Enter free agency just like pro athletes.

They rent themselves out for relatively short periods of time – one to seven years at the best price they can get.

But it works for the rest of us, too.

Here’s what I do.

In a few weeks, I’ll reconvene at the Jersey Shore to decide how I want to spend the next year.  I like one-year arrangements because I own the company, but I have done longer deals with employers.

Should I continue writing my websites?  Change the model?  Launch short form video projects?  Do more speaking and seminars?  Write another book?

I factor in things like compensation, family and personal happiness and location.

I clear my mind of any prejudices I might have about what I did last year and face any fears of doing something completely unknown.

Within days I have a digital device full of notes and ideas and before the week is out I will either recommit to what I am doing, change some of it, change all of it or disrupt my career.

Avoiding getting stuck in a career and a life that has become monotonous is the goal.  I feel like I am actually taking charge of my life by going through this quite pleasant process every summer while vacationing.

Even for those of us with careers that are hard to leave – medicine or law come to mind – going through this process reinvigorates you when you consciously re-up for another year as your best chosen option.

I have more details on how to become a free agent in my book Out of Bad Comes Good – The Advantages of Disadvantages in Chapter 10 (Career Chaos).

I’ve made the chapter available free for those interested – read it here.