Hello {!firstname}:

My evolution as a 60-year-old techno geek continues. In the past three weeks I’ve become a complete and total LinkedIn addict. LinkedIn is one of the big social networking websites, great for marketing your business -- or yourself if you’re looking for work. My addiction is pretty funny considering I’ve been squirreling away invitations for the past FOUR years, because I didn’t really understand what social networking is or how to use it, but had a vague sense that one day I might want to.

A couple of months ago, at a Berkshire Entrepreneurs Network event on Social Networking, suddenly I saw the light. I realized that social networking in general, and LinkedIn in particular, is a powerful tool for connecting. And, I LOVE to connect! Of course, I just didn’t have the time to dive in -- yet.

A few weeks later, my friend Peter Coombs from Frontline Training gave me a quick tutorial, and I was nearly hooked. But, it was the powerful women in my WOW HOW Coaching Group (WOW HOW = Wise Outrageous Women, High Octane Wealth) that finally pushed me over the edge.

In our last session, one client announced she wanted to know more about LinkedIn, and the group was off and running, sharing their experiences, ideas, and tools. I was so turned on, the next day I spent 3 hours setting up my profile, accepting invitations, and making new ones. I’m now up to 78 connections! I love re-connecting with long-lost people from my past, being able to recommend great resources that I’m currently using, and seeing what everyone else is up to.

Please check out my LinkedIn profile, and invite me to connect. If we haven’t met yet, just tell me a little about yourself, and say you’re a Living with the Brakes Off! subscriber.

To your endless possibilities!

Lin Schreiber, Retirement Revolutionary
 

I recently completed my training and am now a certified PRINT Coach. What that means is I'm licensed to deliver and debrief the PRINT Survey, a practical online assessment that can be answered in about 20 minutes. It has remarkable depth -- and impact -- and can help you better understand yourself, your relationships and what motivates you, so you can create strategies to stay in your "best self." 

In the next issue, I'll have all the information about PRINT for you so you can decide if it's a tool that would be of value as you journey to what's next. Stay tuned!

Three Steps to Take You from NOW to Encore Career WOW

by Lin Schreiber, Retirement Coach

I had an interesting conversation with a woman at a networking event recently. She’s 58, doesn’t want to retire in the traditional sense, but wants to create an encore career that is more aligned with who she is at this stage in her life.

Problem is she was pumping me for a checklist of things she could “do” to make the next career happen. She wanted practical, hands-on, tools to take her from where she is now to what’s next. She was looking for the externals like resume writing, and job search websites for people 50+.

Now, those tools are helpful, but they’re not what you’ll most need to get started in creating the encore career of your dreams. Your inner desires, yearnings, passions, likes, dislikes -- and those long-buried dreams -- are what you’ll want to start with. They’ll lead you to the real, authentic you. They’ll lay a foundation that will allow you to bring all of who you are to what’s next, and help you find your true purpose. I can tell you from first-hand experience it doesn’t get any better than that.

So, you’ll want to figure out:

1. WHO you are. Creating work that you love depends on taking the time to get to know yourself -- the real you -- not the person who couldn’t bring the best parts of herself to work everyday. What do you value? What do you love to do? What lights you up, and makes your heart sing? What challenges you and gets your juices going? What parts of your personality is it time to free up? Imagine your life exactly the way you want it, then ask yourself who do you have to be to live that life? Then, do what you have to do to become that person.

2. WHAT you want to do. When I ask people contemplating what’s next, the answer is most often a resounding “I don’t know!” But, those same people, when asked what they don’t want, can give me a laundry list a mile long. So, here’s a very simple -- but powerful -- process for beginning to define what you want.

Make a list of everything you know you definitely don’t want in your life. Include situations, people, places, and circumstances. Add everything that no longer works for you in your current career. Then add all those things that you worry about or make you anxious, concerned or afraid.

When you feel like you’ve gotten it all out, start a new page, and one-by-one re-write each statement in the present, and in the positive. For instance, “I hate being chained to a desk all day and being isolated from people” might be re-framed into “I go to interesting places and meet interesting people all day every day.” Once you’ve completed this exercise, you’ll have a jump start list of what you want in your life.

You can continue to build on your list, by answering questions like: What are the things you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t? What are things you love to do, but haven’t for a really long time? What are the things that you think you might love, and would like to try? Remember, these do not have to be “work” related to make it on your list.

Next, you’ll want to research possibilities and start trying some things on for size, until you gain the clarity you need. 

3. HOW you’ll get there. Finally, you’re ready to plug in and use those external tools by creating a step-by-step plan that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be. Make sure to chunk it down into small enough pieces, so you won’t go into overwhelm, and throw in the towel.

As you can see, the externals come AFTER you’ve done the internal work. It’s the internal work that will assure that you won’t create more of the same-old-same-old, but a life and work that truly lights you up.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you keep it intact and include this blurb with it:  Certified Retirement Coach Lin Schreiber, author of the popular ABC's of Revolutionizing Retirement, helps self-reliant women reinvent themselves in the next stage of life, formerly known as "retirement."  To claim your copy of her free popular Revolutionize Retirement Starter Kit, visit her site at http://www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com.

Lin Schreiber is a Retirement Revolutionary who loves helping self-reliant women reinvent themselves in the next stage of life, formerly known as "retirement."  Like Lin, her clients have a positive vision for the future, and the idea of riding off into the sunset for the next 30-40 years isn't in the picture.

She is a sought after speaker, Professional Certified Coach and Certified Retirement Coach.  Through her business, Revolutionize Retirement^(TM), she delivers her comprehensive coaching programs to individuals over the phone, and to groups at her Boot Camp live events.  Combining her contagious enthusiasm, non-stop energy, and passion for her subject, Lin creates a fun, dynamic learning environment that energizes and inspires her audiences.

Lin is featured on the PBS series Boomers^(TM): Redefining Life After Fifty, and is the author of The ABC's of Revolutionizing Retirement.

Contact her at  www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com.

Honestly, even in the midst of the chaotic economy and the unrelenting pull of gravity on our bodies, life is good. Very, very good! I was going to recommend a Dr. Seuss book this week, but when this showed up in my email inbox this morning from EnlightenNext, I though, "Perfect!"

Check out the recent Late Night with Conan O'Brien appearance of stand-up comedian Louis C.K. and his funny, slap-up-the-side-of-the-head reminder of how truly fortunate we are.

Encore Careers: Find the Opportunity

If you feel so moved, please post a comment, and I'll post a response back!

“The world is not respectable. It is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms.” ~ George Santayana


 

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