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GETTING THE BALANCE
Logical, practical planning for a happier and more fulfilling life

by Ian Hutchinson

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As a Chief Executive Officer at the big end of town earning $200,00 a year Shaun King was not happy. He felt reasonably successful at work but not fulfilled in life. Shaun had all the elements that defined him as socially successful. He lived in a luxury city apartment, worked 10 hour days and was at the pinnacle of his career as the head of a successful communications company. The day came when he had to change.

Within a matter of weeks he had re-designed this life plan. He would soon be living at Avalon Beach, working two days a week as a consultant, surfing every morning and studying film production.

Kate Booker was in the same boat. A senior manager in government by age 26 she had university and honours degrees under her belt. Ms Booker's career was more than promising and her pay packet healthier than many of those who had toiled in the workforce for three times as long. Recently Kate threw it all in, resigned from her job and kicked off a website for children (if you're interested it's www.wicked4kids.com).

But neither of the two careerists made these changes for the better without help. Both turned to the latest area of consultants to help them re-design their lives. Ian Hutchinson, who runs Life by Design®, is according to the Sunday Telegraph "at the cutting edge of the happiness business". In a similar vein to life coaches who have recently cropped up in the last 12 months, Mr Hutchinson dissects a person's life, looks at what they really want out of it and then creates a blueprint for a happier and more fulfilling life.

Mr Hutchinson has executives becoming comics, secretaries becoming florists and teachers becoming pyrotechnics experts. Then there's the museum worker who is looking at turning to art and the single mum on her way to running a health retreat.

"Life and the work force are changing massively and people are scrambling to look for who they really are in the middle of it all" said Mr Hutchinson, who is absolutely passionate about authentic living.

"People say life is so big and intangible how do I deal with getting the most out of it?"

Mr Hutchinson's Life by Design® concept is not far from that developed by the up-and-coming new breed of life coaches around the world. They help people to organise and focus their lives, restoring order, balance and more meaning.

"Small changes can make huge differences" said Mr Hutchinson.

"Sometimes it can be as simple as replacing the stove with a more time-efficient microwave to give a busy working mum more time for herself.

"In others it may involve helping a couple who never see each other reorganise their lives so they actually have time to go out to dinner once in a while."

Macquarie University senior lecturer in social psychology Dr Julie Fitness said the rise of life consultants was a result of people looking for increasingly professional advice in all areas.

"Whereas before we could talk to friends and family we seem to be prepared to pay for advice about even the most personal aspects of our lives," Dr Fitness said.

Mr Hutchinson, whose background is also in psychology, business management and human resources believes that people want quick solutions to lifetime issues such as life purpose, that would give them more meaning in life.

"Unlike family and friends, a life consultant has absolutely no personal bias or investment in the outcome of working with a client", said Mr Hutchinson.

For a price, Mr Hutchinson works with people like Mr King and Ms Booker to identify the skills they have and enjoy most, their interests, values, personality issues and how they can pursue them most effectively without living like paupers.

One of his favourite philosophies is: "If you do what you truly love, you are not working but rather getting paid for what you love doing."

"An example of channelling all your interests into a career is Martin Hanaford (check name) the creator of the Where's Wally children's books," Mr Hutchinson said.

"Hanaford loved films, comics, model soldiers, history and had a passion for drawing crowd scenes for some reason and he married all those things and now sells millions of his books worldwide."

One solution that which most people should give themselves permission to consider for a life change is a "portfolio career."

"Someone could continue being an accountant, but for only three days a week, work in the arts for another day and at the local book store another day," explained Mr Hutchinson.

"The workforce is naturally changing towards more part-time work combinations anyway and there's a lot of benefits with this trend. It's psychologically proven that having a number of interests in your life can reduce stress levels and also gives us more options in this constantly changing world."

One aim of Life by Design® is to broaden people's outlooks: there are 20,000 job titles but 50 percent of the population are currently attached to about 300 of these. Mr Hutchinson said current forecasts suggest that 70 percent of jobs in the year 2020 have not been created yet.

When clients have trouble coming up with their desires, which is very common with work-a-holics, he hands them the Yellow Pages.

"It is an amazingly simple technique for making them aware of the diverse range of jobs available, " Mr Hutchinson said.

Proponents of this enterprising and emerging field say there are all kinds of changes creating a need for life design. People are increasingly rushing into university, jobs and careers before realising they are heading in a direction they do not like. In a recent study by Morgan & Banks it was found that 26 percent of people were not happy with their first career choice and that 75 percent had made at least one career change to date.

According to figures released at the 1998 Australian Association of Career Counsellors conference, 98 per cent of people believe the most important part of their work is job satisfaction. But only 12 per cent are truly satisfied in their work.

Another survey by US author Stephen Covey found that 42 per cent of people said they felt life was a treadmill they could not get off.

"A lot of people understandably can't keep up with the pace of life and aren't coping very well," Mr Hutchinson said.

"A changing labour market is also prompting people to take stock."

In another 10 years only 50 per cent of jobs will be full time. Most of the people filling these positions will be the best in their field, well paid and working harder than ever.

"At some point they'll be saying this is all good and fine making this money but I actually don't have the time to spend the money to enjoy my life," said Mr Hutchinson.

"Unfortunately we have been conditioned to live in a materialist world where traditional success means driving a BMW, living at Vaucluse and wearing Armani suits."

Mr Hutchinson questions this definition of success. He believes success in life is based on being as happy as possible.

"Most people know what doesn't make them happy, but very few know what truly makes them happy, " he said.

Behind every life re-design is a practical and logical personal business plan, so when people do follow dreams they do not end up destitute but rather have a financial plan underpinning the whole transition process.

In the case of the CEO-turned-surfer, he was earning so much money he had lost track of where his $200,000 package went. His lifestyle was costed out, and it was found he could actually afford it on $60,000 a year. His professional background would allow him to earn this being a consultant just two days a week, and his financial situation was solved.

Mr Hutchinson has worked with a broad spectrum of people from single mothers earning less than $20,000 per year through to top executives on good six figures incomes

"They all have the same financial blocks and fears, but just at different ends of the scale. One is worried about how to afford the new BMW while the other is concerned about how to pay for the kids new school shoes, " said Mr Hutchinson.

Designing a life that makes people happy is not always about the dream of giving up work entirely, either. Studies that asked people if they would still work if they won $10 million found that 70 per cent said yes.

Mr Hutchinson says this is because people need structure, identity and purpose in their lives and work fulfils this for the majority. The fatality rate within 18 months of retirement is quite alarming and loudly reinforces the benefits of having purposeful work to do each day.

"It's just very important to make sure the work you're doing is what you really love to do," said Mr Hutchinson.

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