Now that you are bursting with new energy and inspiration, this last part of the series is about empowering you to commit to some practical steps that will jolt you into action when you’re done!
“Inspiration, without action, is merely entertainment. While something can be very inspiring, it is only transformative when you ACT on your inspiration today!” Mary Morrisey
A Toolkit for Successfully Making a Life Transition
Where does one even start? Who do I need? What do I need? Here is a toolkit that you can use, a sort of Swiss Army knife.
Set time out (this can be continuous or cold turkey, but even after cold turkey, time out must be continuous) to identify, confront, clarify, confess, interrogate, seek help, and reconcile your life journey. You want to make peace with your experience, qualifications, gifts, interests, values, spirituality and personality to find what you want to be remembered for or apply them to solve humanity problems, find meaning out of life or reproduce success in others, and so on.
Have you ever taken time out to reflect (made a scheduled pit stop) in an otherwise highly performance-driven fast lane life?
Work with others who have got to where you are aiming to get or are on their way there. They are great company for encouragement and support. Most importantly, think about who will keep you accountable and form a support system with them.
Do you have leaders around you, or do you need to identify them? Consider serving them in one way or other that they have a need in, for example, be a driver, editor of their work, etc (as they tend to be busy people).
Mentor others who challenge you and for whom you can form a support and accountability system. Walking alone, you can only achieve so much. What records did you not break? What dreams did you not achieve? Whom or what group of mentees can you support individually or cumulatively to break the record books?
Do you have a group you can lead or serve in? Find a problem you are passionate about and look for groups around you, serving in them to help fix that problem.
Be present and purposeful about investing time and resources in tracking progress in these areas of life-spirituality, marriage, children, health, work, finances, serving others, continuous life education and having a teachable spirit to achieve a balanced life.
As a new year, season or decade starts, can you identify which area of your life from the above list you can focus on in groups of three (for example, spirituality, marriage, finances)? Then, make a plan to focus on them like a major for three years and have another set of three (serving, work, children-depending on what age they are) as a minor. You will be surprised at what you see in hindsight, 10 years later after three cycles.
At the end of your transition, if you prepare adequately, you will be renewed, feel younger and with much more potency than you’ve probably ever had. You should be clear on how your family, work, community and world will benefit from what will be consuming your mind and time.
For me, the world will benefit from a pool of empowered leaders who will be building and modelling profitable impactful MSME’s, innovations and manufacturing plants in Africa’s healthcare sector.
Your Next steps, before you’re ‘jolted’ to action by circumstances beyond your control:
Eugene O'Kelly was a former Chairman and CEO of KPMG, one of the largest U. S. accounting firms and one of the Big Four auditors. Eugene was elected Chairman and CEO of KPMG in 2002 for a term of six years [It was a position he had sacrificed a lot to get to. Long ungodly hours, business travelling the world, neglecting being present with the family for a future dream life post retirement, jostling to get this key job].
In May 2005, at age 53, Eugene was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor [and tragically given 90 days to live, he ended up living for nearly 60 days more than that.] Source, Wikipedia
Get a copy of the book he wrote before he died and see what Eugene had to say about making a transition into a more balanced and meaningful life and what his next steps were.
Here are a set of questions to help you with your next steps, before things tragically move out of your control.
You've had an amazing life up until now. What is your state of fulfillment with your spiritual, marriage, children, business, career, life's work and community?
[Rate with between (10) for deeply meaningful and fruitful or (1) unimpacted and needs work.]
If you knew you only had three years to live. What needs to change in your life priorities to give yourself the highest rating of fruitfulness and fulfillment in what is important to you with (1) above? Are you spending enough time on this right now?
In what different ways will taking this challenge (2) stretch & grow you? What is stopping you from doing this – now? What tragic ‘jolt’ needs to happen before you move?
Why should the world (community), Your world (family, colleagues, boss, employees, life's work), Care for your success with it? Who will this impact? In what ways?
If you do move in that direction (2). What step are you committing to start from, today? Who will you call on today to equip & empower you to clarify your personal Inventory Check, Plan, Guide and Community?
Disclaimer:
Knowing what I know now, no one has to quit their job, sell their business, run from one conflict, pressure or the other or unfortunately wait for a tragedy to happen to achieve a successful transition. Neither does all the change need to happen all at once, now or navigated through alone.
Transition is simply about equipping and strengthening for gradual change into the ideal future you truly desire and want to be remembered for.
Parts one and two of this article can be found here and here, respectively.
About the Author
Dr. Louis is a seasoned healthcare entrepreneur and leadership coach. He is currently leading a healthcare platform and technology company, Medkit Network, while empowering business owners, CEO's and Executives to build impactful, more innovative and resilient startups, change-focused and growth-focused companies. He serves in & gives through various boards aligned to the causes he believes in, he’s a pharmacist and current President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya.
You can send him your insights & questions on Twitter or Email.
Leave a reply