“Life doesn’t follow a straight path” is a cliché, but as my mama always says, “They’re called truisms because they’re true.” So many unexpected things shape your life. I meant to stay in Sacramento temporarily on my way to San Francisco but ended up falling in love and living there for two years. When I finally got to San Francisco I picked up a part-time gig reviewing websites and ended up falling in love with the internet, which became my career.
Life cycles through phases of discovery, growth, refinement, and endings—some planned, some less so. My 4E’s framework—Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exit—offers a way to make sense of these transitions and gain more control over the path you take. While my 4E framework is often used in the context of products or business, it applies just as well to navigating the natural phases of our personal and professional lives.
At the heart of it all is continuous reflection, and for me, that means using personal OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). OKRs have transformed how I approach life’s challenges, keeping me on track through every phase. They’re not just about goal-setting—they’re about intentional living.
Here’s how the 4E’s framework has guided my life and how OKRs helped me stay true to my values along the way.
Explore: Trying to Find What’s Next
The Exploration phase begins with curiosity and the desire for change. Sometimes we enter it when we feel stuck or burned out, but it can also come from a place of excitement—when we find something that sparks joy, just as I felt when I discovered the web.
I entered an Explore phase after I quit the tech industry in 2012. I was burned out in every possible way: insomnia, acid reflux, depression. I walked away from my job, but once the dust settled, I had no idea what to do next.
So, like a good Lean Startup practitioner, I started by forming hypotheses.
I’ve always loved food, so I thought: What if I worked with food? I found a “serious amateur” culinary school program that let you try the first six weeks of training without committing to the full course. It was a perfect experiment. The answer came quickly: I adored learning about cooking, but the physical demands were brutal. I never would have learned that without trying it out.
Next, I thought about trying food startups. I consulted for a lunch delivery service, which gave me an honest view of the food industry. I learned that the margins in food are razor-thin, and the things you have to do to stay in business would have killed my love for food entirely. That wasn’t a trade I was willing to make.
At that point, I pivoted to a new hypothesis: What if I taught? I’d run workshops at tech conferences and enjoyed them, so teaching seemed worth exploring. I found a gig teaching a night class at General Assembly, which gave me my first taste of formal teaching. I liked it a lot. Then I taught a two-month bootcamp, working 10 hours a day every day. That I did not like.
Through these experiments, I discovered that I loved teaching. But I also learned that I needed time in my life to write and to play. These early tests set the stage for everything that came next.
Exploration saved me from bad decisions. By running small, low-risk tests, I avoided diving headfirst into paths that weren’t right for me and gained clarity about what I truly wanted.
In order to keep myself focused on the next phase of my life and not slide backwards into another tech job, I hired a coach to keep me honest and used OKRs to fill the gap in goals that work provides.
How Personal OKRs Guided Me in Explore
My objective was to model a sustainable, happy life. But that’s more of a life mission. I had to ask myself, what’s a good a three-month objective considering the problem I was solving was making work be good for me again? It was my very first personal objective so it’s a bit overstuffed.
Objective: Be financially stable while preserving my health and doing work I enjoy.
My Key Results made the goal measurable, and they were stretch goals:
•KR1: Earn $30k over three months doing work I’d happily do even if I weren’t paid.
•KR2: Create and stick to a manageable budget that accurately predicted my expenses.
•KR3: End the quarter with zero acid reflux and zero back pain.
If you’re thinking, Christina, that second one looks like a task, well, it was a stretch for me, and honestly, it still is.
Tracking these OKRs weekly helped me evaluate progress and course-correct. By the end of the quarter, I had a clearer picture of what sustainable, fulfilling work looked like and was ready to move forward with confidence.
Expand: Building on What You’ve Found
Once you’ve found something that resonates, the Expand phase begins. This is when you commit to growth—deepening your skills, building relationships, and broadening your reach.
For me, the Expand phase began when I took a part-time teaching role at California College of the Arts (CCA). Teaching one elective gave me a chance to refine my teaching skills while maintaining balance in my life. Around this time, I also started writing Radical Focus.
Over the next four years, I grew in both areas. At CCA, I expanded my teaching portfolio, eventually taking on a full load of courses. At the same time, I wrote more books, finding a rhythm that allowed me to balance my work as a teacher and an author.
Then a friend called with an opportunity to teach at Stanford. At first, I hesitated—I was happy, and my motto is don’t mess with happy—but I decided to give it a try. The opportunity to shape the thinking of the next generation of teach leaders was too tempting. I started part-time and, as I fell in love with my colleagues and students, eventually transitioned to full-time.
In my Explore phase, I’d discovered that teaching was at the core of what I love to do. I’d argue that writing books is a form of teaching as well (at least the type I write). I’ve since added an online course to my teaching portfolio, which allows me to share knowledge with an even broader audience while still having time for the live classroom. This diversified revenue stream also protects me from changes in the market and allows me to focus on my calling.
How Personal OKRs Kept Me Aligned in Expand
During Expand, I focused on launching and growing offerings that aligned with my values while maintaining sustainability. A future objective will be:
Objective: Successfully launch a second self-paced course.
To ensure the launch is successful, my Key Results will be clear, outcome-driven metrics:
•KR1: Achieve a 30% conversion rate from my mailing list to course enrollment, demonstrating strong demand and engagement.
•KR2: Generate $40,000 in revenue within the first quarter of the course’s launch, indicating financial viability.
•KR3: Maintain an average course rating of 4.5 or higher, proving high-quality content and customer satisfaction.
These OKRs provide a concrete way to measure success while ensuring I stay focused. When I choose this OKR it means I’ll chose not to write another book or do corporate training. Too often we (ok me) try to do too much and end up doing nothing.
