Thinking Out Loud!: August 2026

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Looking Back and Looking Ahead is the Critical “pre-work” to Winning in the Second Half!

In my last blog, I introduced a foundational aspect of Winning in the Second Half. What comes next is taking full advantage of the Half Time, that time between survival, success, to now looking toward significance in our lives and careers. This got me thinking out loud about the value of taking stock to know what you will bring (and jettison) into the Second Half with you!

In my last blog, I introduced the concept of living into a one word magnetic north that can make the difference between a life of continued fulfillment and relevance to one of slow disappearance. John Maxwell in his book, Intentional Living speaks to this strategy. John calls it The POWER of that ONE THING. Inevitably that One Thing moves your focus to others. It provides renewed confidence that is appealing to you and attractive to others because you care more about that One Thing than what you previously thought was important.

Accordingly, the more you live it, the more it layers in that that one thing becomes cumulative and generative. Previous undiscovered strengths, ambitions, and capabilities start to manifest and build because you get to CORE. Those dimensions of your life that are most important to you. What you do best. This then frees us to jettison all those things that no longer serve you.

The more you layer your “why” or that one thing, the more impact it has because it is simply more significant! Nothing builds credibility more, nothing is more inspiring, nothing is more attractive than a man or woman on a mission! Working toward your one thing also keeps you in the game longer. As the title of the book by Ken Blanchard teaches us, you are not retiring, you are refiring! This is incredibly empowering to our Second Half!

The caution is when we reach a certain age and stage in our careers and lives, we have all kinds of options and possibilities, conflicting priorities, and shiny objects that can distract us. The key task is not trying to figure out what role or life mission you fit in to; it's about figuring that role which is already INSIDE you! At the end of the day, we want to end up in careers based on who we ARE, versus what you can DO. Trust me, you have done and can do lots of things! The decision we now need to make in the Second Half is what am I doing NOW that I want to KEEP doing? What do I not want to do? What can I do now that I never could before? What should I do now that I never allowed time for?

To answer these questions and create a cogent game plan for the Second Half we need to slow down for a minute and put ourselves in a Half Time scenario. In football, the half time segment gives the team the margin to slow down for a minute, recover mentally and physically, and adjust or create a new game plan for the second half.

Author and speaker, Jeff Henderson, refers that we will reach a certain time in our lives where we are in a Waiting Room. Once there, we can passively wait and just hope our Second Half plan falls in our lap. There is reckless waiting where we run back to what is safe and comfortable and just cling to the first idea that makes us feel better. Then there is active waiting where we are spending time with these strategies, investing in prototype conversations, gathering information, and not making any new commitments yet. This active waiting is where we do the pre-work to develop a compelling Second Half plan.

Here is a key take-a-way from this blog. The secret to life and career design (or redesign) especially in building your Second Half is what authors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans call “reframing.” The process of reframing is challenging dysfunctional beliefs that no longer serve us and replace them with those that do!

Here are three dysfunctional beliefs related to the Second Half:

· Don't Look BACK – The past does not matter

· Don't Reflect – I have nothing that anyone wants now

· Don't Look Ahead – I have to just focus on the here and now

We need to reframe those dysfunctional beliefs and in fact use these questions from John Maxwell’s book on Intentional Living:

Look BACKWARD –

· What have I been GIVEN?

· What INSIGHTS does my Experience Provide?

Look INWARD –

· What do I have to GIVE?

· Inventory your Talents, Strengths, Knowledge, and Gifts

Look OUTWARD –

· What can I DO?

· What can I now DO that I could not before?

· What do I know NOW that I did not before?

· What have I BECOME that I was not before?

Once we are committed to a Second Half exploration, that involves looking back and looking ahead, we need to be comfortable with the fact that we are going to make choices. In other words, our focus will be on Opportunity Management versus time management. Just like a coach will have to make some tough calls to recalibrate for the Second Half, we too will need to be willing to make some difficult choices such as what people and things will move to the PERIMETER of our lives and not take on as much of a PRIORITY. This requires us to inventory those tasks, commitments, etc. that take the majority of your time. Based upon that inventory what will you jettison? What will you keep? What will you seek anew? These choices may be hard to face, but what are the things that no longer serve us?

Again, I have referenced the power of taking stock and conducting key inventories during the course of this blog post. Use some time in the half time locker room to actively wait and answer the questions above. You will use these to help inform your Second Half game plan.

As always if I can help you with this half time work of looking back and looking ahead, please let me know. If I can assist you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with Maxwell Leadership^TM

Certified DISC Profile System Consultant and Gallup Strengths Coach

Certified Designing Your Life Coach

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

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NOTE: No AI Agents were harmed in the creation of this blog. This content reflects the actual research, thoughts, and considerations of the intended audience of the author – who just so happens to be a human being!

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Want to Win the Second Half? Look in the Box!

Every year, I spend a few months engaged in a deep learning project where I consume books, podcasts, articles, etc. on a particular topic in order to gain understanding, create content, and develop a coaching system around it. This past Spring, I focused on Winning in the Second Half. In other words, as a slightly older gentleman, I got to thinking out loud about how I can better help mature professionals that want to create and maintain relevance and significance in the latter parts of their careers!

So why does this even matter? In my research I found that 67% or workers do not expect to stop working at age 65. Currently, almost 20% of the workforce is made up of workers age of 65+ (it was only 12% in the year 2000). Reasons for older workers remaining employed full-time vary but research points to a general aging of the population as Boomers hit 60+, however, younger generational cohorts have remained steady or declined. Also, data points to decreasing labor participation rates among younger workers, especially males.

