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At 54 I am noticing that I am more aware of who I want to be than ever before.

I wondered why and realized after some thinking the part that my new stage of life plays in my self-awareness.  

As a Mom who is now an empty-nester and new grandma, I have the gift of using what I have learned to redefine and clarify the influence I want to leave.

The demand of time has changed, and my new found freedom has left me questioning my purpose, who was I made to be, and what is next.

I was so idealist in my younger years, and still am, but have a deeper perspective on who I want to be and how I want to lead my life, not to just let it happen.

Do you feel a gap between who you are now and who you want to be?

Do you find yourself striving to be what you admire in others?

I did that for a long time. I was people-pleasing … that is, trying to please me. You see, I was watching others and thought if I was to be like whoever I was admiring, then I would be successful. Successful in my own eyes.

Now I am here, where I was looking to get to, and wondering if I had success defined at all.

Many years ago I was challenged to think about what I would want others to say about me at my funeral, and was I that person?

Is it strange that that thought energizes me?

Here I am with a fresh stage of life and experiences that give me greater insight into who I was made to be than I ever had before.

The influence changes and distance is further as kids move out, but new stages bring new opportunities.

They can be exciting for some, and scary for others. Some of us would rather things just stay as they were, where we were comfortable and felt needed.

In his recent book “Didn’t See It Coming”, Carey Nieuwhof talks about the influence that Dallas Willard had in his lifetime. He is the author of my favourite quote that has had a profound impact on how I live my life.

You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Dallas Willard

Hurry kills so many things, including living on purpose and with intention.

Carey shares in his book how Dallas contributed just as much after 50 as he had in his first 50 years.

So many people do their best work and craft their greatest contributions later in life. They give a lifetime of knowledge, insight, and wisdom back to the culture. Instead of railing against the way things are, they leverage the past and present to make the future better. ~ Carey Nieuwhof

We have time to close the gap. It is never too early, or too late.

So how do we close the gap and live our best version of who we were made to be?

Clarify your purpose.

Know your why.

What is the why that is behind how you do what you do?

This will most likely take the help of a third party that can listen, coach, and lead you in identifying who God has made you to be.

Take the time and get the help. It will give you the direction of where to focus and how to live authentically. I designed our Power of Purpose Masterclass for exactly this reason.

Living on purpose take intention.

Once you gain clarification on who you are, your unique design, then you must add intention to your actions.

Without the intention, you will easily just respond to what each day brings and will find your gap will continue growing.

If you want to change your life then you need to change your life.

Change takes change.

Plan it.

If you don’t plan it, it probably won’t happen. Have you ever wanted to do something but, time just escaped you?

You meant to plan that coffee time but your week just filled up and before you know it … time is gone.

If I don’t put it in my calendar it usually won’t happen. If you want it to happen you need to plan for it.

I am still learning and putting this one into practice.

You need to know what you want to accomplish before the day starts, or you live a day of reactions instead of purpose.

Use what you have learned.

As the quote above reminds us, we have a lifetime of knowledge, insight, and wisdom.

Mistakes help us learn. We know what we need to do differently because we know what has worked and what hasn’t, but that doesn’t help us unless we apply it.

Don’t waste it – use it.

The gap closes as we clarify our why, set intention to live on purpose, and then apply our life lessons.

A new stage means a new chance.

I am ready to live my life on purpose in this next stage, how about you?