How To Design Your Future of Life-Work with Kason Morris

Kason Morris, Future of Work leader and Life-Work Designer, shares how he discovered his superpower of working with others to design the life they want to live. And once intentional about our Life-Work Designs, we are better about to unlock our potential and possibilities, to make even more meaningful impact in our lives, with our families, and in our communities.

Are you ready for the future of work? 

Kason Morris prepares individuals and companies for the future of work – but in two very different ways. 

Kason helps companies assess the strategic talent needs of the future. And his superpower is helping individuals architect the life-work designs that prioritize their dreams and values. His Life-Work Design talents helps individuals “build careers that they don’t have to escape from.”

His method puts individual in the designer role to find the intersection between one’s values and goals and where their skills and capabilities can meet in the best interest of the individual, not any company.

Spoiler alert: “The future of work isn’t coming. The future of work is now.” – Kason Morris

As a Future of Work executive, author of the “Life-Work Revolution,” speaker, and Life-Work Design Strategist, Kason joins us to share how he helps individuals embrace adaptability and learning agility to create their strategies for achieving the life they want lead.

His superpower of Life-Work Design was something he learned firsthand early in his career when he found himself experiencing burnout and on a path that didn’t align with the life he wanted to lead. 

In the conversation, we explore… 

➡️ the most valuable skill for future proofing your career

➡️the #1 tendency of high-achievers that is the biggest roadblock to achieving our Life-Work designs

➡️the most important Key Performance Metric you should track for your legacy

My favorite quote from the episode is “When I started looking at work as a tool, my work became my first investor in my freedom and my happiness.” This is powerful because it reduces the importance of one’s job from “who I am” to where I choose to able be in my zone of genius and thrive today.

In this episode, Kason answers the following questions:
 - How to future proof your career?
 - What skills will prepare me for the future of work?
 - How do I achieve work-life balance?
 - Why is adaptability important?

Resources mentioned in the episode: 

-  Kason’s website: https://kasonmorris.com/ 

- Kason’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kason-morris/ 

Music in this episode by Ian Kastner.

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose and achieve our potential. 

For more info about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/ 

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/

Keywords
#discoveryoursuperpower #unlockyourpotential #unlockyourpossibilities #MakeMeaningfulImpact

Transcript

How To Design Your Future Of Life & Work - Insights from Kason Moris

Keywords: #discoveryoursuperpower #unlockyourpotential #unlockyourpossibilities #MakeMeaningfulImpact

Kason: And, and that's why I think it's so important when you think about the future of work and the future of. What's next? It's not about knowing what it is. It's about being prepared to accept what it is and learn what it is, and apply what it is when it comes 

Roger: Future of work, executive author, and life work design strategists Kason Morris, joins us to share how he has helped individuals embrace adaptability and learning agility to create their own strategies for achieving the life that they want to lead.

His superpower is life work design, which was something that he learned firsthand early on in his career when he was experiencing burnout and on a path that didn't align with the life that he wanted to lead. 

Kason: When I hit that burnout and I recognized the impacts on like my family, that's when I had to acknowledge like, Hey.

This way of thinking doesn't fit the life that I want to build. It forced me to start thinking about like, how do I start to take success and redefine it? Not in the terms of what's expected of me, but in the terms of what it means for me in taking that mindset. Then my work became my first investor in my freedom and in my happiness, and that's when I started prioritizing my life in front of my work.

Roger: In the conversation, he and I explore the relationship between adaptability and life work design, and we get into some of the things that get in the way of achieving our designs. 

Kason: As we think about the future, and I know this is pressing on people's minds, I think the reality is is that the future isn't coming.

The future is now. So it isn't about knowing everything. It's about your ability to be able to pick up something and learn something and apply it. In a way as quickly as possible that will allow you to build the skills and experiences that you need for whatever it is you want to do next. And some people are naturally a little bit better at it than others, but we can all improve that, that capability.

Roger: While Kason goes in depth on how resilience, learning, agility, and adaptability are the key capabilities that go hand in hand with designing and experimenting with our life work designs, the truth is there's one common tendency of high achievers that is the biggest roadblock to achieving our life work designs, and in this conversation case on shares, how he has had to unlearn and relearn how to deal with this.