Obviously, there is a real advantage for older workers to remain in the workforce due to their vast experience, professional/emotional maturity, and opportunities for cross mentorship between younger and older workers. Unfortunately, employers do not always share similar views – more about that in my next blog!

So, what are those of us in the thundering gray herd to do? One thing I discovered in my research is that this issue of finding new ways to remain significant in the Fall season of our lives is now a multi-million dollar industry! I was shocked at the number of books, podcasts, articles and even conferences that have emerged over the past 5 years around this topic. What was once a niched content area has now exploded!

In the next few blogs, I will present several key strategies that I curated from this important content, however, I discovered that before we initiate a series of strategies, we need to set our intention. We have to discover “what’s in the box!” This concept is shared by entrepreneur, author, and speaker Bob Buford who wrote a wonderful book entitled, Half Time: Moving from Success to Significance.

Bob presents a real-world business case-study that is an oldie but a goodie (kind of like me!). He describes a time during the mid-1980s when the Coca-Cola company worked with one of the leading corporate strategists of the time, Mike Kami. Mike was working with a new generation of Coke execs who were excited about a new and improved formula for Coca-Cola. Mike introduced an insightful thought exercise to the executives by asking, “What's in the Box?” in terms of this initiative. The leaders shared they had their chemists generate a new formula that tasted better than old Coke. They based their decision on blind taste tests, customer feedback, etc. They boldly proclaimed that “Great Taste” was “In the Box” and launched the new formula with a flashy and expensive ad campaign.

For those of you not around during the 80’s (bless your heart!) the result was an unmitigated disaster for the Coca-Cola company! Days after New Coke was introduced, the company stock fell by 3% and a month later Coke stock fell to 6%. This was quite a contrast to the overall market that gained 3.8% during the same time frame. The new formula was introduced on April 23^rd, 1985, and was off the shelves by July 11^th that same year.

Obviously, the Coca-Cola execs engaged Mike again to help them out of the mess they had created. Again, Mike asked them, “What's in the Box?” The answer this time, however, was an insightful "American Tradition!" The leaders understood that they were messing with an institution as American as mom and apple pie! The result of this new epiphany was that Wall Street rallied almost immediately as soon as the now branded Coca-Cola Classic was brought back to consumers.

Bob reveals that the moral of the story is that putting the RIGHT WORD in the BOX (i.e. Coca-Cola's CORE MISSION) allowed the company to recover! This is the same concept that allows us to remain relevant in our Second Half. Simply stated, if you want to BE relevant in the second half, you have to DEFINE what relevance you will pursue! In my own career journey, I called this “Getting to CORE.” What follows is a suggested exercise adapted from Bob’s book to help you IDENTIFY, “What’s in The Box.”

1.Look at following list and note the SACRIFICES you have made to care for, develop, and/or maintain the individual, things, and activities listed. You can choose to focus on Career or Life focused priorities.

Career Focused:

Impact Creativity Prestige Progression Compensation

Respect Expertise Recognition Mentorship Significance

Flexibility Autonomy Leadership Influence Decision Making

Life Focused:

Spouse/Partner Children Career Health

House Vacation/Travel Education Exercise

Hobbies Service Faith Other

2. Next, review your list and isolate two or three categories that stand out as

being the most important. Which ones are not willing to give up? Write them down.

3.Drill down further. What specifically about your career that motivates you?

Is it money, mentoring younger team members, setting strategy, making an impact, creating something of your own? What is critical for you in terms of Life priorities?

4.Narrowing down your priorities is helpful but it is not sufficient to win in the Second Half. Eventually, you will have to CHOOSE ONE! Otherwise, your SECOND Half will become a repeat of the FIRST. You will be influenced by other agendas and shiny objects because you have not established your own “ONE THING!” that is in the Box. You are still not at CORE.

5.The goal is to place ONE priority “In the Box” but HOLD for a bit. Take some time with it. Let it marinate in your active awareness. Talk with your partner and trusted mentors and friends about how this will manifest for you.

6.When you are ready, move your CORE priority into the box. When I went through this exercise, I identified progression, impact, and personal success. What I eventually landed on was “IMPACT”. My reason was that I had already achieved the other two. In my Second Half, I wanted to work toward something that would make everything else matter. Your reasons will be your own, but it is vital to be clear on them. As I recently heard speaker and author Tony Robbins, say, “REASONS come FIRST, answers come second.”

The paradox of identifying “that one thing” or “getting to core” is that putting that one thing in the box will start to break down walls and barriers. As personal productivity expert David Allen shares, it opens up creative thinking. When you really understand the WHY of your Second Half, it expands your thinking of how to obtain the life you want. You are able to prioritize and make decisions that are strategic to your Second Half. You would think this process would be CONSTRICTIVE, but it is NOT, it is actually quite EXPANSIVE because you are now in the realm of POSSIBILITIES versus PROBABILITIES.

My challenge is to complete this thought exercise for yourself. What did you discover? What new information emerged? What possibilities does this start to open up? Winning in the Second Half of life requires us to invest in a number of new ways of thinking, new strategies, new commitments but it is critical we start with defining that one word. As Bob Buford shares, “if we do not choose (and start) with that ONE THING that belongs in the box, life’s inertia will do it for you!”

As always if I can help you get to CORE. If I can assist you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.