Welcome to the First Edition!
Living the Second Half will be a monthly email newsletter. It's purpose is to share thoughts, stories, and resources helpful to the increasing number of us 40 and over as we reinvent ourselves and our lives to become who we want to be, taking advantage of the extra years, health, and vitality God has given our generation.

For individuals, articles will address midlife career changes, starting small businesses or ministries, transitioning from career to ministry or service, and retiring (or not retiring).

For organizational leaders, articles will help them
know how to provide meaningful roles of work, service, and ministry for the rapidly growing number of second halfers, and help them proactively prepare for an America where the population of those over 50 will become the majority and have profound impact on our churches, non-profits, and businesses.

I encourage you to forward this newsletter to others you think may be interested. Subscription information can be found on my website.

About the Second Half of Life
Average life expectancy in the U.S. has increased by 30 years over the last century. Health, vitality, and productivity have been equally extended.

This extra 30 years has been added to the second half of life. Youth, if anything, is shorter because children today are maturing physically at younger ages. Midlife, traditionally defined as being synonymous with career and productivity, is also tending to be shorter due to corporate downsizing and similar trends. Elderhood, the third state of life, is where the extra years, health and vitality have actually been added.

Our social systems and our perceptions are largely based on life in the first half of the 20th Century. Retirement was first introduced in the U.S. in the early 1900's, and the age 65 was chosen when the average expected lifespan was 47, not 77. Social Security was introduced in the 1930's.

Living in the second half during the 21st Century presents a whole new set of opportunities and challenges.

Moving from Career to Ministry
Increasingly, people in midlife are choosing to leave their careers and devote their energies to ministry and service. Such is the case of Gary and Nancy Gardner.

Gary and Nancy Gardner serve as American Directors of Ciudad de Angeles, a Christian children's home in Cozemel, Mexico. The home is a safe and healthy environment based on Christian principles for orphaned, abandoned, abused, and needy children living in Mexico. Who the Gardners are and how they got to this point in their lives provides insight into a trend that could help meet the church's ministry needs during the next decade.

Gary and Nancy are midlife Baby Boomers. They had perfectly good careers, Gary as a business executive and Nancy as a teacher. But they have left those careers to follow a calling of the heart and the soul. How did that come about?

For Organization Leaders: Keeping Your Head Above Water
With the 78 million Baby Boomers (29% of the U.S. population) rapidly moving toward retirement and radically shifting the demographics of your customers, clients, members, and volunteers, organizations must have a plan!

Here are just a couple of the questions you need to answer to avoid being in over your head as this major social change occurs.

1. How will you modify your employment practices to utilize this highly skilled and educated group, knowing that the population of those generations coming behind are not sufficient to fill the gaps?

2. How will your business or non-profit or church alter its programs and services to meet the needs of this unique generation?

Organizational change to deal with what one author has called "the tidal wave of aging Boomers" is not optional.

Waging War and Gaining Victory
"For waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisors," says Proverbs 24:6.

That's a great statement about the need for and the benefits of coaching. Our success individually and as leaders is highly dependent on receiving good guidance and advice.

Yet sometimes I find myself relying solely on my own guidance and advice as I undertake a goal or project. Then I wonder why frustration from false starts and wrong turns sometimes results. What usually trips me up is what I don't know that I don't know.

Maybe I'm my own best example of why you should consider hiring a coach when success in a major effort is important. My own coaches and advisors have always made a big difference.

I'd Love Feedback!
If you have comments, suggestions, questions, or topics you'd like to see discussed, I'd love to hear from you!