3 Ways Hindsight is Useful for Future Life Transitions

Wisdom may come with age, however, sometimes the wisdom arrives a little late for the current situation:-)

I’ve been immersed in life transitions lately. In addition to personal and professional passages, I’ve also developed a webinar for the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) called Understanding and Navigating Life Transitions as part of ongoing education for my colleagues.

While the webinar was created for others, through developing the course, I’ve become more aware of my own life transitions, both past, and current. And while I am organized by nature, I will admit that changes throw me for a curve.

Since I’m pretty certain that my life transitions are not unlike yours, I’m sharing my experiences so you might be able to reduce some of the stress that comes with passages.

A smooth transition isn’t always about the timetable. There were many changes in a short period of time when I finished graduate school and became a full-fledged adult. In a three-week time period, I packed my car with what it could hold, stayed with relatives eight-hours away in Maryland, started a job, and set up an apartment.

Talk about life transitions! At both work and home, I had to find places for my stuff, learn different locations, establish new routines, create a new social life, and more.

As someone who likes to plan and is a big fan of knowing everything in advance, this was quite a timetable! In this case, the number of changes in a short period of time worked for me because I didn’t have time to think. I just did whatever needed to be done next.

Thirteen-and-a-half years later when I moved to another state with a different job, it was a completely different story.

I was in the second round of layoffs at my company. They provided transition services so I had the support to plan a move and new job. Over five months, I sold one house, bought another, moved to North Carolina, and started a new job. This was a known location in which I already had friends. Between the familiarity and the timing, it would seem the transitions would be easier.
NOT! It was some of my critical life routines that totally threw me off-track. I went to my gym in Maryland at 5:00 a.m. every day. The gym in North Carolina (NC) didn’t open until 5:30 a.m. In Maryland, I passed multiple stores and restaurants on my 15-minute drive home. It was easy to stop and pick up whatever I needed. In NC, my commute was 30-minutes and I didn’t even pass a grocery store on the way home. My house was in a great location and there were plenty of restaurants and stores convenient to me…just not directly on my way home.

While the gym, grocery store, and restaurant situation may seem minor, for me it meant major adjustments in my daily routines.

The plan must be flexible. I closed on my house in NC on a Thursday. The moving van was due on Friday and I started a new job the next Wednesday. I had help lined up. All was good…until the moving company said they couldn’t get there until Monday.

My carefully planned schedule was blown and I couldn’t control it. On top of that, I lost my voice…for a month. Not the best way to start a new job!

Though I thought I’d created a good schedule, it wasn’t flexible enough for bigger unexpected happenings.

While it’s impossible to plan for absolutely every possibility, it is crucial to leave unscheduled time in your schedule. And I’m not just talking about a few minutes. The amount of time unplanned time necessary during a transition depends on the event(s).

With a move, there are multiple ways the schedule may go awry. Extra time should be allotted before, during, and after the move.

Similarly, any transitions related to life stages such as marriage, divorce, birth, death, etc. require varying amounts of planning and flexibility.

Understanding the Transition Cycle makes passages easier. As mentioned in “I Used to Be Organized:” How Life Transitions Impact Your Organization and Productivity, there is a defined Transition Cycle. There is also a difference between change and transition. Even though I’d taken training on this several years ago, it didn’t really sink in until I created the class (mentioned at the beginning of this article) during a point in my life filled with changes and transitions.

I’m positive that distinguishing between the internal, psychological process of transitions versus the external, situational nature of changes (mentioned in the previous article) will be useful in the future. As will understanding the different types and categories of life passages (which will be highlighted in a future article).

Knowledge paired with experience are a powerful combination for an organized and productive future.