Everyone wants long term success. But it is elusive for most.

Long term success is dependent on knowing where you are now and where you are headed. Then closing the gap. Frequently. Continuously.  Whether it’s your business, your career or your life at home., it’s easy to get off track, lose touch or get buried under. Without a true sense of where you are in the moment, it is impossible to realize your dreams or be a leader in your field.

Re-calibrate your profound knowledge

The only way we can take 100% responsibility for sustaining our success is to keep re-calibrating-in every aspect of our lives and organizations.

Key to successful recalibration is to acquire what my dear departed mentor, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, coined as Profound Knowledge. This umbrella phrase emphasizes understanding change and how to measure it, being aware of emerging trends and shifts, and learning how to apply this knowledge to leading and sustaining long term success.

Bottom line: If we don’t acquire Profound Knowledge we cannot know how to prepare for and leverage coming change, thus how to sustain our success long term.

Understanding change means understanding shifts in our personal world as well as tracking trends that capsize us, overtake us, or cause us to flounder.

Learning the Hard Way

Unfortunately one of my Gen X male clients learned this the hard way. A rising star in his field and recently married, he was planning far a great future for his kids, tons of time for fun and all the trappings of success. As if out of the blue, the rug got pulled out from under him. His “Happy Homemaker” wife fled, saying I’m out of here!

Somewhere along the way there was a breakdown or perhaps many small fissures below the surface. Had they been recalibrating an checking in with each other, communicating the truth of what was so for each of them…perhaps they could have saved their marriage…or at least ended it with love, grace, and forgiveness.

Even in the most secure relationships, unexpected change happens to ruffle our plans. A recently returned to work mother of teenage kids reported that her new career is now going gangbusters and she no longer worries about the empty-nest . But, the new ripple in her life is that her once very successful husband, in his late 40’s, now faces an unknown future. Surprised by the shifts in his industry, “suddenly” he and his business partner are facing the probability of closing their doors. What once appeared to be the sure path to their dreams, is no crumbling beneath them.

Change is inevitable. If you can learn what Profound Knowledge is and apply it you can avoid these same pitfalls and NOT LEARN THE HARD WAY!

What steps are you going to take to future cast your long term success?

Always Add Value is one of my 52 Quintessential Principles of Greatness codified to keep us moving from great to greatness.

I forget to apply this principle myself every once in a while. In fact, just last week I was asked to by a really sharp associate leader, “what value will you bring to my membership?” What caught me most off guard was that the Value Added editorial thrust of this issue was already in the works.  Here I was being confronted with having lost sight of this very principle.  Will the learning ever stop?  Nope.  I sure hope not.

These on-target questions inspired me to re-think how I add value by what I do.  I responded that her high achieving and accomplishing members match the profile of my clients.  They are successful in their chosen field; they want to expand their referral network and are seeking to improve the results.  Coaching entrepreneurs, family firms, executives and professionals, I appreciate their business challenges and professional concerns.

All of these movers n’ shakers want to improve the performance of their firms, attracted new and maintain current revenues and customers. But that’s not all.  What I’ve learned is that these truly accomplished folks relish the opportunity to fine-tune and to stretch. Even more so, they know that becoming a better communicator and a leader ensures that they will thrive in these challenging times.

I also added that we all aim to keep our personal and professional lives in balance.  It’s just such a struggle when buffeted constantly with destabilizing sound bites and constant emails announcing disruptive shifts in our world and demands on the personal front. Add that to having to deal with the pressure of invigorating a work life, keeping the home fires burning and just having fun. Whew! That’s why powerful people look for coaches who add value by moving them to greatness and to building legacies that are unforgettable.

I could have kept riding my dead horse, not “hearing” what I was being asked. Instead, I took in the question and changed my language so that I could add greater value, On the other hand , if my response fell on deaf ears, then I would need to change horses by seeking out another grouping of people who would be more in sync.

In the process of re-stating my value added, I was reminded that more and more of us are wanting to realize our vision for a better and sustainable futures for ourselves, our loved ones, our workplace, community and our planet.

What I’ve found is that today’s vanguard leaders are seeking to make meaning as well as money, and build legacies as well as bank accounts.

What’s become paramount is that if we are to reach our greatness, we are must take a good look at our lives, our leadership and our relationship asking the probing questions:

Am I in the right tribe?  Am I adding value in all do?

You will have the opportunity to examine the hottest topic on the minds of leading CSAs and newbies alike.

Join me to kick-start a unique conversation on how to turn what keeps CSAs like you up at night into assets for the Longevity Economy.

Insights gained will become the foundation for developing and implementing effective, innovative – yes, even visionary, new approaches.

Leading GeroFuturist best-selling author, firecracker speaker, game changer, and thought leader on the Longevity Economy, 40+ market, the business of aging, and ageless aging. A world-class trusted advisor, Master Certified Coach and expert authority, Karen boldly advocates for the new story of our age.  Karen guides go-getter entrepreneurs, trailblazers, and visionary leaders to their niche in the global business of aging while evolving their role in response to this new narrative. Karen is an in-demand speaker known for dynamic presentations and a remarkable gift for captivating any audience!

