The Cemetery Sessions

Greetings, difference makers, from the Jacksonville Cemetery in Floyd, Virginia, my hometown. Scott Perry here, Encore Life Coach at Creative On Purpose, where we help people 45+ start or scale a fulfilling online platform post-retirement. You don't have to just leave a legacy, you can live it. Go to creativeonpurpose.com to learn more. So this is another episode of the Cemetery Sessions, insight and inspiration for making a bigger difference with the time that you have left. I just finished my run here at the Jacksonville Cemetery, and, uh, very misty out there today. I am damp, to say the least. And the thing I wanted to talk about today is, you know, if you're 45+ and you have this, uh, you know, urge to do something, to, you know, figure out what you're going to do with the rest of your life— maybe you're at the end of your career, maybe at the end of your responsibilities as a family, raising a family— and you know you have so much more to contribute, but you just don't know exactly what that is. Or you have started something, but it's just not really getting any traction or momentum. And so I want to first just let you know that if this is your experience, it is not your fault. Institutionalized schooling and occupation has really robbed us of our creative instincts and our innate curiosity and consideration for exploring the edges of our abilities and, uh, and, and our, our understanding. And so You know, think about the 3 stages or the 3 acts of your life. The first act is when you're young and you're learning and absorbing and you're, you know, doing this usually through compulsory education that rewards competition and conformity. And then you move into life's second act and that's when you are entering the world of work. And you're encouraged there to again compete and it's all about getting status and stuff. Who can get the most toys, who can make the most money, who can get the highest position. The third act of life is when we start to think maybe we bought a false bill of goods. Maybe there's more to life than just doing what we're told or chasing after status and stuff. Good to see you, Tony. Um, and instead we start thinking about, well, maybe it's about cultivating wisdom. Maybe it's about taking the experience earned and the skills and, and talents that you've earned and employing them in some way that will make a bigger contribution, will help make the planet, or leave the— help you leave the planet a better place than what you found it. And so that's the invitation. It's not your fault, but if you recognize that there's more to life than what you've been doing with it in the first act and second act of life, you can decide in your life's third act that you are going to commit to building something better. And at Creative On Purpose, we help people that are 45+ build an online platform that will help them not just leave a legacy but live a legacy. Some sort of enterprise, maybe a blog, maybe a broadcast, Maybe it's a book. Maybe it's a cause. Maybe it's a course. Maybe it's a community. Maybe you want to put together a keynote address, a TED Talk. Whatever it is, you know, you have all the tools that used to be only available to the very, very, very top, top 1% of people. You have— I'm holding a phone here. This gives me This gives me the ability to broadcast a, a radio show, a television station, create a movie, publish a magazine or blog. It enables me to draft my book, publish my book. So much opportunity here. If you would like some help building an online platform that leverages your talents, that connects you with the right people, that enables you to leverage the wisdom and experience you've earned in school and on the job, but in a way that connects you with people who share your values and needs your talents to enhance their lives, then we encourage you to go to creativeonpurpose.com. If you want to hop on a 30-minute phone call, I'm happy to do that. If you go to creativeonpurpose.com, you can fill out an application and then I'll be happy to send you a scheduling link and we'll talk for 30 minutes. See if I can help you define where you are, where you want to be, what's really in your way, and define a strategy for taking your next steps. Or you can just go ahead and grab the Art of Living— I'm sorry, the Art of Awkward Living Quick Start Guide. Whatever you want to do, check it out. There's also tons of free resources in the blog, and you can check out the broadcast where we talk to people like Seth Godin, Jacqueline Novogratz, Chip Conley, and other people that are very visible in this space. And I hope that something there inspires you to start to do the work from the inside out. Reconnect with who you really are, what you're really good at, and where you really belong so that you can make your biggest contribution ever in your life's third act. So that's what I've got for you today. I hope that was interesting. Again, creativeonpurpose.com is a place to go to get all the goodness. And Until next time, be well, do good, have fun.