Coaching Model / Phase 3
Phase 3 - Long Term Plan
Phase 3 offers you ways to think about your big picture long term plans.
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance.”
In phase 2, we recalibrated, got some “breathing space” and built confidence that change is “doable.” In phase 3, we then look at the what you want long term - Identifying a positive long-term plan or a “vision” of what you want “life to look like” when you’re 60. This isn’t about what house you want or what car you want to drive, it’s about how you want to function in life. It starts with what you want “more of” or “less of” in your life. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a useful book to read in phase 3.
Wanting “More of” or “Less of” in Your Life
This includes: being healthier, work less hours, being mentally better, reducing stress, being able to switch off, spend time with family, have a healthy lifestyle, find balance between home and work, watch kids grow up, doing the gardening, live a “slower pace”, create a nest egg to support kids through school and capacity to support ageing parents.
Trade-offs
Life is a series of trade-offs. I help you assess and “weight up” the trade-offs of the reinvention – like you may earn less money, but you will have more time with your partner and kids.
Sustainable “Glide Path” Towards Retirement
Long term plans usually include retirement planning, “future proofing” or “future planning.” This isn’t just what you’re going to do when you retire. But, creating a more sustainable “glide path” over the next 20 to 30 years towards retirement. How do you dial things back and slowly “phase out” of work instead of work-work-work then fall over?
Meaning
A common important transition I see for men in midlife, is the transition they make from being motivated by external meaning; things like success, competence and accomplishment, to being motivated to find internal meaning; to contribute to a cause “greater than themselves” to “give back” to the community, to believe what they do matters and that their work makes a difference. I write more about this transition in the blog why is finding meaning in life so important?
The Unlived Life
Within the long term plan, we explore the potential unlived life within you. What was unlived in your past – what dreams, what convictions, what talents, what ideas, what qualities in you have gone unrealized? Whatever it is, we locate the unlived life via “the inner calling” or “inner voice” of what you desire to do even if it sounds “irrational” or “crazy.” This includes the “I’ve always wanted to…” and “people always tell me I should…” This “inner voice” is commonly a need to contribute to society in some way; to be useful to people, to be valuable to people, to be helpful to people, to be needed, to be of service, to teach something, to create something, to produce something, while at the same time earn a living.
