We find ourselves in an unprecedented time in history – The most educated people in history, with a world full of options for meaningful work, yet many of us are unsure of just where we belong.  Many men and women especially in the 30’s and 40’s are questioning the world view of success and are looking for more meaning and purpose in their lives.  In this talk Dr Edward Gifford draws on his own experience and the work of Bob Buford and Kevin McCarthy to explore how we can we can deal with the issues of “Half-Time”  in a practical, life changing way. How we can move from success to significance.

In a few hundred years when the history of our time is written from a long term perspective I wonder what historians will see as the most important event of our time? Will it be technology? Will it be the Internet? or will it be e-commerce? There is a strong argument to believe that it will be none of these. I believe social historians will argue that the most important event in our time will be the unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time in the history of human kind, substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people (In the Western World) have choices about life and how they manage themselves. Sadly, most of us are totally unprepared for it. 

• Up until 1900, even in the most highly developed countries, the overwhelming majority of people, simply followed their fathers footsteps - and then, only if they were lucky.  (e.g. peasant farmer, craftsman).
• Upward mobility was unheard of.
• Today, a large number of people choose what they want to be and they often have more than one career.
• Today, the average working life span is close to 60 years.  In 1920 it was 20 years.
• For many of us, we no longer believe that retirement means the end of our working lives.
• Retirement may come much earlier than ever but for many of us, working life will continue either out of economic necessity or will be a choice based on preference.
• Research by Peter Drucker has indicated that executives in their mid forties (business sector 60%, non-business 40%) all say “I do not expect to end my career where I am working now.”
• This unprecedented age of options provides hope for some, confusion for many and despair for others.

Where do you fit into all of this? Are you fulfilled in your life right now or do you feel there is something missing from your life?

Questions to Ponder

• Do you know why you are on this planet?
• Do you know your purpose in life?
• Have you mapped out where you are headed?
• What is your passion?
• Is your life aligned with your passion?
• Do you know what you are good at? Do you work well with people or are you a loner?
• What are your values?
• What are you committed to? 
• Do you know what you need to know to get the full benefits of your strengths?
• Do you know where you belong?
• Do you know what kind of temperament you have and what sort of person you are?

Many people often know the answers to these questions intuitively, but because they do not work through them systematically, they do not live fulfilled lives or reach their potential.

So we find ourselves in an unprecedented time in history – The most educated people in history, with a world full of options for meaningful work, yet many of us are unsure of just where we belong.

Those who want to live a fulfilling life feeling that they have a purpose for being on this planet will have to learn to manage themselves.  We have to accept that it is our responsibility to find meaningful work that builds on our purpose, strengths and values.  The path from success to significance needs to be intentional, focussed and planned.

This talk is based on the work of Bob Buford (2001) Stuck in Half Time and is for those of you who have began exploring half time, who have begun to seek a life of significance and meaning, but who are not quite there yet.

• Halftime is when you move from “success” to “significance.”
• Success in the very narrowest sense of the word, is doing reasonably well at your chosen career
• The first half of our lives makes huge demands upon us. The years between twenty-something and forty-something are not easy.
• Very competitive work culture with conditions changing overnight
• Raising kids, solidifying a marriage (or two)
• Making our mark at work

The combination of marriage, family and career, personal fitness and community involvement is very time consuming - which explains the appeal of Halftime.  By the time we approach our fourth decade, anything that promises relief, gets our attention.

It is the potential of this relief – the decision to cut the ties and go for it, that brings intense and often contradictory emotions: a mixture of joy and regret – freedom from the past and uncertainty about the future.

• Do you feel something is still missing even though you should be feeling you have made it; that the kids are now headed for Uni or TAFE; that your work has settled down into a comfortable routine; that most of what you have worked for is paying off?
• Do you sense that something in the contribution you are making to life is not what you want to invest your life in?
• Have you begun to question the importance of what you are doing?
• Does the future concern you?
• Are you worried or concerned about whether or not you have enough money for the future?  Money to complete educating your kids? Money for weddings? Money for retirement?
• Are you enjoying the fruits of your labour?
• Do you want to keep working as hard as you are now in order to enjoy what money can buy?
• Is the payoff worth the effort?

If you have a strong resonance with the sentiments behind these questions, then you are exhibiting symptoms of half time.

While this often happens in your third decade or after the big “40 bash,” increasing numbers of men and women are confronting and asking these questions even in their late 20’s.

• If you are in your forties or fifties you are in Halftime whether you realise this or not.
• If you are in your thirties and have enjoyed a degree of success or accomplishment, you are probably in Halftime.
• Halftime is not just an issue of age; it is more an issue of transition. (A business sold, marital status changed, you’ve gone broke, you have suddenly got rich, and you have more free time than you have ever had before.
• Something inside you says you cannot keep doing what you do.
• Halftime can also be the trial that follows the moment you say “Enough of this” or “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
• Halftime is when you have completed something or have arrived at a different season in your life and you need to decide what to do next.
• Halftime is the trial that follows success or runs parallel to success.
• If the first half of life has to do with getting and gaining, learning and earning, the second half has to do with yearning.
• Halftime is not equated with Alzheimers.

