You're planning your career like it's a quarterly earnings report

Every January, you set goals. By March, they often feel off-track or irrelevant.

Annual goal-setting works for sales quotas. For careers, it creates optimization anxiety.

The meaningful stuff in your career—developing deep expertise, building trust networks, learning that builds on itself—takes longer than 12 months. But 10-year plans feel like science fiction.

You need a middle layer. We call them chapters.

What is a career chapter?

A career chapter is a 5-year period with a distinct theme and priority mix across Learning, Alignment, People, Prestige, Pace, and Profit (LA4P).

Not 3 years (too short). Not 10 years (too rigid). Five years: long enough to compound, short enough to adapt.

Over a 40-year career, you get 8 chapters. That's it. Eight distinct periods to explore, build, lead, rest, pivot, or scale.

When you see your career as 8 chapters instead of 40 years, two things happen:

1. You stop optimizing every 18 months. Jumping from one chapter to the next isn't "falling behind"—it's turning the page.
2. You give each chapter its own success metrics. Chapter 1 doesn't need to look like Chapter 5.

The 40yearscareer framework: Chapter-based planning

Traditional career advice treats every year as equally important. The drumbeat is relentless: optimize, grow, promote, repeat.

We think that's exhausting and ineffective.

Instead, structure your 40-year arc around 8 chapters of ~5 years each. Each chapter has different LA4P priorities. What matters in early chapters won't matter later.

Many people find their Chapter 1 begins around 25-30, but yours might be different. You might compress two chapters into one, or stretch one into two. If you started at 28, your Chapter 1 is 28-33. If you took three years off for caregiving, you might extend a chapter or compress the next one. The point is to think in chapters, not years.

Pattern: The annual optimizer vs. the chapter thinker

Francisco is 26, a software engineer, and exhausted from rebalancing his career every quarter.

Every January, he sets aggressive goals: "Ship 2 major features. Get promoted to Senior. Learn Rust. Speak at a conference."

By April, his manager changes. The features get deprioritized. Rust isn't relevant to his team. The conference rejected his talk.

Francisco feels like he's failing. He considers switching companies. Again.

LA4P is our framework for evaluating career fit across six dimensions: Learning, Alignment, People, Prestige, Pace, and Profit—each scored 1-5, for a total possible score of 30. Here's Francisco's current LA4P at his Series B startup:

Total: 20/30 — Solidly good. Not exceptional, not broken.

But when you optimize annually, every "3" feels like failure.

Now imagine Francisco reframes: "I'm in Chapter 1. This chapter's theme is Build Foundation. My priority dimensions are Learning (4) and People (4). Everything else is background noise for now."

His 20/30 looks different. Learning and People are strong. The rest can wait.

Francisco makes three changes:

He stops job-hopping. Instead of updating his resume after every setback, he commits to staying until he's genuinely senior—not just in title, but in capability. That takes 4-5 years, not 18 months.

He stops treating "3s" as problems to fix. Prestige isn't his Chapter 1 priority. Neither is Profit. He's not settling—he's sequencing. Those dimensions can dominate Chapter 2.

He defines "done" for this chapter. By the end of Chapter 1, he wants to be known for one technical specialty (distributed systems) and have a network of 20+ people he'd work with again. That clarity lets him say no to distractions (the Rust side quest, the conference anxiety) and yes to depth.

The shift isn't instant. For the first six months, Francisco still feels the pull to optimize quarterly. When his team gets reorganized, his first instinct is to polish his resume. But he catches himself: "Is this a real signal, or am I just in annual-planning mode?"

He stays. He goes deep on distributed systems. He becomes the person his team asks when they're stuck. He mentors two junior engineers. He builds relationships with engineers at other companies through open source contributions, not conference talks.

By 27, Francisco's Learning has compounded into genuine expertise. His People network becomes referrals and partnerships. When he's ready for Chapter 2, he starts from a position of strength, not exhaustion. His next role will optimize for Profit and Prestige—but he'll get there because he built a foundation first.

