Regression
“Least Squares Regression: A form of mathematical regression analysis used to determine the line of best fit for a set of data, providing a visual demonstration of the relationship between the data points.”
~ Investopedia
For 20+ years, I lived a life of “least squares regression.” I even remember the formula, y=a+bx, if you are interested. In far simpler terms than the definition above, a least squares regression helps determine the likely behavior of one variable given changes in another. For instance, we used to find trends in changes to interest rates and existing home sales.
The classic example is tracking the time studied relative to grades received. While there is a correlation, many other variables (focus, distraction, ability to retain information, etc.) could affect it as well. The regression allowed us to isolate two of those variables and see the correlation of the likely line or trend over time.
I am almost a decade and a half beyond my investment career, but that concept is as useful as it ever was. As part of our powerful Life Planning process, we plot the data points of a life story. There is a horizontal timeline but a vertical point of reference for each data point, given the level of joy or sorrow associated with each event.
We see, almost every time, through a process of deep and thoughtful questioning, that there are least squares regressions in everyone’s life story. You can see the trends in life if you are curious and allow them to be connected, but it also allows you to shape an aspirational future through the understanding of how certain variables were affected by one another.
“Now I have had most of the life I am going to have, and I can see what it has been. I can remember those early years when it seemed to me I was cut completely adrift, and at times when, looking back at earlier times, it seemed I had been wandering in the dark woods of error. But now it looks to me as though I was following a path that was laid out for me, unbroken, and maybe even as straight as possible, from one end to the other, and I have this feeling, which never leaves me anymore, that I have been led. I will leave you to judge the truth of that for yourself.”
Jayber Crow finds what we have come to know deeply. Every life story has connective tissue, clear trends hidden in the folds of each story that are revealed through thoughtful introspection. Given the time and process to see it clearly, the way forward becomes clear and incontrovertible. Once seen and captured in an aspirational vision of the regressed data points lived into the future, it is almost impossible not to see it through.
Consider
What does the story you live say about the best life forward for you?
Have you taken the time to thoughtfully approach your life story with curiosity and expectations that require a more aspirational future?
Are you ready to do the courageous work of mapping a better adventure for the rest of your life?
Visit our Life Planning website to learn more about the 3-day process and event dates