Contact Information: http://www.karensands.com/ | 203-266-1100 | Karen@KarenSands.com| https://www.linkedin.com/in/karensands/

Books:http://www.karensands.com/store/
The Ageless Way
The Ageless Way – A Companion Journal/Workbook
The Greatness Challenge
Gray is the New Green
Visionaries Have Wrinkles
Visionaries Have Wrinkles Reflections Journal
Visionaries Have Wrinkles Reflections Card Deck
Ageless Reinvention (Releasing 2018-2019)
Mastering Reinvention for Midlife & Beyond – (Re-releasing 2018-2019)

In 2017 surveys showed a large majority of Boomers planning to continue working past retirement age, some by necessity and some by design. But now we can see signs of economic recovery with over 50 percent of Boomers born in 1946 saying they are now fully retired.

Does this mean that Boomers are headed for “Retirement as usual”? I highly doubt it. All this means is that necessity is becoming less of a driving force, enabling more and more of us to design the Third and Fourth Age of our lives.

As more and more employers recognize the need to capitalize on their experienced workforce before losing them, we should see an increasing emphasis on flexible work arrangements—part-time work, consulting, and job sharing, just to name a few. This in turn will provide more visible options for Boomers to consider beyond the false dichotomy of retiring or not retiring.

Forward-thinking companies have already begun this shift, but far too many are not looking past their own noses and preparing now for the coming wave of Boomers making pivotal choices about how to design their lives. For many businesses, the planning for a changing workforce won’t happen until the sheer numbers of Boomers on the precipice of leaving reach a critical mass.

This is a huge mistake for these businesses, of course, but this lack of foresight does not have to extend to the rest of us.

We all have the opportunity, no matter our age or stage, to design our futures starting today. You don’t have to wait for your company to provide options for you. Now is the time to develop your own game plan, to think BIG about the next stage of your life, and to then create your own options to make that big vision happen.

This may mean going to your employer and laying out your plans and what you need from them to make those plans happen in ways that are advantageous for both of you. Or this may mean laying out a succession and exit strategy that takes you into your own business, your chance to combine profit and purpose, to make a living and a difference while enjoying more flexibility to work where and when you want.

I suspect that future surveys of Boomers will demonstrate far more variety in working arrangements as well as many more Boomerpreneurs on the horizon. This will be not only a result of economic recovery but also a stimulus toward economic growth and sustainable success for individuals, our nation, and the planet.

Have you figured out What’s Next for you as you head into your Third or Fourth Age?

However, from the vibrating heart of our dissipating structures comes the promise of our true greatness: a greatness of awareness and action that will change the world. From the midst of the evolving Great Transition, we leave the Great Recession and the uplifting Obama era behind us as we enter an unknown, unchartered new cycle of populism and extreme radicalism ripping our valued democratic tenets to shreds and putting each of us on the line.  This Great Shift demands that we each unlock our potential for greatness which lives in each of us, and we are being called to make a difference. That is the premise of The Greatness Challenge, in which I offer a template for embracing and embodying our unique Signature Greatness DNA^SM to unleash our personal and collective greatness.

The Greatness Challenge is a manifesto for the growing wave of us who want to add value in all we do and who are being called to personal and collective evolution—from dentists to doctors, executives to engineers, artists to teachers and visionary leaders and futurists who are looking to redesign their lives so that every moment counts . . . for those of you who seek work that not only fills your bank accounts but your “values” bank as you yearn to do well doing good . . . for leaders who seek a pathway to visionary leadership, so the impact you have is of the greatest benefit for all.

To be one of the first to hear about The Greatness Challenge when it releases join us in the Secret Facebook Group here.

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.

-Anita Roddick

We are not here merely to make a living. We are here to enrich the world.

-Woodrow Wilson

Whether you are extraordinary at something, or everything, I bet you strive to be the best in whatever you do. Or at least you want to believe that of yourself. (if you don’t, why not?)

You’re inspired by people who add value to life and work.

In fact, if all of us were to add value all the time, it would be nirvana on this plant.

Oh well. Not yet. I keep envisioning it and working towards it anyways.

It works both ways. If we want to receive value, then we must also add value.

When we do, you get far more returned than we ever dreamed possible. So what does this have to do with riding? More than we dreamed possible. So what does this have to do with riding a dead horse? It’s pretty simple really. If we get stuck riding dead horses, we cant possibly be contributing to the optimal value. And if we aren’t, then we can’t even get onto the Trail of Greatness.

The time is ripe for those who want take a went to leap in every aspect of their life. Go from Doing Great to Leading with Greatness.

Greatness is resident with each of us.  Each moment is the opportunity for greatness.

For all too many of us, we miss these moments because we are sound asleep with the TV running, the ping of the incoming emails…a new lullaby… and the cell phone on 24/7.

We all have to wake ourselves up now and again.

The surest way to do that is to ask yourself if you are always adding value.  Or are you riding a dead horse?

Most of us, me included, have had times in our lives where we found ourselves riding a dead horse or two. So, it’s critical for both outstanding performance and having a great life that we take a hard look at our current conditions- ask ourselves if we need to ride a new horse or just change saddles. And then we need to consciously renew our vows with our life and how we lead it.

Whatever task we choose offering perspective, renewed passion and commitment the outcome is significant improvement in results and quality on every level.  That translates into prosperity.

Where will you start in your journey from Great to Greatness?

Karen Sands, leading GeroFuturist, is the author of 11 books including recently released, “The Ageless Way: Illuminating the New Story of Our AGE”.