The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
—William James
Some call it a pre-mid or mid life crisis. Others, an existentialist catastrophe.
An unnerving sense of unsettlement.
“A disconcerting mixture of nostalgia, regret, claustrophobia, emptiness, and fear”; a projected sequence of accomplishments stretching through the future to retirement, decline, and death.” (Kieran Setiya - “Midlife: A Philosophical Guide”)
A watershed moment.
One which occurs when successful professionals and entrepreneurs at the peak of their career get hit by the cold hard truth of ‘What’s next?’, ‘Is this all I am?’ ‘Is there more?’
They’re one of two ways we can react to the inertia and restlessness that plagues us post success:
With self-importance – I see this all the time. CEOs, celebrities and business leaders, hiding their fear and anxiety of the unknown with superciliousness.
It’s couched in treating others like you’re better than them; in looking down on those who don’t meet your now lofty standards.
In showing off your success and wealth with things and in hobnobbing with only those you deem worthy of your presence.
It can also spiral into excessiveness – over working, an extreme focus on sports or fitness, drinking, shopping or spending – as the chasm created by a lack of meaning beyond success seeks to be filled up by things that don’t really matter.
With selflessness – the rare response. One that takes courage.
I’ll give you an example.
I was at a smart cocktail party with arty types when I bumped into a lovely girlfriend of mine.
She went on to share that she’d decided to leave a very successful career as a senior finance professional and start at the bottom again, in an administrative role at a national arts trust that is known to empower artists in Australia.
Her reasoning was that she wanted to follow her passion and strategically position herself to work in a legacy building capacity in the arts. I encouraged her, delighted to see that she was humble enough to step down from her heights in the finance industry, in order to build a legacy of her own.
Not many people have this kind of courage.
They worry too much about what people will think. How their income will be impacted. How their social standing will slide.
Yet the converse is true. By seeking to leave a legacy, by focusing your post success life on giving back, by living for a purpose higher than yourself, you are setting yourself up for peak self fulfilment.
Legacy is above all. It feeds the soul, nurtures the spirit and best of all allows you to impact lives by sharing the rest of your life in service to others.
Insight Inspiration:
"Legacy is not leaving something for people. It’s leaving something in people." — Peter Strople.
Pursuing your legacy does not mean walking away from a much-loved lifestyle and creature comforts.
It just means that your career, your social standing and your achievements to date are not the end all, be all.
They are simply stepping-stones into your next season.
A season of transformation, renewal, impact, humble giving, sharing and serving others as best as you can.
A season of extreme personal satisfaction and joy.
Know this, the best is yet to come.
However the best is not found in self-indulgence – it’s found in the fellowship and upliftment of others.
Think on it.
