Career Seasons: Choosing a Role Based on the Lifestyle You Want

People in the Lifestyle Season still value their work and career, but they also have other equally important goals. Here’s a classic quote describing the Lifestyle Season:

Notice these phrases, which instantly tip us off to the Lifestyle Season: “Flexibility” (or “flexible schedule”), “downshift,” or “family.” You may think about work/life balance if you’re going into a Lifestyle Season.

Reinvention Season describes people who want to totally reimagine and change the course of their career, usually by switching industries.

You’ll hear typical phrases like “fresh start” to describe this Season.

• No Season is better than the others. No judgment against any Season — it’s YOUR Season. You choose what’s right for you now.
• We naturally move in and out of Career Seasons as we get older. Just like actual seasons. While it makes sense to want all of these things to happen simultaneously, some things are just more appropriate for certain Seasons.
• Even if you feel like you could be in multiple Seasons, you need to pick ONE. This is hard, especially for top performers who like to go above and beyond. But you will find that trying to do more than one at a time means not doing your best at either.