“But why do you want to know your second half calling?”
It’s a question I’ve been asking – in so many words– the past 4-5 years as I help men and women figure out their next season of life, their second half calling. The impetus for asking it came from an ongoing conversation I was having with Paul McGinnis, who is currently a certified Halftime coach and the COO of the Halftime Institute. At the time, he was enrolled at the Halftime Institute and I was coaching him.
You see, Paul and I were working on a theory …
The reason behind Halftimers wanting to figure out their second half calling is “discontent”. We landed on that word because when I told Paul that the years leading up to my Halftime experience back in 2005 could best be described as “smoldering discontent,” it resonated deeply with him.
Smoldering discontent.
I can’t think of a better phrase to describe my life from age twenty-five to forty. From the outside looking in, I should have been the happiest guy in the world. A beautiful wife, three healthy kids, a successful management consulting career, a dream home in Colorado, three horses to ride on our property and in the adjacent national forest, a ski house in Breckenridge, and a group of close friends.
But something was still a little “off.” Your situation may be different from mine, but that gnawing feeling of discontent is probably familiar to you.
Something in the back of your mind and deep in your heart that says things aren’t quite right with your life. You do your best not to show it, but you know it is there, despite your practiced routines to hide it—or worse yet, to ignore it.
In my coaching, as I press the subject further with Halftimers, I ask “If you figured out your calling, then what would you hope to experience?” The answers range from peace to fulfillment to contentment, and most often, joy. It was something I was personally getting a glimpse of nine years into my Halftime Journey.
This insight launched me into an analysis of why I was being blessed with this taste of joy. It also launched me into researching the behaviors and attitudes of Halftimers I had coached over the years who were experiencing it well.
When our relationships get rocky, work becomes a drag, our investments tank, or the kids start misbehaving, happiness evaporates. Joy, on the other hand, continues despite the circumstances.
I believe this type of overarching, all-pervading joy is available to each of us, and I want to share the secrets of experiencing it.
Ultimately, my discovery resulted in a simple book that our founder Bob Buford, our CEO Dean Niewolny, and our Board of Directors kindly encouraged me to write: The Joy Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Peace, Purpose, and Balance. The book is available right now at a pre-launch discount price by clicking here.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of The Joy Model with you via email and the Halftime Institute blog. Our mission is to enable more high capacity marketplace leaders to discover their God-given calling and live into it in their second half, to make a contribution of eternal significance, and in the process to disover JOY.
Here are some ways you can dive in more deeply in your JOY discovery:
- Download the first 4 chapters of The Joy Model for FREE. Click Here.
- Buy the book and it will ship or download to your e-reader or be ready for audio this Tuesday, Oct 18. Click Here.
- Check out the Joy Model Blog to read my personal real-time reflections on Joy. Click here.
- Learn more about the Halftime Fellows Program. Click Here.
- Learn more about the Halftime One on One Program. Click Here.
Here’s to the joy Christ’s followers are promised!
