Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Encore Careers – A New Concept Worth Considering

According to the website Encore.org  a website devoted to helping people at midlife and beyond create new lives for themselves: 

Millions are already in the midst of inventing a new stage of life and work – the encore years – between the end of midlife and anything resembling old-fashioned retirement. We’re envisioning this chapter as a time when we make some of our most important contributions, for ourselves, for our world, for the well-being of future generations “

I love this idea as well and have written a book about it called Second Act Soul Calls – Your Guide for the Re-Invention of Your Life at Midlife and Beyond with Passion, Purpose and Possibilities. One of the main ways of reinventing your life is to reinvent your work and that is essentially what an encore career is – reinvented work that answers the call of your soul which then contributes in some way to the greater good. 

But this is not an easy task or one that the market place has adopted in spite of websites like this one.  The world of work is still using the old mindset of the three boxes of life – Education- Career - Retirement to use the language of one writer on career development, Richard Bolles, but this is old school thinking and even Mr. Bolles has a new book out on this very thing that attempts to say, wait a minute, maybe I was wrong.  But none the less, with 78 million Baby Boomers now or in a few years reaching this all important milestone – retirement - but who are now living on average twenty to thirty years longer than their parents generation, are beginning to turn this idea on its head. 

What we need now is a way to negotiate this phase of life with more than a pile of money we saved and invested so we could go on a perpetual vacation, but a way to stay in the world of work using our gifts and talents and feeding our souls at the same time.  From my research, study and personal experience with clients and my own encore career, I know what it takes to be successful at this new game.  In this blog I will share with you on a weekly basis some of these new strategies for creating a channel – this is for those who continue to work in a conventional job/way and are not yet ready to move into this new phase but want to begin the process of creating a channel for this to happen down the road or for those who want an encore career now and need help in finding one or creating one themselves. 

I will offer tips, strategies and stories of people who have re-invented their lives at midlife and beyond, particularly in regard to an encore career.  So stay tuned and sign up for this blog and you will get a notice directly in your inbox when I have posted a new article.   Of course, if you would like individual help on this emerging new phase of life you may  see my website at www.lorrainebanfield.com for information on my services or just shoot me an email at lorrainebanfield@msn.com


Blessings, Lorraine

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