The Relocation Decision: How to Choose a Future, Not Just a Job

You're offered a promotion. It's a 30% raise and a great title, but there's a catch: you have to relocate to a new city. You have two weeks to decide.

This isn't just a career decision; it's a life decision. And the way most people make it is fundamentally broken.

The Common (and Flawed) Approaches

1. The "Number Chase" (Reactive Thinking)
"A 30% raise sounds great and it's good for my career. If the job looks good, I'll take it".

• Why it fails: You've anchored on a single, immediate metric (salary) and are blind to the 100 other variables that will actually determine your happiness.

2. The "Current Facts" (Deliberate Thinking)
"I'll research the new city: cost of living, housing prices, what it's like to live there. Then I'll weigh that against the raise".

• Why it fails: This is better, but you're still just analyzing static, present-day data. You're comparing two spreadsheets. You're missing the most important factor: time. You're not just moving to a new city; you're moving into a new future.

3. The "Financial Plan" (Structured Thinking)
"I'll create a detailed timeline: moving costs, a budget, and the financial impact over the next 1-2 years".

• Why it fails (subtly): This is an excellent financial projection, but it is not a life projection. It doesn't account for the social, emotional, and psychological consequences that will almost certainly matter more than the money.

A Better Way: The Systematic Approach

The systematic move for a decision this large is Forward Time Travel. You must stop comparing the present-day options and start comparing the future trajectories they create.

The goal is to project the cascading, second-order consequences across multiple time frames and multiple life domains.

Step 1: Project to Month 3

• The Reality: The "honeymoon phase" of the new job is over. The 30% raise has been absorbed by a higher cost of living.
• The Real Questions: I'm in a new city where I know no one. How is that isolation actually affecting my mental health and my productivity? How is it straining my relationship with my partner or my connection to my family back home?

Step 2: Project to Year 2

• The Reality: The novelty is completely gone. This is just "life" now.
• The Real Questions: Is the work actually fulfilling, or was it just a prestigious title? What career doors has this move opened? More importantly, what doors has it closed? Am I building the skills I want, or am I now locked into a specific path I'm not sure I want?

Step 3: Project to Year 5

• The Reality: This decision has now defined half a decade of your life.
• The Real Questions: Where has this trajectory led me? Am I building the life I want, or am I just climbing a ladder someone else built? What if I realize I value community and family proximity more than I valued this career jump? How hard is it to get that back?

The "Aha!" Insight

You are not choosing between "Job A" and "Job B." You are choosing between "Year-3 Life A" and "Year-3 Life B." The decision isn't about the appeal of Month 1; it's about which future version of your life you are consciously choosing to build.

Your Next Move

This scenario is just one of 12 from the Systematic Thinking Scorecard.

The ability to project future consequences is one of the four key moves of a systematic thinker. To see how you score on this and the other three capabilities, download the free scorecard. It’s a 5-minute diagnostic to find your starting point for a major upgrade.