At some point in every life, there comes a time when you will “step off the stage.” You will step into a new paradigm, a new realm of reality, a new experience in which you find new focus and can discover that there is true life after career.
While it may sound exciting to find yourself no longer involved in the “daily grind” of work, it can be very challenging psychologically. You move from a setting of either initiating tasks for others to taking part in tasks assigned to you; or, to one where no one other than possibly a spouse or significant other really cares if you have tasks at all. It is a detachment from your version of reality to one of a reality that you perhaps never thoughtfully encountered. Your new reality always existed but you never really devoted the time during your work experience to examining its potential to alter your life’s course. Now you find yourself confronting this little known sphere of uncertainty as you attempt to readjust and refocus on what has become an uncharted way of life.
Benjamin Franklin was concluding a moving speech on the guarantees of the new Constitution when a heckler shouted out, “Aw, those words don’t mean anything! Where’s all the happiness you say it guarantees us?” Franklin smiled and calmly silenced his critic. “My friend, the Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself!” As you step off the stage, you indeed have to catch the newness of the opportunity you worked so diligently to obtain. You must release what you have deemed lost and seize what you have been given to better direct your experience and find the happiness and completeness that is yours for the taking.
Here are some simple tips that will help you in your quest to find what truly lies ahead while adjusting to what has been left behind. May these tips enable you to have more fun, find complete happiness and clearly discover that stepping off the stage simply allows you to discover more life after career.
1) Develop a “Cortes Mindset.” When Hernan Cortes was commissioned by the king of Spain to settle the new world, he pondered how he might gain the full commitment from his men. To insure their full commitment to the task, he ordered his ships burned. In doing so, his entire command was forced to place a focus on their mission of settling into the new world. To adapt to the new life you gain following your transition, you must embody the same mindset. You must have full commitment to and in your new task and not second guess your decision nor inadvertently sabotage efforts to begin anew. Only through such a mindset will you be able to provide the attention and dedication to making your new life direction successful.
2) Re-examine your purpose. Buckminster Fuller stood on the snow-covered shores of Lake Michigan preparing to jump into the freezing waters. The 32-year-old bankrupt dropout gazed into the heavens as he pondered, “Do I have the right to end my life?” The answer came to him quickly. He did not have the right to eliminate himself. Everyone is responsible for grabbing hold of life. Perhaps what you thought was your purpose is actually not your purpose. To that end, you must devote time to think through this issue. You must not ponder upon what you have done, but focus on what lies undone in your life. Grab hold of new potentials. Build your new story. Grab the discovery of your “true” purpose in life and put it to work guiding you to new horizons that brings greater meaning to your daily activities. When you have “true” purpose, you will never fail for lack of talent.
3) Continue to grow. President Harry Truman said, “Life is iffy.” You will enjoy your life more if you will expose yourself to the unfamiliar. You only become “more” when you choose to grow and stretch yourself. You may be tempted to stop and coast but you can’t. When you stop growing and pushing yourself to gain new knowledge, you will become much like the flower that receives no moisture: you wither and soon die. Noted teacher and writer Ronald E. Osborn points out, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”
4) Never allow the “little things” to dominate. Dr. Richard Carlson in his great book, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff …and it’s all small stuff, pointed out that people get all worked up about things that upon a closer look, aren’t really that big a deal. As you begin this phase in your life, it is easy for you to also get “worked up” as you gaze upon all those plaques and awards, remembering the corner office and ponder why you are now not given any special privileges as you travel this new life pathway. Anger, guilt, self-doubt, worry, fear, hopelessness and anxiety all come about when you allow yourself to be governed by the emotional memories that can sidetrack your new life and cloud your mind with “if only’s.” Stand aside. Take responsibility and remove judgment. Tap into your new reality that will help you overcome those irritants. Focus on the bigger picture and avoid experiencing one drama after another. As the prayer proclaims, “Change the things that can be changed, accept those that cannot, and have the wisdom to truly know the difference.”
5) Learn to REALLY have some fun. Country music performer Garth Brooks said, “Just keep taking chances and having fun.” In your life career when did you really have fun? Fun that was free from worry about returning email, phone calls or thinking about how sales and operational goals could be accomplished as time closed on the current year? Even when you thought you were having fun with friends, family or colleagues, most likely it was not pure in its setting. Fun is a too often under performed and greatly misunderstood interaction. When employed properly it relieves tension, sidesteps defiance, combats conflict and elevates positive attitudes. Fun will also lay the foundational footprint to build cooperation, produce forgiveness and reconciliation, grow joy, wisdom, foster dreams and absolute passion. It is now time to have fun. Fun that no longer restricts but allows you to laugh with conviction, smile with sincerity and experience unrestricted euphoria as you cascade your new life pathway. Fun will help you build the new you. As NFL coach Bum Phillips said, “Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.”
Stepping off the stage while demanding a shift in your lifestyle will not change who you are. To the contrary, it just may help you truly find the person you are meant to be. As you ponder your steps, use the above tips to allow those steps to lead you along a new pathway filled with fun experiences and a clear focus for a bright new rewarding future.
Think BIG! Coaching and Training, Inc.
Herman Dixon
Author, Speaker, Executive Advisor
P. (304) 839-5101
Thoughts to Think BIG! 