Today’s post is a guest post from Betsy Talbot, who lives the dream.  She and her husband have reevaluated their participation in the rat race and have restyled their lives to allow them to live the life they want.  Read on for her thoughts on the intersection of lifestyle and career, and read more at Married With Luggage.

Does your career support your lifestyle?

Remember the “where do you see yourself in 5 years” question in your last job interview? Did you consider your lifestyle goals in your answer, or did you only think about career?  Do you even have lifestyle goals?

Hey, don’t worry.  Almost all of us make this mistake, especially at the beginning of our careers.  You want to jump in, make a big impact, get on a management track, and start living the American Dream.  Or what you think the American Dream might be.

So you take that 2-hour daily commute in stride, hire a neighborhood kid to mow the suburban lawn you were going to turn into a lush garden, postpone having kids because work is too hectic, never have time to read for pleasure, only go to the airport for business trips, and forget the last time you really had fun with your friends.  Oh yeah, and your credit card debt is skyrocketing to pay for the conveniences you need to keep up the pace.

But hey, this is the American Dream, right?

When you create a lifestyle and incorporate a career into it, you will be motivated by the things you love to do and not simply by money and power (unless those are the lifestyle choices that are most important to you).  And when you’re satisfied with the life you’re living, you cut down on mindless spending and other negative signs of dissatisfaction.

• Do you want to write a novel or pursue a hobby or new business?  The 2-hour commute translates to 500 hours over the course of a year that could be spent writing or creating.  Is it worth it?
• Do you miss spending time with your friends and family?  A hectic travel schedule may be keeping you from enjoying the one thing that revitalizes you most.
• Have you been alone too long?  Working in isolation, whether at home or in a business setting, can be depressing for social people, which will spill over into your personal life.

We all may joke that life on a beach sounds pretty good, but in reality only a few of us would really like that.  What sounds good for a vacation is not necessarily what works for an everyday life.

So what kind of lifestyle do you really want?  What parts of your life are working well for you, and what areas need to be changed or eliminated?  How does your career fit into this?

Your American Dream will probably be different than my American Dream, but the fact that we can both pursue one is the ultimate freedom.  Take some time to think about what you want in your life, what detracts from your happiness, and how your career fits.  Then make a plan to create that lifestyle.  It may not happen overnight, but if you don’t start now it never will.

Betsy Talbot practices what she preaches about about lifestyle design at Married with Luggage. She and her husband are saving up and paring down in order to travel the world in 2010.

Related posts:

1. Guest post: 5 Lessons they don’t teach you in entrepreneur school
2. Job search over 50: Unique challenges, unique opportunities
3. Update: What can you bring to the table?
4. Get support: Your personal Board of Directors
5. “Dream” is the ultimate action verb

Tagged as: Career, goals, lifestyle, motivation, work/life balance