Pattern: The chapter transition

Sarah is 31. Former McKinsey, now VP at a Series C. $220K cash, strong equity.

Here's Sarah's current LA4P:

Total: 18/30 — Below average despite the impressive resume.

Sarah's been trying to fix this with annual goals: "Delegate more. Find a coach. Take more vacation." But the problem isn't tactical.

She's trying to force Chapter 2 priorities into a Chapter 1 role.

Sarah is ready for Chapter 2. Her theme should be Build Leverage—use her foundation to do work that compounds, aligns with her values, and doesn't require 60-hour weeks.

But her current role is a Chapter 1 role: high learning curve, prestige-building, pace-intensive. It was perfect at 27. It's suffocating at 31.

When Sarah reframes her restlessness as a chapter transition, not a personal failure, everything clarifies:

• She's not "ungrateful" for her $220K salary—she's in the wrong chapter.
• She doesn't need to "find balance"—she needs a Chapter 2 role where Pace and Alignment score 4+.
• She's not "starting over" if she takes a pay cut—she's turning the page.

Sarah starts looking for roles where Learning (4), Alignment (4), and Pace (4) are possible, even if Profit drops to 4 and Prestige drops to 3. That's a 23/30—much healthier than her current 18/30.

Six months later, Sarah is Head of Product at a mission-driven Series A. She took a $40K pay cut, but her LA4P is now 25/30:

More importantly, she's building something that compounds without her constant input. She's learning how to lead a team to ship valuable products while maintaining sustainable pace. That's the work of Chapter 2.

Pattern: The learning plateau

David is 35, a senior product designer at a Fortune 500 company. He's mastered design sprints. He can ship polished work consistently. But something feels off.

David's LA4P tells the story:

• Learning: 2 (mastered the playbook, no new challenges)
• Alignment: 4 (believes in the product)
• People: 4 (strong team, good manager)
• Prestige: 4 (respected brand)
• Pace: 4 (sustainable hours)
• Profit: 4 (comfortable salary, good benefits)

Total: 22/30 — Decent, but something's missing.

David feels stuck. He's tried annual goals: "Learn Figma's new features. Mentor a junior designer. Ship the redesign faster." None of it addresses the real problem.

The problem is that David is treating a chapter-level issue (Learning has flatlined) like a year-level issue (I need new skills).

David is in Chapter 3. His Chapter 1 and 2 were about skill acquisition—learning design systems, mastering user research, building his portfolio. He's done that work. Chapter 3 isn't about learning more design skills. It's about applying what he knows at scale.

When David reframes, his path clarifies:

His Learning score of 2 isn't failure—it's a signal he's ready to shift from acquiring skills to creating systems others can use. He doesn't need more Figma tutorials. He needs to document his expertise so others can apply it.

David proposes a new initiative: building the company's first design system documentation that non-designers can actually use. It's not a "new skill," but it's a new challenge—one that compounds beyond his individual output.

He spends the next six months creating templates, writing guidelines, and teaching product managers how to make design decisions without designer bottlenecks. His individual output drops. His team's collective output doubles.

His Learning score rises to 4, not because he's acquiring new capabilities, but because he's learning how to create leverage. That's Chapter 3 work.

By the end of this chapter, David will have created a design system that 50+ people use, and mentored 5+ designers to senior level. His Chapter 4 theme will be Lead & Multiply—where he shifts from building systems to building teams.

How to design your chapters (with examples)

You don't need to plan all 8 chapters today. That's the trap of 10-year plans—they fossilize.

Instead, start with your current chapter. Here's how:

1. Name your current chapter

What's the theme? Build Foundation? Scale Impact? Explore Options? Rest & Recharge? Build Leverage?

Ask yourself:

• What skill or capability do I want to be known for by the end of this chapter?
• What trade-offs am I willing to make for the next 5 years?
• What does success look like at the chapter level, not the annual level?

