The Natural Path of Your Nature - Sierra Nevada, NV

One fine morning with coffee in hand, you still savor that last sip of your custom brew.  You feel peaceful. Then a fleeting thought stirs up an awareness that you are thinking more and more about your future end of career and your new life. You smile and feel warmer inside…and then you feel a twinge of angst.

These are mixed emotions: joy and apprehension. They swirl around your mind stirred up much like the sweetener you blended into your coffee.

You wonder whether this is a common experience, how successful people deal with it and perhaps when you should begin to resolve this emerging dilemma.

You sense that you must do something.

A Fictional Character that Reflects a Real Person

The following is the gist of the common story of Alex, a fictional character like other accomplished individuals from all walks of life that I am familiar with.

Alex is at that time of his (or her) career when he sees his end of career...

J. P. Cunningham Cabin - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming 

 Its Lasting Value Requires Your Clarity and Conviction

Your life’s purpose is an expression of your character. It does not need to be found; it is already within you.

Clarity of your purpose guides your deliberate decisions as to how you will manifest it…throughout your lifetime.

Clear Questions, Fuzzy Answers

I have the privilege of serving individuals from many walks of life. A significant number are highly trained and experienced in their respective fields. It is my observation that each usually believes that they know both their character and purpose…their Who and Why.

Yet, as these topics are discussed more deeply, it becomes evident to them and me that what seemed clear is really somewhat opaque.

The Ambiguous Lens of Introspection

A major personal impediment to clarity that is critical to developing a holistic understanding of oneself is this:

The common misconception that your...

Ethereal Tranquility - South Fork, Madison River, MT

You Will Benefit Now and After the End of Your Career

I believe that if you reflect upon your personal and professional development over the course of your career, you will probably validate that it paved your path to success. You may also discern that it is a prelude to your ongoing evolution as you begin to envision and prepare for your end of career.

Not so much to somehow brightly, spontaneously illuminate your new path. Rather, to use your skills and wisdom in the service of learning anew. To learn with deliberate purpose about a very unfamiliar, yet promising grand experience.

The end of career. It is a new experience for all of us. For most, it is an exciting time. You will likely have more than one dream…and each will be accompanied by many questions.

To question, to dream. To find answers and bring dreams to life is the essence of your path to a renewed and fulfilling lifestyle.

This is an extraordinary time that...

Exuberant Light of Your Life - Florida

The Timely Creation of Your End of Career and Lifestyle Plan is the Path to Fulfillment

One morning you wake with a yawn, a smile and thoughts about coffee. Then your mood changes somewhat as you feel the emerging realization that the end of your career is visible on your horizon. You smile again, this time with more enthusiasm. You have had a successful career and expect to also succeed in the next phase of your life…as you should and will.

Then you ask yourself: how do I succeed at that?

 You think about some research you have done. But, it occurs to you that you have not really prepared for your end of career transition and its aftermath. You recognize that your life’s experience has taught you that major goals require serious study, focus, discipline and much more.

And sometimes the obvious is worth stating: you have not experienced it yet.

You have considerable comfort knowing that you have been preparing financially to...

Morphing and Maturing Manifest - Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides)

Butterfly Rainforest, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl

The Language You Use to Describe it Can Affect Your Perspective

The end of your career is one of the most significant events of your life. It is a time when you may feel joy, pride, regret, uncertainty, excitement and many other feelings that are unique to each individual.

You may be looking forward to this new phase of your life with stressful uncertainty or joyful  anticipation.  I find that, as it is for others, it is also a time when you may experience a sense of loss of what you are leaving behind.

An optimistic view is that this is a moment of your life that presents you with the opportunity for personal achievement manifested as renewal and ongoing fulfillment.

My Life and Lessons

I have experienced precisely those feelings and much more.

My life experience includes three lessons and observations.

One, is my own end of career Transition. It was...

Fleeting Breezes of Change

Gulf of Mexico, Florida - 2008

What You Choose to Do is as Important as What You Don’t Do

Your end of career is approaching.

Your vision of this new phase of your life is becoming ever more clear.

You are growing more confident that the dreams born of your imagination will become a reality.

Your smile reflects joyful anticipation.

You take a deep, deep breath that parallels the satisfaction you feel for what you have accomplished in life.

You feel deeply the conviction that you have earned the life that your aspire to live…and it really feels good!

As I wrote these words, they seemed to flow easily. They describe my own life experience and that of others I have guided through this phase of their life’s journey.

A Time for You and New Feelings

This is your time for dreaming, planning, executing and experiencing the emerging reality of it all. Amidst the excitement, it is also a time to apply the skills and wisdom you have developed over...

Soaring to Limitless Dreams - The Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park

Wyoming, USA

On Living Where the Location Helps Create Your Moment

You have been thinking lately about your vision for life after your end of career. It is a “big deal” and there is a lot to think about. The end of your planned career Transition may occur in the near future or perhaps years later…but you know that for you, as for all of us, it will happen.

Besides the personal impact on you and your career, it will affect your family, friends, colleagues and co-workers.

Perhaps you already have some questions and are seeking answers.

Among the many questions that abound, there are two very different ones that you will need to answer in order to have a successful Transition. They are:

• Personal - How do I want to live?
• Practical - Where do I want to live?

The Questions are Common, Yet Personal

I and many others I have helped have faced the same questions…and much more.

Some of the...

Authentic Reflections Upon Ourselves - Tufas, Mono Lake, California

Your Board Can Help You Achieve Personal and Professional Success

When people think about their personal and professional development, there is usually a profound awareness that it is largely the result of their own effort. Further consideration leads to the recognition of those persons that cared about their well-being, who taught and mentored them.

Personal guides that influence people’s lives are personified by parents, family, teachers, coaches, professors and mentors. Sometimes you may learn pearls of wisdom from those you barely know. There are times when your other best friend, a book, illuminates your life.

My Giants and Gratitude

I have benefitted immensely from all of the above, initially during my lengthy, formal education. I recognized early on the enormous value they bestowed upon me and I thanked them accordingly. As time progressed, I felt more deeply than ever gratitude for those who cared for...

Rejoice! Dreams on a Blank Sky

It is Essential to First Create a Plan that Provides the Basis for the Date

For most individuals the end of their career, whether relatively early in life or later, is an event they really look forward to. It is a time of joyful anticipation. It is the opportunity for you to create and begin a new life experience. That new life is the manifestation of hopes and dreams delayed. Yet, as it happens with major life events, there are important questions that must be answered.

A very common concern for those that are beginning to envision their future end of career is the need to answer the question: “When?” Whether you are happy and fulfilled with your career experience or not, preoccupation with this and many other questions often abound. These concerns are widespread across vocations and professions.

Particularly for those who are goal oriented, the search for the answer can be very consuming of time and energy. It may tax your emotional...

Clarity, Conviction and Courage: Stability Amidst Change

West Fork, Carson River - 2013

Three Distinct Phases of Transition You Will Likely Experience

There are two words that are sometimes used interchangeably when considering the end of career as though they have the same meaning: change and transition. However, these two words have different meanings. They are not the same thing and what they describe have distinctly different purposes.

What I Learned in My Journey

My personal experience with change and transition illustrates this point. Years ago, I was diagnosed with colon cancer and then developed other medical problems. Together they created a change that ended my plastic surgery career and triggered my end of career Transition. Thankfully, years later I am cured, renewed and fulfilled in my new career.

My end of career Transition did not occur by chance. It was the result of sustained, focused and deliberate effort over a period of time.  That effort was directed at a...