The Preferment course
Last updated: November 2026
The Preferment course meets once a week for eight weeks, with each live session led by Anne van Leynseele and working through her book chapter by chapter.
Rarified Life built the sessions as a structured path rather than a self-help pep talk. You read, you meet, you do the homework, and the following week builds on what you produced. By week eight you have moved through all six modules of the retirement life course.
Every week follows the same four-part rhythm, so you always know what comes next and where your effort goes.
Each week centers on a chapter of the Preferment book, the course companion text.
Work through the chapter with Anne van Leynseele in that week’s live session.
Complete the exercises built into the book between sessions. Real exercises, not busywork.
Bring what you worked out into the next session. Each week builds on the last.
The course listing makes a simple promise: you do not need a five-year plan, you just need a room to start figuring it out in. A weekly live session gives that room a fixed time. Many people who leave a long career lose the structure that kept them moving. The sessions replace a little of that structure while you build your own, which is exactly the job of the Accountability module later in the course.
Anne van Leynseele wrote the book the course follows, so each chapter is discussed with the person who wrote it. Her own background spans four reinventions: a Los Angeles film and television production company she built and sold, digital strategy advising for Fortune 100 companies across three continents, a role as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration, and helping write Washington State's legal framework for recreational cannabis. Today she co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The Rarified Life course listing confirms eight weekly live sessions but does not publish session length, day of the week, time zone, or format. If those details matter for your schedule, check the Preferment course listing on rarifiedlife.com before you enroll. Plan time each week for reading and homework in addition to the live session itself.
Want to know what each week covers? Read the six Preferment modules, step by step, or see how the book and guided homework fit between sessions.
See whether a structured course or one-on-one coaching suits you, then watch the free presentation from Rarified Life as your next step.