• Halftime is a good place to go but not a good place to stay.
• It is a season in your life but it gets increasingly uncomfortable unless you deal with it.
• It’s not enough just to acknowledge that you are in Halftime but you need to take action.
• Being stuck in Halftime forces you to ask the big questions, dig deeper into what you are looking for and how to find it.
• Halftime is not about leisure.  If you want leisure, take a long holiday and do nothing until you get tired of it.  According to research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (See the book Flow: Psychology of Optimal Experience) “free time” is not what makes us happy or content.  If you go into Halftime thinking it will be easy or with a plan that you will spend the rest of your life in leisure, you will get discouraged and depressed.
• Moving out of Halftime - from success to significance takes time – it can’t be done in a few days or weeks.  It is not about choosing another career and getting on with it.  This would just be a continuation of First Half behaviour.
• Halftime is more than a shift from one job to another; it involves a change in your entire mindset.  It is often very hard to make the transition from a success driven life to one whose primary focus in on significance.
• Moving out of Halftime involves discovering “what’s in your box” or unlocking the single motivating force in your life.
• To move from success to significance requires you to apply your SHAPE (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experience) into a new enterprise that will contribute significantly to the lives of others.

The rich man… is always sold to the institution which makes him rich…

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises?  If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer: Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away. (Henry David Thoreau)

Success is addictive.  Like a drug it never completely satisfies.  No matter how much you have it, it never is enough. 

• Success for many of us is a positive addiction, but like all good things it can go toxic.  We can be “possessed by our possessions” where the cows become the masters to the farmers.
• People who have achieved a high level of success whether financial, vocational or sporting otherwise, can get caught up in the thrill of the chase, the pressure of deadlines and the exhilaration of doing important things for seemingly high stakes. 
• It could be argued that it is in some ways simpler to focus mindlessly and fully on one thing than to live a balanced life.

Success is not bad.  It is a good thing to have worked hard and accomplished much (we need successful people in all areas of life)

It is important to recognise that the desire to move from success to significance is not a criticism of success but the recognition that success is a season.

• Believing that your self-worth depends on your vocation. Some people fear that as soon as they stop doing what has made them successful, they will lose their significance and become a nobody.  They need to be needed, affirmed and acknowledged and there is possibility that if they leave their first half-life and move on, they won’t be needed any more.
• Give up too soon and revert to what they had been doing all along because it’s easier to stay where its comfortable and familiar especially when an idealistic but not quite realistic track is chosen.
• Getting involved with “sanctioned dabbling.”  It doesn’t produce a significant outcome but is affirmed by everyone.  There is no sense of purpose, vision or mission and no driving passion. (Developing a pleasant and non-demanding portfolios of activities)
• To leave you career for a life of leisure. Research by Rogers Kirven interviewed 36 men between the ages of 40-50 who retired from business pressures in search of a more leisurely life and to have more time with their families, develop their own souls and enjoy their free time.  32 of these 36 were soon divorced.  All of them experienced tremendous depression even though they achieved their leisure goals. Leisure is a con.  It promises far more than it delivers.
• One of the biggest mistakes Christians make is to assume that their second half must be something like becoming a pastor, ignoring their strengths and weaknesses.  Using the term Kingdom Work instead of being a Pastor, broadens the possibilities.
• The answer is not to quit work but to find work that adds meaning and purpose to your life.  One of the greatest adventures you can ever experience is to begin to invest your whole life into something that counts, something that lasts beyond now.
• Don’t lose sight of your dream or vision for the future.  To lose a dream is to lose forward momentum and live in the past. (Without a vision the people perish)

• Be passionate and have a positive attitude in the ways you contribute to the lives of others so that you crowd out the negative parts of your life.
• If you want to do this successfully with as few false starts as possible, you need to get a handle on who you are. Find out your SHAPE (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experience).  Just as work and technology has changed in the last 20 years so have you. Ask questions such as:
• What am I good at?
• What do I like doing?
• Am I a people person?
• Am I comfortable working in an analytical mode?
• What was my proudest moment in my work?
• What do I care about really?
• Discover your purpose and align your second half to your purpose – In other words, discover what’s in your box?  Peter Drucker says that you should be able to get your personal purpose on your T-Shirt.  Many people put God in their box.  Many people are so conditioned to put the right answer, knowing that God is to be the centre of their lives, that they may not have considered the question WHAT REALLY IS IN THE BOX FOR ME PERSONALLY?
• Nothing adds more fullness and meaning to life than discovering your purpose and living it out seven days a week. The more complex the world gets, the more difficult and meaningless our lives seemingly appear. Purpose statements are powerful allies against meaninglessness. 
• We need to be very clear about what we understand by purpose statements.
• Establish a common language in developing your own purpose statements.  Words like vision, dreams, purpose, mission, goals, values are often misused. Purpose, vision and mission have distinct meanings. Most mission statements today are incorrectly named and usually imposed from the top down. Purpose cannot be casually interchanged with its offspring of vision and mission.  They are not synonyms. 

