs.
I have always worked (except the short time I was with my children - even then I started a new business)And I never looked to be always on a vacation and traveling the world as Tim Ferriss described(not a bad idea at all)...I simply wanted the freedom to show up at soccer games, be a homeroom mom and build and operate my business at the same time.
It can be done and I am very excited to see what happens NEXT.
Prior to being the Founder of NEXT Career & Life, Elizabeth owned and operated an Arch/Interior Design Firm, mentored others in business, spoke about entrepreneurship, was a speculative real estate "flipper", owned a clothing business with her pieces in the major department stores and worked in film and tv.
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