wavehooverDesign your future
like you would a project
for someone you care about
Why listen to me?
- Backpack15+ years consulting, delivery and coaching professionally
- I've done itGtM, Consulting, M&A, PreSales, Automation, DBT-programs
- Coaching50+ professionals coached
- Community650+ members in the wavehoover community
How clear is your picture of where you'll be in 2030+?
Do you have a written plan for it?
In the last 24 months, have you invested actual money in yourself?
Two switches in five years: CHF 120K to 216K.
Gross salary per year. With coaching: the career events shown, coaching paid in January 2027 and 2030. Without: +1% a year.
10K to invest. What would you advise your best friend to do?
| Wealth after | Savings | 18 months | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | 20 years | 30 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coaching | |||||||
| ETF | |||||||
| Do nothing |
The market rewards people who manage their careers actively.
- Switchers' income grew twice as fast. US data shows the same pattern: .
- Benchmark your market value every year, even when things are going well.
We give better advice to others than to ourselves.
- People reason more wisely about a friend's problem than about the same problem as their own.
- Taking an outside view of your own situation closes the gap.
- So tonight, plan your future like the project of someone you care about.
Grossmann & Kross (2014), Psychological Science · "Solomon's Paradox"
Six project methods. One project: someone you care about.
The dream and the date.
What would you wish for them?
Plan backwards from the dream.
What must be true by when?
Spot what could go wrong before it does.
What would you warn them about?
One step with day, time and place.
What should they do next week?
People who support and challenge.
How would you support them?
Fifteen minutes a week, on track for years.
How would you check in?
What's the dream? What would you wish for them?
- Picture your future self as someone you care about.
- Think big: role, income, company, place, life.
- Write it as if it already happened.
- Be specific: numbers, titles, names.
Until when?
- Pick the date the dream is real.
- Five years works well: December 2031.
- Write the date next to the dream.
The dream in one line, with the date.
Plan backwards from the dream.
Work backwards from the dream.
- Start with the dream and its date.
- Mark each year back to today: what must be true by then?
- Then the first 90 days: one milestone you can name precisely.
- Note who you need and which decisions are open.
What would you warn them about?
- Imagine it's the target date and the dream didn't happen.
- Write down every reason why. Fast, no filter.
- Circle the biggest one: how would you help them prevent it?
Imagining an outcome has already happened raises the ability to identify its causes by 30%. Mitchell, Russo & Pennington (1989) · Klein (2007), Harvard Business Review
One concrete sentence changes follow-through.
Milne, Orbell & Sheeran (2002), British Journal of Health Psychology · 248 participants
Next week, I will ___ on [day] at [time] in [place].
Few make it alone. With others, most do.
Wing & Jeffery (1999), Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · 166 participants, 10-month follow-up
Report to someone every week.
Gail Matthews, Dominican University of California
How would you support them? What would they need?
Weekly check-in, free, starts tonight. Works best when they have goals too.
Several people, same rhythm. Momentum and fresh perspectives.
Structure, challenge and expertise. Meta-analysis: significant gains in performance and goal-directed self-regulation.
Theeboom, Beersma & van Vianen (2014), Journal of Positive Psychology · meta-analysis of 18 studies
Most goals fade between week two and month six.
Norcross, Mrykalo & Blagys (2002), Journal of Clinical Psychology
Fifteen minutes a week keeps the project alive.
- Pick your partner: someone in this room, or someone to text tonight.
- Tell them your sentence for next week.
- Put a weekly 15-minute check-in in both calendars.
- What did I commit to?
- Did I do it?
- What got in the way?
- What's next week's step?
Now it's a project.
Treat it like the project of a friend you care deeply about.
Charter · Milestones · Pre-mortem · Next action · Steering committee · Weekly review
wavehooverAsk me anything
- LinkedInin/maxwellenhofer
- Meetupmeetup.com/wavehoover650+ members
- Websitewavehoover.com
- Norcross, J., Mrykalo, M. & Blagys, M. (2002). Auld lang syne: success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers. Journal of Clinical Psychology 58(4). 71% successful after two weeks, 46% after six months.
- Wing, R. & Jeffery, R. (1999). Benefits of recruiting participants with friends and increasing social support for weight loss and maintenance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67(1). Full maintenance 24% alone vs. 66% with friends and social support.
- Theeboom, T., Beersma, B. & van Vianen, A. (2014). Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context. Journal of Positive Psychology 9(1). Effects from g = 0.43 to g = 0.74 (goal-directed self-regulation).
- Matthews, G. Goals research summary, Dominican University of California. Written goals, action plans and accountability: 43% to 76% goal attainment.
- Milne, S., Orbell, S. & Sheeran, P. (2002). Combining motivational and volitional interventions to promote exercise participation. British Journal of Health Psychology. 91% vs. 35–38%.