By tracking these outcomes weekly, I can adjust my efforts as needed. For instance, if early feedback suggested a specific module was unclear, I could refine it before it impacted the course’s overall rating. If mailing list engagement fell short, I’ll revisit my email campaign strategy to boost conversions.
This is theoretical because I’ll be choosing where to focus over the next month in order to enter the new year with impact.
Exploit: Sustaining and Optimizing What Works
The Exploit phase is about making the most of what you’ve built—sustaining success, optimizing for efficiency, and extracting long-term value. This isn’t about stagnation; it’s about maintaining balance, improving where it matters, and letting go of unnecessary reinvention.
Leveraging Exploit in Teaching
Teaching is inherently dynamic. Industries evolve, students change, and new tools emerge. So, when I think about exploiting my classes, it’s not about teaching them on autopilot. Instead, I reflect on whether the course is strong enough to be taught as-is or whether it needs updates to stay relevant and engaging.
Some classes are in a sweet spot where they only need small tweaks—updating examples, refining assignments, or adding a case study. Other times, I notice a gap in the material that needs addressing. I’m in my third year of teaching Product Management, and every time, it takes all my attention because it’s such a dynamic field. Balancing stability and improvement is part of what makes teaching rewarding.
Exploitation for Writing and the Future
Books are easier to exploit because they’re shipped products. Once a book is published, it exists out in the world, continuing to earn for you with little ongoing effort. I do a little marketing here and there—a talk or a podcast—but mostly I leave them alone.
That said, sometimes a book needs revisiting. Recently, I updated Radical Focus because I’d learned so much more since the first edition. Updating wasn’t just about staying relevant—it was about ensuring it continued to deliver value to readers.
Exploit also requires preparation. My books and online courses generate passive income that will enable retirement, ensuring that when it’s time to step back, I’ll have the resources I need.
How Personal OKRs Work in the Exploit Phase
During Exploit, I set OKRs to optimize and sustain what I’ve built. For example, an annual OKR might look like:
Objective: Maximize the impact of my existing teaching and writing portfolio.
•KR1: Increase book sales by 10% quarter-over-quarter.
•KR2: Maintain an average student feedback score of 4.8 or higher.
•KR3: Generate $100k in passive income from book royalties and courses, demonstrating financial sustainability.
Exit: Letting Go to Create Space for What’s Next
Every phase eventually comes to an end. Exiting isn’t about failure—it’s about recognizing when something has run its course and deciding to let it go with intention. It’s not always easy, especially when you’ve invested deeply in a role, a project, or even an identity. But exiting is necessary to create space for the next chapter.
For me, the biggest exit of my life was leaving the tech industry. Walking away from Zynga wasn’t just a career change—it was a complete reset. It marked the end of a chapter that had defined my life for years and left me standing at the edge of the unknown. That exit was terrifying, but it also opened the door to everything that came after: exploring new possibilities, building a teaching career, and writing books that bring me joy.
Exits don’t always have to be dramatic. They can happen gradually, like scaling back involvement in a project or phasing out a habit. I think about this often when I consider my future. While I love teaching, I know there will come a time when I’ll want to step back. That’s why I’ve focused so much on building passive income streams through books and online courses—tools that will allow me to exit teaching gracefully when the time comes.
Exiting is also about honoring what came before. Just because something no longer serves you doesn’t mean it wasn’t valuable. When I left the tech industry, I carried lessons from that chapter with me—about leadership, resilience, and the importance of creating a balanced life. Every exit adds something to your story, even as it clears space for what’s next.
How Personal OKRs Can Guide Exits
One of my life rules is: “Go out clean.” When I quit a job, that means I’ve lined up a successor and documented everything that needs documenting. While I’m not exiting this phase of my life yet, thinking about it has helped me imagine what a thoughtful exit might look like.
If I were to create an OKR set for my eventual exit, it might look something like this:
Objective: Exit with No Regrets.
•KR1: Successfully transition or sunset all my classes.
•KR2: Ensure colleagues have clear documentation to learn from what I’ve learned.
•KR3: Achieve retirement revenue of $X to sustain the life I want.
Just writing this has me reflecting on the work I’ll need to do in the coming years to ensure a graceful exit. It’s also got me thinking about my legacy. Should I be writing more about what I’ve learned about teaching—the inventions that have worked, the best practices I’ve refined? What stories or lessons should I leave behind for others to build on?
I recommend you take time to contemplate your own eventual exit. It doesn’t have to be about retirement—it could be leaving your current job, company, or even industry. What would “going out clean” look like for you? How would you like to leave things better than you found them?
Where Are You Now?
The 4E’s framework—Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exit—offers a powerful way to think about life’s natural cycles. But understanding the framework is only the beginning. To navigate these phases with intention, you need tools to guide your reflection and ensure you’re aligning your actions with your values. For me, that tool is personal OKRs.
Personal OKRs help turn broad aspirations into actionable goals. Whether you’re exploring new possibilities, expanding into growth, optimizing what you’ve built, or preparing for an exit, OKRs create clarity and accountability. They allow you to measure outcomes, not just effort, and adapt your path based on what you learn along the way.
So, where are you now? Are you exploring a new direction, expanding something you’ve already started, exploiting a long-term success, or thinking about your next big exit? Whatever phase you’re in, take the time to write an OKR set for yourself. Define an objective that inspires you, pair it with measurable key results, and check in regularly to track your progress.
Life is too important to leave to chance. Personal OKRs give you the structure to live with intention, reflect with purpose, and move forward confidently into your next phase. Where will your next OKR set take you?