Francisco's Chapter 1 (ages 22-27): Build Foundation

• Theme: Become genuinely senior in one technical area
• Willing to sacrifice: Some Prestige (don't need FAANG), some Profit (market rate is fine)
• "Done" when: I'm a strong senior engineer with a specialty, and I've built a network of 20+ people I'd work with again

Sarah's Chapter 2 (ages 32-37): Build Leverage

• Theme: Lead meaningful work without burning out
• Willing to sacrifice: Some Profit (can drop from top 5% to top 15%), some Prestige (Series A is fine)
• "Done" when: I've proven I can lead a team to ship something valuable while maintaining sustainable pace

David's Chapter 3 (ages 35-40): Apply & Teach

• Theme: Multiply impact through systems and people
• Willing to sacrifice: Some individual output, some external visibility
• "Done" when: I've created systems that 50+ people use, and mentored 5+ designers to senior level

2. Set your LA4P priorities for this chapter

Which 2-3 dimensions matter most right now? Which can be 3s?

Remember: A "3" isn't failure. It's strategic deprioritization. Francisco's Chapter 1 can have Prestige at 3 because he's optimizing for Learning and People. Sarah's Chapter 2 can have Profit at 4 (not 5) because she's optimizing for Alignment and Pace.

To score your current LA4P:

• 5 = Exceptional, top priority, exactly what you need
• 4 = Strong, meeting your needs well
• 3 = Adequate, not a problem but not a priority
• 2 = Below what you need, starting to drain you
• 1 = Significantly misaligned, actively harmful

Your total score (out of 30) matters less than whether your top priorities are 4-5.

3. Sketch the next chapter

Not in detail—just the theme and how priorities might shift.

Francisco's Chapter 1 → Chapter 2: Build Foundation → Build Leverage (shift to Profit and Prestige)

Sarah's Chapter 2 → Chapter 3: Build Leverage → Scale Impact (shift to Prestige and People)

David's Chapter 3 → Chapter 4: Apply & Teach → Lead & Multiply (shift to People and Alignment)

4. Review every 12-18 months

Not to change chapters, but to check: Am I still in the right chapter? Is it time to turn the page?

Three signals that it's time for a new chapter:

• Your LA4P priorities have shifted (what you valued 3 years ago doesn't resonate now)
• You've achieved the chapter's "done" criteria
• You're bored or burned out in ways that tactics can't fix

Not every restless moment is a chapter transition. But if the feeling persists for 6+ months, it's worth examining.

Try this: Your 30-second chapter audit

Want to see if you're thinking in chapters or quarters? Answer these three questions:

1. What would you title your current chapter? (3-4 words)
2. Which 2 LA4P dimensions matter most to you right now?
3. What would make this chapter feel complete? (One sentence)

If you can't answer these clearly, you're probably optimizing annually. That's not wrong—it's just exhausting.

What about non-linear chapters?

Careers aren't always linear. Sometimes chapters compress (industry disruption turns 5 years into 3), extend (caregiving stretches a chapter to 7 years), or overlap (a side project becomes your main career while you finish Chapter 1). Sometimes the chapter is "Rest & Recharge," and that's not lost time—it's necessary work. These aren't rigid rules. They adapt to your life. And if you're 35 and feel like you've "wasted" two chapters? You haven't. You've learned what doesn't work. That clarity is the foundation for Chapter 3.

How chapters connect to your long game

Chapters are the middle layer between your 10-year self and your daily work.

When you evaluate a job offer, you're not asking "Is this good for 2026?" You're asking "Does this serve my current chapter's theme?"

When you feel burned out, you're not asking "Is this a bad week?" You're asking "Is this a signal that my chapter is ending?"

Most people spend more time planning a wedding than planning a career chapter—not from carelessness, but because they lack a framework. Chapters give you that framework.

We built 40yearscareer to help you design and track your 8 chapters

Our tool lets you:

• Map your 40-year arc into chapters with distinct themes
• Track LA4P ratings over time to see when priorities shift
• Evaluate decisions (job offers, pivots, rest periods) in chapter context
• Get prompts every 6 months: "Is this still the right chapter?"

It's free to start. No "career optimization." No hustle culture. Just a framework for the long game.