At the beginning of my career I trained as an early childhood educator. At that time I was introduced to the works of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson who had both identified that we grow and develop through a series of stages – in our thinking and our personality respectively. I became fascinated with this whole area of developmental patterns.

I soon began to appreciate that the concept of seven-year life cycles had ancient roots. Through my exploration of yoga I learned about the seven major chakras and their influence on our development over time. I also learned that Ptolemy (an ancient Greek philosopher) had identified seven stages of human development through a connection to the planets and their speed of movement around the zodiac.

And as I came to better understand my own patterns, I discovered the work of Rudolph Steiner. He also recognised seven-year cycles in our development, and the names he assigned to those stages made a lot of sense to me:

 

Ages 0 to 7:              Coming into life

Ages 7 to 14:            Stronger health & healing abilities

Ages 14 to 21:          The emotional realm comes into being

Ages 21 to 28:          Play that turns to responsibility

Ages 28 to 35:          Peaking

Ages 35 to 42:          A time of challenge and crises

Ages 42 to 49:          Effectiveness of Earth

Ages 49 to 56:          A growing vision and understanding of life

Ages 56 to 63:          The crossroads – mastery of re-evaluation

Ages 63 to 70:          A time of harvesting and spreading the wealth

Ages 70 +:                Reflection

 

As well as the seven-year cycles themselves, there is also significance in the midpoints of those cycles, i.e. 3.5 years, 10.5 years, 17.5 years etc. These often represent a significant turning point in that phase of development.

My thinking about seven-year cycles has returned to the front of my mind recently as I’ve discussed career and life development with several leaders. A number of them are questioning what is important for them at this time in their career, the impact they are having on others and the consequences of that, and their ability to truly be who they are in their current work environment.

In these discussions I have shared my learnings about seven-year cycles and encouraged the leaders to reflect on their lives and their careers in this context. What they discover when they do this is that patterns emerge in their lives, often around this general pattern of cycles and turning points. Sometimes they see cycles of simplicity and rest that are followed by cycles of complexity and movement relating to jobs, geographical locations and/or relationships (or vice versa). Some recognise cycles in their personal lives during a stable period in their career; some the opposite. There are also cycles of feeling ‘on top of everything’ and other cycles where it all feels both daunting and unknown.

Gaining these insights and a greater understanding of what they may represent (within a theoretical context) has enabled these leaders to explore more deeply their reasons for wanting to do things very differently. It has helped them come to terms with feeling confused about their work, values, relationships and life’s direction.

In the end, we generally find that each phase brings us a new perspective on our life and the direction we are taking. Each cycle offers us an opportunity to learn and experience things that will help us in the phases ahead of us. If you haven’t done it, I would highly recommend that you take the time to reflect on your own life and see what patterns emerge.

 

Gayle