Way too common tendency in order for him to achieve his own life work designs. Hi, I'm Roger Kastner and I'm the host of the What Do You Know To Be True Podcast. I work with leaders and teams to co-create pathways to being better versions of themselves, and these conversations are intended to amplify the stories and experiences of people who've done just.

That the goal of these conversations is to learn more about our guests experience with their superpowers so that we can become more curious about the special talents in each of us and get inspired to live more fully into our own potential and possibilities. If you're ready, let's dive in.

Hey, kiss and thank you for joining me today. I'm excited to connect with you today. 

Kason: Glad to be here. I'm always glad to have these kinds of conversations. 

Roger: I know professionally your focus on the future of work and helping leaders and companies map out the skills and capabilities they need. So that they will be successful and be able to pick the talent that's available to them to match those needs.

I know you're also working with individuals to architect their life work balance and identify ways to be ready for the future in a way that's in harmony between their life and work goals. Before we get too far into this conversation, what else is important that we should know about you? 

Kason: Uh, a little bit about me.

I, I grew up in the South Bronx, in, in New York City. Uh, during the late eighties, early nineties, uh, in a situation where survival was the plan and, and the system wasn't really built to help people like me win. And I, I learned really, really early that if I didn't design my own path, I'd stay stuck in someone else's, you know?

So that led me to, to kind of playing this game and becoming a designer of my own situation for the better part of 20 years. Working at Fortune one hundreds, high growth startups, big orgs, big titles. But I didn't let that system write my whole story, you know, I used it. I turned those experiences and those opportunities into to leverage.

So then my paycheck became proof and my career, in essence, in my work, became a launchpad. It allowed me to buy back my family's time, uh, and to the point where I've been able to. Retire my wife. So we could build businesses that work for us and not the other way around. So when I think about the future of work, and when I think about the, these ideas and how I help others, in essence, that is my superpower.

Like life has been my test case. So everything that I teach about these ideas, um, I live. And that's why people trust it. 'cause it isn't theory, it's proof. And that proof is what I call life work design 

Roger: professionally. And I think personally and the work that you do with teams, leaders, and individuals is all about being aware of the future and what the future holds for us, and being intentional about how leaders, teams, and individuals.

You know, choose to prepare for the future, but be very intentional about how they wanna be here now. And so there's that, that lovely, I mean, we call 'em polarities, but it's not, it's an integrated present and future. 

Kason: That's a very astute observation. It's like, it's like I have a forward looking lens, but a very, right now context.

What I do in work and in in life. So when I think about my seat as, as a, like a multipotentialite, doing things corporately, doing things entrepreneurially as a founder, the reason why I do those things is because of having like this big system view and this living proof of having that, that view. I feel like my, my mission and driver is, is like, how do I help?

Improve the system and the infrastructure for what's next on one side as a, as a, a leader. And then on the other side, as a founder, it's like, how do I evangelize and empower people with the mindset that they already have, the skills they need for what's next? It's all about how your story is the asset.

You know, how your, your life in essence is the test case and how your work and what you choose to do is really that. Invitation and that's what essentially keeps you future proof. There's no algorithm that can touch that. 

Roger: What I'm picking up on this right now is you that system thinking that there, there is a system, and I think when we look at, you know, systems of education, systems of business, systems of government, there's kind of like the marketing of it.

The marketing of it is this individualism piece, but I don't know if the system is built for individuals. I don't think the system is built for individuals taking, you know, using their agency to be intentional about their choices in life. I think the system wants consumers. I think the system wants workers, um, but the system's changing.

The needs of the system are changing really rapidly. And I think the individual, if the individual doesn't change with it and isn't intentional about it, it's almost like being in the riptide. It's like when the riptide pulls you out and puts you in a place that you might not wanna be. Well, if you're intentional, you could actually look and see, okay, there's the riptide, I'm swimming over there.

Kason: No, no, it's, it's such a, it is such an interesting point because when you think about that logic of like. The systems thinking lens and, and how that can help individuals build that, that agency and, and viability. When you think about like what we're, what we're taught, taught overall, um, it's kind of like when I even think of the concept of what I do, which, which, you know, I'm calling life work design.

