Wonder
What we are missing is wonder.
A friend was talking about living in midlife, having achieved so much, and now feeling stuck without a clear sense of what’s next.
There’s no more wonder, she shared.
Wonder is a feeling. Feelings are motivations. Motivations are what move us to take action.
When was the last time you experienced wonder?
I bet it was too long ago.
What is wonderful? WonderFULL.
Full of the experience of wonder. I looked back to explore the wonderFULL in my life. I then asked, how can I create more wonder?
It would be wonderful when …..
It would be wonderful if…
I feel most wonderful when…
If I was experiencing wonder and feeling wonderful, what would I be doing?
Chip Conley, whom I had the pleasure of meeting years ago when I asked him to speak at a sales conference, is someone I admire for his ability to wonder aloud. He wrote the book Peak, which had a meaningful impact on how I began looking at my life with more ‘joie de vivre’ (joy of life). Chip is now the founder of the Modern Elder Care Organization.
Chip gave me a new understanding of why the midlife morose sets in. He believes we hit a low point in mid-life because we no longer have the rituals of life to look forward to.
The first 30 or so years of our lives are filled with rituals. Graduations. College. First jobs. Career accomplishments. Marriage. Kids. He says these beautiful rituals act as a ‘rest stop for the soul.’
I think rituals keep us on pace and measure our ‘success,’ which is filled with expectations from society and ourselves. Then the kids go to college, and we’ve reached a peak in our careers with decades of experience and ask: What’s next? Is this it?
It's time we change that.
Jane Fonda shared in the book Third Act: I may not be able to do anything about the length of my life, but I can about its width and depth.
Imagine going wide and deep with as much wonder as possible in the years you have left to live.
Let's live the back nine of our lives with more wonder on our terms.
Let’s create new rituals - new markers for success. And with it:
New standards
New expectations
New language
New practices
New acceptance
Let’s role model new behavior for the next generation that the best is yet to come. They are counting on us to show them the way.
We are in the best times of our lives. Here’s some proof.
-Vera Wang started her high-end dress line at 40.
-Henry Ford started Ford at 40.
-Sam Walton founded Walmart at 44.
-Bernie Marcus, Home Depot at 49.
-Milton Hersey went bankrupt 2x before launching Hersey at 46.
-Martha Stewart started her magazine at 46.
-Arianna Huffington started the Huffington Post 54.
-Bill Porter, E-Trade at 63
Let’s not make this list exclusive. They are no different than you or me. They got into possibility and, with a bit of wonder, were motivated by belief to take action, producing wonderful results.
Define your wonderFULL and get to creating more of it.
If you are considering working with a High-Performance Success Coach or want to know more about the components of a coaching engagement, let’s get on a coaching call. As a business coach for women entrepreneurs, Executives, and Teams, my proven engagement method is highly results driven.
The question I get most frequently is, ‘What results can I achieve?’ Here’s what one client shared:
“Coaching is by far the most ROI-positive investment you can make in yourself. Do it! Even if you go in with a specific issue or question, you will be amazed by how the process can change your thinking about who you are, your skills, and where you want to go.”
You can wait for life to no longer be hard. If you are a dreamer and a doer, let’s have a conversation.
High-performance success coaching and business coaching, and life coaching combined for massive value and impact on your life and business.