• Purpose builds on our past, lives in our present, and holds hope for the future.
• Purpose is our spiritual DNA from which our vision and missions sprout.
• From a divine perspective, purpose is God’s will for your life.
• Purpose is spiritual electricity and like electricity, it has been around for a long time.  But only after Benjamin Franklin identified and named electricity, did people harness its awesome power.  We are in our infancy when it comes to understanding and harnessing the power of purpose. 
• Imagine the possibilities in our lives and society as our understanding and use of purpose matures.

A purpose statement is simply two power packed words that hone in on the uniqueness of the person or organization. It answers the question “Why do I exist?” or follows the statement “ I want to make a difference by…”

Purpose is spiritual DNA.  Think of the two words as the X and Y-chromosomes.  For example:

Reaching higher; igniting enthusiasm; lifting spirits; liberating greatness; shedding light; empowering leadership; cultivating gardens; realizing dreams; affirming possibilities; effecting outcomes; providing hope; encouraging potential; transmitting compassion; radiating love; encouraging awareness; inspiring greatness; liberating potential; fostering possibilities; rejuvenating spirits; expanding possibilities.

• Notice that all the X chromosome words end in “ing”.  It shows us that purpose is eternal – in our past, present and future.  It isn’t a single defining event; it’s expressed and defined over one’s lifetime.  The second half of the purpose statement – the Y chromosome, is the object of the activity.  It brings focus and depth.  From these two word seeds, individuals and organizations have prospered and grown on-purpose.
• Your purpose is like a homing beacon the keeps you on track.  It prevents you from being distracted.  Goals are stepping stones that lead you to being your purpose.  That is why purpose is unending.  Purpose is not something you do. Purpose is something you "be".  That’s why they call us human beings and not human doings. With a clear articulated purpose, no matter what comes up in your life you won’t stray.  Every choice you make will serve your purpose.
• Living on-purpose is all about living lives that are both meaningful and significant. “Meaning is not something you stumble across like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt.  Meaning is something you build into your life.  You build it out of your past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of human kind as it is past onto you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something.  The ingredients are there.  You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life.” (Gardner 1994 – Road to Renewal)
• Work only with the receptive people and organizations whose dream is aligned with your dream.  Of necessity, much of our first half is spent with people and organizations who aren’t always on the same wavelength as ourselves.
• Try to find a team of like-minded individuals who will help you turn your dream into a reality.  A team can be a small group of trusted friends or a few selected people.  Include your spouse to keep you appropriately grounded.  As well as this team, put together a list of names representing the top twenty relationships that would be most likely to contribute something useful to your vision, within the next three months.  These people are useful for the projects that you are currently focussed on.
• Find a mentor or a coach.  This should be someone who is further down the track than you are and someone who cares.

• Most people do not have the luxury of not having to worry about money in their second half.  There will be a need to continue to create income.  Before quitting your current career test the waters. The following are some suggestions.
• Instead of jumping recklessly into a new season of life, make some careful investigations into your new area of interest.
• Pursue a parallel career by renegotiating your existing working relationship with your employer to provide blocks of time to invest in your new venture.  This would only work in situation where people have autonomy in determining their workload.  Some professions such as law, medicine, education, may be able to do this
• Develop a “downward mobility” program.  How much money will be enough?  What could you do to lower your expenses?  Better money management may mean you don’t need as much as you currently think you need.
• Pace your days so that you have focussed days, buffer days and free days.
• Focussed days are productive days
• Buffer days are preparation days including planning, reporting, returning calls, keeping commitments and developing relationships.
• Free days are for rejuvenation to bring balance to your life and renew energy.  Taking time off is not a luxury but a necessity for people who want to be at their creative focussed best.  When you are focussed you are intense, sharp and on task, and when you are free you are totally free.

Concluding Reflections

What do you want to be remembered for?

When moving into our second half this question is one that needs to be asked earnestly and seriously. In business we are used to being asked what’s the end game and what’s the bottom line and what am I being held accountable for?  Most of us think we know what that means in our job, but we are unaccustomed to answering that question in our personal lives.  When I ask people in my On-Purpose workshops and seminars and in my life coaching who has a mission or purpose statement for their business, nearly all hands go up.  Very few raise their hands when I ask who has a personal purpose statement.  Very few people have even considered why they exist and what’s in their box.

God’s word teaches that each of us has been equipped with special gift or purpose that is as unique as our fingerprints.  This is our spiritual DNA. This is what’s “in the box.”  Each of us is called by God to use this gift to serve others and this is what we will all be held accountable for one day. We need to keep in mind that memory fades but eternity lasts.

Once you clearly see your purpose, and with a little help with the details, the application of the principles outlined today will fall into place because you will become so energised by what the future holds for you.  You will see a glimpse of how the qualities that make you unique, match the needs that are waiting specifically for you and it will be enough to get you out of the rut.  You will have found alignment with your purpose.

This new beginning is the doorway to the best years of your life.  No amount of golf or travel or endless dinners in exotic locations, will ever match the excitement of discovering your significance because you will “BE” “what’s in your box.”

Acknowledgement is given to Buford, B. (2001) Stuck in Half Time