It's the systems that we're in teach us that these ideas are separate pieces. Job is here, family's here, dreams are over there, or some kind of sticky note. And, and that's why people kind of get stuck because they're trying to focus on being great or they, or they get pulled into one thing without really seeing the connection to all those things.

It's, it's like you're trying to juggle a million puzzle pieces that don't really fit together. And, and I think that taking that systems lens inward to yourself. It's, it's not about you being a, a machine. It's more about like how, as you as a human start to see connections in all those things that you do.

Because time is, is a, is a precious asset and, and we extinguish it. And when you think about all the things that we extinguish it on, wouldn't you live a more holistic and a, and a better and a more aligned life if you start putting together those pieces in ways that fit better for you? So like that's, that's kind of how I, I think about it and it's like, what does that mean?

That's a, that's a, that's a new paradigm shift for so many people to kind of think about that interconnectivity and be intentional about it in, in essence, like I said, like one of my sort of taglines as I've been evolving this concept and I think about these things, it's like, how do you design a life that you never have to escape from?

And like, what does that, what does that actually mean? And translate into that translates into. A mindset shift around life, work and legacy. So it's like how do you start to use work as a tool versus it being a, a, a driver of how, how you dictate life and of itself. And, and most people, for most people in traditional constructs and in our systems constructs that we talk about, you know, you're a worker, you're a cog in this, in the system.

You get plugged in to give the system an output, and then you get spat out. But in a systems thinking mindset, in a designer mindset where you are designing a life, you don't, you don't want a vacation from, you see work as a tool for you as well. Question is, is how is that tool serving you? Is it serving you with money?

Is it serving you with access to opportunity? Is it serving you with connection? Is it serving you with, you know, projects and, and work that you can experiment on that you maybe otherwise? Don't get the chance to do so. Having that attitude, having that internal shift is such a huge unlock because there then there's no such thing as a bad job or a bad opportunity.

Now it's just like this is good enough for now. 'cause I understand how work fits my life system. 

Roger: On a recent live work, live session you hosted on LinkedIn, you were talking about future proofing one's career and picking up new skills to get us ready for the future of work. And you said the number one skill is learning how to learn.

About a year ago, a previous guest, Melissa Janis, said the meta competency for the 21st century is learning agility. Can you tell us a little more about why it's important that we learn how we learn? 

Kason: Such a good and important topic to, to talk about. You know, you've probably heard these ideas of having a continuous learning mindset.

When you think about the idea of learning how to learn, it isn't just about, Hey, let me go consume some training. Let me go work on this project. Let me take, you know, this, this gig opportunity. It's the idea of understanding how the brain picks up. Information how you as an individual are able to best consume knowledge and then apply it in a way that that has meaning.

And I feel like learning how to learn is a meta skill and by a meta skill. It's one of those sort of top level skills that, that live above all that are, isn't taught, but is desperately needed. So when you think about our, our traditional academic pathways, we go to school, we learn different subjects.

Very rarely do people learn how the brain works or how the brain stores information. If you start to understand how the brain works and how you work, you can start to build up habits that allow you to ultimately, um, dive into what we were talking about in another conversation around becoming adaptable and having adaptability.

So it isn't about knowing everything. It's about your ability to be able to pick up something and learn something and apply it in a way as quickly as possible that will allow you to build the skills and experiences that you need for whatever it is you want to do next. And some people are naturally a little bit better at it than others, but we can all improve that, that capability and, and that's why I think it's so important when you think about.

The future of work and the future of what's next. It's not about knowing what it is, it's about being prepared to accept what it is and learn what it is and apply what it is when it comes. So one part of my like just personal like curiosity and when I take on like this systems mindset and continuous learning mindset, I always try to look for like what I call like 10 X knowledge.

It's like those things that stand the test of time. They've existed for like a really long time and then, you know, they may just have applications in different ways or they just get subtle reinventions, and chances are when you see it in that way, that means the core of it, there's something really powerful there and sustainable.

So it's not like, oh, this is the next fad or the next thing. There are just some values and principles that in essence are, are future proof. And, and, and when I think about it in that lens, like everything I do, when I even talk about the messaging, it's not a fear tactic, but it's more of a wake up call.

