I was prompted to write this particular post following a conversation with one of my clients earlier this week.
As happens to many of us at different times in our life she was at one of those points where she just couldn’t get her life to move forward and was frustrated by her situation.
We talked around the challenge that she was facing and out of the conversation she suggested – “I need more structure to my life”.
In fact the ultimate conclusion we came to was she actually need a structure to her life then once that was in place then she could aim for ‘more structure’.
You see what had happened in my clients life is that she had made a bold decision 12 months earlier to leave her paid employment in order to take her life in a new direction.
Her past life had been one of structure. She had raised two lovely children. As any parent will know caring for children requires organization and that brings structure.
Once that role was fulfilled then she decided to return to her career in the corporate world. Exchanging her time for money. Which is the normal process for the majority.
The major benefit being employment gives structure and around that structure she built the rest of her life.
That arrangement is great for most people. Because around the structure you now have five days a week you then fill in more of the structure with your personal life. And what happens in most cases is that everything gets done.
Yes, it may be a busy life but the structure in one area expands to incorporate structure in another area
But what happens when life changes? In the case of my client she made the decision to leave her job. Others may not be as lucky, they may be forced out of the job for no fault of their own.
But then there is that other great milestone in people’s lives, they retire.
These are all examples of the basic familiar structure disappearing from your life. So now what do you do?
It is my strong belief that in order to be happy at every stage of your life you have to find a way to create new structure, as and when necessary, in your life as quick as possible.
And that is what my client is now focusing on.
Because the bad news is that if you don’t actively develop a structure of your own design then the void that is left by change will be filled with a negative structure of boredom and inactivity
I have written this under the heading of structure because that is how my client thought about. For myself I tend to use the word routine.
We all need routine in our life. Our routine is actually a series of habits. Our aim at every stage of our life is to identify the good habits that will continue to move your life forward.
Stay with me on this journey of habit change and you will be amazed at the control you can have over your life.
“Your Habits Control Your Life – But You Control Your Habits
You Can Take Back Control of Your Life”
