My first two years out of medical school were a unique kind of hell.
The nature of residency applications meant I wasn't sure what or even where my next job would be. Simultaneously, I had broad interests, and was curious about other paths I could take. The mixture of career uncertainty with the curse of a broad range of interests led to a perpetual feeling of crisis.
I want to share the Odyssey Plan Framework which was a turning point for reframing my career and curing my career anxiety. If you're stuck asking "what is the best way forward", doing this is going to change your life.
Step 1 - Create three Odyssey Plans for your life
The goal of the Odyssey plan exercise is to map out the multiple ways your life could unfold. To do this, you want to detail three visions of how your life will unfold in the next five years:
- First - paint a vision of your life and work for the next five years based on what you think you're most likely to do.
- Second - Imagine if you couldn't live your plan A and were forced to come up with a plan B - What would you do now?
- Third - Now picture your life with no constraints. Think "blue-sky". What could the next five years look like?
The secret is to be detailed - what work will you be doing? What are the big personal or professional milestones? Where will you live? Really visualize it.
Step 2 - Evaluate each plan
Once you've created these, look at them in turn. Rate each one on how coherent, feasible and fulfilling they are to you. Make notes on questions you have about each plan- Are there things you could to test elements of each plan? What would you like to learn more?
The goal here is not to have a concrete plan, but to ideate, explore your potentialities and get into the mindset of designing your life rather than having it happen to you.
Step 3- Take action
Here is where you may start to realise the fallacy of having a "singular grand vision" for your life. This faulty mental picture of "you only have one best life to live, and you must find it" doesn't take into account the uncertainties of the real world. I was crippled by this idea for years until I sat down and did this exercise.
By creating your Odyssey Plans, you regain a sense of control of your future. You start to see elements of each life that you may like to have, and what sounded better in your head.
Putting things down stops analysis paralysis. I started reaching out to people living the different versions of those lives, to explore those questions I had. I started projects from the ideas that excited me most.
The big reframe that came from this has helped me deal with the inherent uncertainties of life. I understand there's no such thing as one best life.
Now when my inner voice asks me "do you think your life is going according to plan?" I reply by asking "which one?".