It's like, what does it mean to be future proof? It's not about knowing what the future is. It's about self-awareness and intentionality and readiness to adapt and move based on your core values first in life, and then allowing work to be a facilitator of that. Then, and then the other component for me is also to what you talk about community.

I think about it in relation to legacy and that legacy splits into a couple of areas. It's like the legacy of your life. Family relations connections can also be in the legacy of your work because our, our traditional nine to five logic, guess what? You work, your company isn't going to remember you, but in your work.

As a leader, if you've helped people transform how they look at work or their outlook on work, or you create thought products and, and things like, I take my own example. Me writing a book, trying to distill the patterns in, in my journey, to me, that's a form of legacy in my work. These are things that are patterns that popped up.

I've helped myself, I've helped others. Now I'm using that, that digital product and, and asset as a way to further amplify that message. And it, it may reach someone and it may help them that I, to me that's, there's nothing more rewarding than that, that kind of idea. All the other things come as a byproduct of that, like success, fortune, et cetera, because really the main driver of, of sharing that message is.

A life that is designed that you don't feel like you escape from? 

Roger: I'm thinking back about 20 years ago. Um, one night I'm reading Mark Marcus Buckingham's, first Break, all the Rules. I was a relatively new manager and I was really curious about, um, you know, showing up in the right way for my people, not knowing what that actually meant, but I knew I wanted to do it.

And I read in that book, uh, where he shared Gallup was talking about 20% of people use their strengths. In any given day. So only 20% have the awareness and have been intentional about identifying what their strengths are and choosing to put themselves into that, into that workplace that allows them to use their strengths, whereas the other 80% are doing what they're good at and what other people are asking them to do.

And what I love about what you're doing is you're giving people a blueprint and a tool or a set of tools to help them be more intentional about their life and their work choices, the professional skills they need to develop and to be more conscious about the choices they make to live a more meaningful life and be fully present.

So I'm curious what or who inspired you to take on that path of helping others live a more intentional and integrated life work experience? 

Kason: Life in essence became my, my test case. And the way I would characterize what inspired me is this idea of what I would call the relentless climb. So coming out of the situations that I came from, you know, I had this idea that I have to get the degrees, get the job title.

That success was about promotion, income, all these kinds of things. And what that led to was that that led to, uh, basically a first class ticket to burnout. When I hit that burnout and I recognized the impacts on like my family, my friends, and those close to me, that's when I had to acknowledge like, Hey, this way of thinking doesn't fit the life that I want to build.

So having a little bit of radical curiosity because of that catalyst, it forced me to start thinking about like, well, how do I start to look at the the system a little bit differently? How do I start to take success and redefine it? Not in the terms of what's expected of me, but in the terms of what it means for me?

And then that's when I started then taking my work, which led me to that crash. Turned it into a tool. And in taking that mindset, then my work became my first investor in my freedom and in my happiness. And that's when I started prioritizing my life in front of my work. And when I thought about, you know, the impacts on my family and the ways I wanted to show up.

And the ways I wanted to, to have time instead of working 70, 80 hour work weeks so I could do things like walk with my wife in the morning just as a, as a means of connection, to be able to take my girls to school, to be able to take them to practice at different times of the week, uh, and to be present in those moments.

Those things then became drivers of who I am and what I wanted to be. And when I started applying it for myself and I started to think about my activities as a system and what are the habits that I could put together to help make sure that I protected those spaces and that they gave me energy to then show up and do really well in the work context.

It just became a multiplier of, of this idea of, of being a designer, uh, and this concept of. Life, work design, because when you think about the way that people mostly talk about these ideas, we tend to talk about them in the context of work and life. So we're seeing that work drives our life, and then we talk about balance as well.

And when you think about balance in that context, it's a false dichotomy because these things will never truly be equal. So in trying to force those things for myself in my own journey, trying to create that equality, my system broke. And that process of rebuilding allowed me to then take work, put that as a secondary piece, and bring life to the forefront.

And instead of trying to achieve balance, I was trying to achieve alignment or synergy. Understanding that there are ebbs and flows in what I do to make sure how I show up. 

Roger: I love the, the phrase relentless climb. There's so many people that are climbing because they think there's that one path that they have to follow, and they're not having that moment to look at, okay, here's the system and here's my need.

