While the world has changed a great deal, we seem to be struggling to find new ways of living. The typical path from birth feels linear – kindergarten, primary school, high school, university, job, career, live life when we retire. Over the last 30 or so years of my working life, I have bounced between multiple, often unrelated industries, with writing at the core. Writing stemmed less from my studies and more because it is something that I enjoy doing occasionally, and then I put the work into the craft. It doesn’t hurt that I’m relatively decent at it, from articles and poetry (for a while) to proposals and reports. It also helps that I am naturally curious about all kinds of things which holds me in good stead when writing for business, in particular.

Lately, I have been contemplating the difference between building a career and building a life. I left my last full-time job in 2014 because my children were young and I wasn’t present in my family’s lives due to heavy demands on my time at work. I wrote about it at the time: I quit my job for my children. My mantra has become ‘presence over presents.’ In the years since, I’ve shifted away from thinking about a career-focused mindset and see my work as building blocks for the life I want to live. This has changed how I view the tasks and projects I take on.

They are more a means to an end. This approach has allowed me to take on short-term work without worrying about its impact on my career. Sometimes it is about fulfilling an immediate need rather than a long-term objective. For example, there have been occasions when I took on a short-term gig to offset personal expenses, like medical bills. I once took on a low-paying campaign to cover the shortfall for my son’s emergency surgery that my son had.

I do have longer-term objectives which are tied to the lifestyle I want to live. Some are personal projects and some fall under the banner of ‘work’ but it all boils down to building the life. There have been moments when I have taken on more demanding work because the debit orders at the end of the month won’t cover themselves.

I do recognise that it isn’t for everyone. It is important to think about what you are looking to get out of life and be deliberate about the decisions that you make, instead of letting life and work drag you along. Personally, I have found that it has brought an element of peace of mind.