I am working with several clients in their 50s and 60s and one in his 70s and each one is facing new life issues. The younger boomers are encountering identity shifts, moving from their role as full-time parents and wealth builders to anticipating a long life expectancy without a model or road map. A few of them want to continue doing what they are doing. Most of them want to go beyond building a resume and move on to something else. What is interesting of this last group is that they still want financial stability in their new roles but they also want to bring more meaning and purpose to their lives.

Meaning and purpose are big issues. I find myself often thinking about how effective I could be with these clients if I had in place a process for helping them find the broader answers to the broad questions and still help them define a clear path for their future.

Working with my clients to give them an online presence often brings up these concerns because they begin comparing how business is done today to the process 10 years ago. For instance, one of my clients remarked that she and her husband were playing bridge with another couple. All four people were wearing watches. If their group were under 25 no one would wear watches. They would tell time through their  cell phones.

The reason why I encounter clients with these life passage challenges is that  when they face creating an online business for their business or profession they become very much aware of their limitations. Their one time sense of unlimited energy and learning possibilities has shifted to what can I accomplish and how much help do I need?

I only have one client who remains interested in ascending his career ladder even higher. Observing him he  seems to focus on collecting more power, prestige and possessions. Since the economy has been challenged I think he’s become very empathic to the economic condition of others but feels stuck because he is providing jobs.

I also have a couple of clients who are doing the same procedures in their business which were done 10 years earlier.  They are not very happy or pleased with themselves.
Then there is the third group which have searched around and sometimes floundered to find meaning in what they are doing. Many of them now work with life coaches or therapists or read a lot of self help books. As their journey moves more inward the external measurement of success has less meaning for them. I find these clients so much fun to work with because they bring a fresh, positive energy to their business and it’s far easier for me to be creative.

More on finding your meaningful journey as you get older in my next post.
In the meantime, let me know what you want to discuss. I am thinking about creating a monthly teleseminar on health and aging. Do you have topics you want discussed?  Type them in the comment box and I’ll make a list of topics and share it with my subscribers.

To your success at healthy aging.

Ruthan
PS You may want to check out my blog on working in retirement which talks more about this topic.

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