How do we, how do we look at these, where I get to design what path I wanna be on? There's a little bit of like at some point I imagine there had to be a spark to look at, okay, here's the system, here's the path not quite right for me. And I'm wondering, is there anyone in your life that helped you like look at things from a, that system perspective and know, have the knowledge that you can choose differently?

Kason: It's a great question and, and I think. One of the moments where, where I got to thinking about it and, and what that, that spark was. One day watching my second daughter, uh, imitate, you know, what she perceived as, as me doing work. What she did is she got on the keyboard, she started clacking the keys. She had a phone in her hand, and she's like, business, business, business, talk, talk, talk.

Clack, clack, clack. And it was cute and adorable. But at the same time, it was, uh, a moment of processing where when I think about the image that, that my, that I represent for my daughter, it's not me picking her up or playing with her or doing something with her. It was the image of me on a keyboard in front of a screen on the phone.

And that told me like, Hey, this is not it. This is not the design, this is not the representation. That I want for my, for my child to have, uh, about me. That was the, the moment where I started to, to look at like, how do I flip this script? How do I use what I know and what I'm good at, my story, my experiences as a weapon, as a currency, you know, as a tool to make sure that I can create space.

To help shift that narrative that mattered to me, which was how my daughter perceived me doing work. So now when I go back to this, and she's a little bit older now, you know, she sees me in how I do work as an executive. Then she also sees me in how I do work as a founder and a coach, and how I help people, and how I've written a book and how I've built all these things.

Around what I do for a living as a way to, to help others. And, you know, she's really involved in that and, and are way more interested. And then that narrative shift shifted and that told me that, hey, I need to keep going. I need to keep improving this system. I wanna be able to help others do the same kinds of things based on their design.

And that's what I've done ever since. Uh, and it's been a, a few years now, um, almost eight, eight years doing that kind of work. Whether it's my direct reports in my corporate endeavors or if it's people, um, outside as a founder that are, are looking for that help in way finding. Um, so she was, she was the reason for my wayfinding in, in this idea.

Roger: I love that story. Thank you for sharing that with us. And yeah, I mean, I'm kind of having fun with the idea like a KPI for the house is how our children imitate us

and, and yeah. What, I mean, I think a lot of us will think about like what you know. What are the stories are children gonna tell about us? And it makes me think what you were saying about that Ikigai diagram and having that one of those, one of those diagram, one of the circles being around legacy. And there's no more important legacy than the stories our children will tell about us.

Kason: Some of the concepts that I, I teach around and when I did my, my Life work live, uh, show, which is something I started again on, on LinkedIn just to share stories, to share wins. To share losses, just to be really transparent and get the message out around how you, you know, we all need to become designers of, of our work.

Um, it really makes me think about sort of three big tenets for me. It's really about life. It's about how do you use work as a tool? And it's about the idea of legacy and legacy. You know, as we spoke about earlier, it has a couple of different, different pathways. There's legacy in relation to your connections and the people you, you're around and your communities.

And then there, I believe there's also a legacy in your works and, and what you do and, and it's not just about what you leave behind for others, but it's in how you live today and how you can take your works and allow those things to help and impact others. Me even taking the time to, to write a book about these patterns and about the ways I've helped others and about some of the tools.

That I've created over, over time. I see that as a form of, of legacy because it's something that my kids can be proud of. It's something that lives in print forever. Um, and it's something that anyone around the world could potentially pick up, consume it, and potentially, you know, utilize it in some way.

One of my big mantras and missions in this idea is helping people look at something and say, Hey, I didn't think about it that way. And then when they're able to take action against that, I feel like that that is me truly living in, in the legacy of what I do. 

Roger: In these conversations, we're exploring our experiences with our superpowers to better understand the building blocks of living into our possibilities.

And I think one of those building blocks is something you've already talked about, adaptability, which I'm thinking of adaptability, is that combination of learning, agility, resilience, and a mindset of self-leadership. Really, it's that we get to choose how we wanna lead our lives. What I'm curious to hear from you is the relationship between your superpower of life, work, design, and adaptability.

Kason: It's the engine behind everything I've built everything I, I teach. Um, and when you think about the idea of adaptability, change is our only constant in the world. When you think about the world that we, we live in today, what adaptability can translate into when you do it right is, is agency adaptability, is that new currency, it's the way to go from survival, um, to actually leveling up and, and thriving.

And when you think about the core underpinnings of adaptability, um, it's that, it's that idea that it's not about. Knowing it all, it's not about doing it all, it's about how well you can adjust with the variables that are in, in front of you to figure out the best way forward. And when you think about what's happening in the world now with, um, AI and emerging technologies and some of our macro political environments and the instability and all these different things, I think we're feeling that pressure of change.

More than ever. And, um, just a fun fact about actually the pace of change. When, when you think about what's happening in the, in, in the world with our, with technology, one of the challenges, um, for humanity as a whole is that change is happening faster than our brains can actually absorb and comprehend.

So the process isn't new, it's just the speed at which we're going through it. Is more than we can handle. So I say this to say that the more we lean into adaptability and dexterity as as superpowers, the better off we'll be in this pace of change. 'cause it's not going to get slower. It's just gonna be the next generations of people that thrive are the ones that really double down on the skill around adaptability.

So I definitely think it's one of those, um. Future proofing sort of superpower kind of skills that fall right next to the idea of like learning how to learn and learning dexterity. These are very synergistic, complimentary kinds of superpowers that will help you thrive in this next normal. 

Roger: That's so powerful and I'm, I'm thinking about, um, certain leaders that make headlines, um, whether they're political or in business where they're kind of leaning into ways of working from the past.

I think of this drive for getting, you know, getting workers back in the office five days a week. Yep. Um, I'm thinking about, you know, some of, some of the things that are happening in our country as far as politics of looking backwards rather than looking forwards. And I think that's because it speaks to this rate of change that people are not adapting to what's already changed, what's already in front of us.

And they haven't built the capabilities to look forward of. Okay. Based on, based on new realities, based on where we're at, what are the best ways of, of organizing, of leading that lean into what is not what was. 

Kason: Yep. Very well said. Um, I think a adaptability is that through line, you know, it's not just a, a buzzword.

I mean, it's not like it's a new term. But I think if we really lean into it and we start to unpack it and we start to deconstruct it, it is that through line that that connects us to now. Um, and, and I think that's an important takeaway for, for our listeners and, and for those that, that are listening, you know, to, to this podcast.

Roger: You just made me think differently about the word adaptability it when you said it's the through line of adaptability is getting us ready for the now. I was thinking adaptability is about getting ready for the future, but based on your prior comment about, you know, our brains aren't adapting to how quickly things are changing, things have already changed right now, and if we're not adapting to the right now, forget about the future.

Forget about five years from now. It's already changed so fast. We're probably out of sync with the now already. 

Kason: A hundred, a hundred percent. I mean, when you even think about planning. And, and the, the, the old school logic of like, Hey, what's your, what's your five year plan? Uh, I, I don't encourage people to think in five years anymore, think in sprints, you know, what's, what's gonna happen within the next year, you know, how are you setting up milestones within that year to, to audit what's happening?

Uh, I know for me, on a personal note, and for those that I coach, I, I look at my, my own audit every, you know, six months. And then in the, in the years time, I kind of look at to see, well. What, what's working, what's not working? Do I pivot? You know, do or do I persevere? 'cause I have those indicators that are telling me these kinds of things are, are serving my design.

And, and that's the beauty of, of this thinking in the designer's mindset, in thinking in, in systems. It's always a toolbox that you can come back to. It's very durable. Um, you can come back to it and, and apply it. When you're recognizing signals in life, in work, in legacy community, that's that are telling you, Hey, things might be changing, and how do I, how do I stay ahead of that?

Or how do I start to put myself in the, in the position to be adaptable to whatever change is coming, even if I can't influence that change? 

Roger: So Kean, what do you know to be true about your superpower of life Work design? 

Kason: When I think about being a designer to the point I made earlier, uh, it's about living in the now and understanding what is good enough for now, even though my professional focus is future of work and trends and, and what's going to happen next.

The more grounded you are in now, the more the concept of. Life work design makes you capable to be present in that now, and then also capable in whatever may come soon thereafter. Uh, that, that to me is the, the ultimate truth. It's like, it's not about how you bounce back, but it's about how you build forward.

Roger: I have a friend, bill Heiferman, that will talk about resiliency, not, not about bouncing back, but about bouncing forward, like coming back better than before. What did you believe early on about life work design that you've come to believe is not true anymore? 

Kason: The idea that a design is like a fixed object.

This makes me think about the idea of like planning and. In the corporate context, like having smart goals, right? You put in all these different structures to kind of, you know, make sure that you have goals, you have clarity, and you're working towards something. But the, the beauty of designing and in planning using this analogy is it's never about actually achieving the plan exactly as it's, it's about the act of doing it.

It's about the underpinnings of designing, which is like, how am I being curious? How am I, uh, running different experiments and tests to, to better understand what's working, what's not working? These are all the kinds of things that are part of the muscles that you build that serve you. So it doesn't matter if what you designed actually worked.

It's about the journey and not so much the destination, the journey of doing all the things to test, learn, be present. Make adjustments going forward. I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned in this journey of life, work design, and I had to, as a recovering perfectionist, that is something that I had to, to let go of and unlearn so that my designer could thrive and, and flourish 

Roger: This notion of perfection, I don't think it exists.

The notion does, but actual perfection doesn't exist anywhere. And therefore, like we, yeah, I think we all can, or a lot of us can fall guilty of, you know, being perfectionist in a, in, in a certain moment in certain areas when if we logically understand it's not possible. Yep. Why are we, are, are we just protecting ourselves from knowing that perfection's not possible?

So I'm not even gonna try. Is there a little bit of ego getting in the way they're trying to protect us? 

Kason: That is definitely a, a possibility. And, and even when you, when I think about perfection and, and the idea of it, I break it down a little bit more, is that my concept of perfection is more about things going exactly the way you want them to.

So, and that's the thing that, that's, that's what we get attached to. And connected to that. If it doesn't go exactly the way I planned, then it's not a success. And, and when you think about then putting on your designer hat, it's like no, you don't throw it all away. You look at what worked and where there's room for improvement and, and experiments can help you do that.

And, and that's the beauty of these kinds of conversations is, is when you start to. Take away the energy of, of what perfection may mean for you and, and like reconfigure that energy and understand in simple, in simple terms, you know, what that may look like. Now you take ownership of it and you can move away from it.

And, and it, it actually brings me to a topic, um, that I, I I, a word that I put out there that kind of piggybacks off of what you were talking about earlier in our conversation. I mentioned the idea of unlearning, and I think that is an underutilized concept in all the things we do, whether it's life, work, design, or something else.

In, in pursuing learning, adaptability, dexterity, all these things. We also have to build the practice of unlearning certain behaviors, certain ideas, because what may have worked in the past may not work now. I think that is a, another superpower I would add. So now we have a trifecta of learning, unlearning and being adaptable.

Um, these are unique skills and of themselves, but they have a correlation and, and when you put all that together, I think that's what really will help people step into like, Hey, what do I have to pick up in order to move forward? But then also, well, what do I have to drop? 

Roger: So what's next for you and your superpower of life?

Work design? 

Kason: Um, I am actually coming out with a course called the the Future Proof Career Blueprint. And in essence, it's a way, a quick way for people who are ready for change and they're thinking about their careers to start to think about how do they facilitate that mindset shift internally to break free from those outdated beliefs.

And, and how to detach from those traditional markers of success to shift forward into more of a skills first purpose driven approach to using work as a tool. And then how do they look at their skills and thinking about the experiences that you already have, how do you maximize leverage against that and spot the right kinds of opportunities that are, are aligned to you?

So it's an extraction of, of some of the core. Frameworks and models that I've, I've built over time to help people kind of create that, that path and that roadmap, um, for their careers based on skills, values, and some near term goals. And it's a way to kind of keep yourself accountable. So I think of this as an extraction of, of my book idea and then just taking it to that next step.

And just in the context of how we think about. Career. 

Roger: If someone wanted to follow you and learn more about you and you know, even take the future proof assessment, where do you wanna point them to? 

Kason: I would say you could find all that information on my personal brand website, which is Kasonmorris.com.

You can also follow me on LinkedIn, but my, my website is the pathway. To all the different ways to work with me to get access to my book, to get access to all my latest tools. Um, I also to get access to my newsletter, just, uh, it's the entry point for my, my full ecosystem. And the beauty of it is that. I'm still building, I'm still designing, I'm still learning.

So as I said before, I, I live what I teach and I'm happy to bring, bring you all along. 

Roger: Okay. Cason, are you ready for the lightning round? Let's go. Let's do it. Fill in the blank. Life work. Design is life. Work design is helping 

Kason: you design a life that you don't have to escape from. 

Roger: Who in your life provides life, work, design for you?

Kason: My wife. She's my, my mirror and my reflection and my accountability partner and in helping her start her own businesses and, and live into these principles. She's also my inspiration in how I actually continue my own design to meet her where she's at. 

Roger: Is there a practice or a routine that helps you grow, nurture or renew your ability to perform life, work, design?

Kason: I would say it's so simple that it's, it's hard. It's this logic of setting the bar low. So it's like how when I, whenever I wanna run an experiment. It's like, how do I set the bar low enough where it's achievable and repeatable so that I do it over and over again and it becomes habit and routine that I can then incorporate into something else bigger.

Roger: Is there a book or a movie that you recently read or watched that you would recommend that has life work designed as a theme? 

Kason: It's a core and true inspiration to me. I am a super huge fan of The Matrix. When you think about the hero journey and the hero story and how Neo had choices to make to either stay in the system and be comfortable or to unplug from it and change everything and inspire a generation of people to work outside the system and truly live.

Um. That's one of those formative things that even as a, a budding high school student and future designer that has stayed with me ever since, 

Roger: I instantly, I was thinking about the red pill, blue pill decision. Yeah. Like do you want to be a designer or do you wanna just follow the rut that you're in? 

Kason: A hundred percent.

As we think about the future, and I know this is pressing on people's minds. I think the reality is, is that the future isn't coming. The future is now. And as you think about the topics and at tenants, you know, in, in this episode today, and not only today, but some of the principles you talk about, um, in, in your podcast and all the different principles that help leaders and people be better at work, that these are, these are now topics and I just want to urge and implore people to start to think about what does it mean for them in the present.

And, and, and to, to live in that now and, and connect with the right kinds of people and the right kinds of content that will help you. Wayfind. 

Roger: I am digging on the polarities you're bringing up. I mentioned before how I, I love how you dance into these polarities and it's not, not that you're spending time on the outside, but you're finding the connective tissue, you're finding the energy between them and this idea of like, you know, the future is now this idea of life work designed.

So you have the life you don't need to escape. Um. And escape and now feel like a little bit of like polarities and that you're, you're giving people the tools to, um, to, to be in the now and even the idea of learn and unlearn and adaptability, the learn and unlearn, those feel like polarities. I love how you're weaving in between those and it, it really speaks to being a designer.

A system thinker and it really jazzes me up. And I love, I love the pivot, the frame, the reframe of, you know, perfection being really attachment to how we want things to be. And it makes me think of the, the FBI, uh, hostage negotiator, Chris Voss, who says, don't be so sure of what you want, that you wouldn't accept something better.

And so all these things are just bubbling up for me. This has been such an amazing conversation. I really like the conversations we've had before. I really, really cherish the time, the wisdom, and just being here and community with you. So thank you so much. 

Kason: Thank you so much for creating the space, um, for having such an important conversation, um, for creating a platform that allows people to think about these.

Kinds of, of topics, um, happy to serve and, and thank you for, for the, the inspiration and, and the opportunity to, to share with your audience. 

Roger: Mm, you're so welcome. Okay. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye now.

Thank you all for being in this conversation with us, and thank you Cason, for sharing your wisdom and knowledge about what it takes to be the designer of our own life work designs. And being in alignment with the holistic experience we want for ourselves. Our families and in our communities. The question I'm asking myself now after this conversation is where in my life work designs am I allowing perfection to get in the way of progress?

What do you know to be true as a three Blue Pens production? And I'm your host, Roger Kastner. We are recording on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people to discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on. Go to http://native lands.ca  

Be well my friends, and as always, love you mean it.