Dangerous leader: taking stock at the age of 50

On By Pranco

Here are ways to honestly assess your life

By Jennifer Smith, Dangerous Leader columnist

November 24, 2024 5:00 am

Last week I turned 50. Entering a new decade often leads to a deeper level of reflection. The day before my birthday I spent some time reflecting on the experiences of my forties.

What I saw on that journey through time was a pretty big decade.

Job changes, relationship shifts, raising a child from a teenager to a young man, getting my PhD, buying two houses, selling a business, publishing a book. All this was interrupted by the loss of my husband. It made me feel like I was wandering aimlessly through the woods. A prison and freedom in one.

I encourage this kind of honest assessment of your life periodically.

Take stock of your achievements, the lessons learned, where you were lazy and where you pushed too hard.

We do this as business leaders through financial statements and strategic planning. In our personal lives we can use whatever tools we want.

A few I would recommend:

  • Vision board. Vision boards are great if you are someone who wants to see it. Make a where I’ve been, where I am, what I’m making.
  • A personal SWOT. I use this with the special operations veterans I coach. Strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Make four squares on a piece of paper and write notes in each square. Create an action plan to leverage your strengths and opportunities while improving weaknesses and/or mitigating threats.
  • Align your priorities. Name the five most important values ​​that you cherish. Make a list of what you do that ties into each one. Make a list of everything you do that is not individually coordinated with it. Challenge yourself as to why you are doing things that are out of alignment.

I made a version of the latter the day after my birthday. I spent my birthday reading, watching bad TV, relaxing by the fire, followed by dinner with my parents and son. The next day I went to work.

Taking stock

I noticed that as I got into my fifties, the feeling of wandering aimlessly revealed its purpose. The energies I have embraced for so long take on new meaning.

Here are what I have come up with as truths to guide me into this new decade.

1. No limits. There are no limits to the boundaries I can set to protect me and those I love most.

2. Never settle. Never settle for the first impression. Never settle for the first wave of excitement. Never settle for surface level. Never settle for good enough.

3. Live dangerously. Live dangerously true to yourself. Saying yes to my intuition. Trusting myself. Being true to my energies. Saying no to the wrong and not quite right thing.

4. Be yourself. Be me. Follow my own advice. Everyone else is taken along. Be exactly who I am. Writer, healer, adventurer, maverick, defies all expectations, raising this child in this time of transition, clumsy, outgoing, introverted, foul-mouthed, dirty dog ​​lover who has lived a life so far that sometimes seems unbelievable. And I have a cat, which still baffles me.

These exercises can be used at any time. And just as we take stock and assess, plan and realign our intentions in business, so too must we as leaders and people. Intentionality and connection to self-awareness are key characteristics of the Dangerous Leader.

Live dangerously, be yourself.

Jennifer Smith is a personal and executive coach from Cedar Rapids, host of The Dangerous Leader Podcast, and an unapologetic optimist. Comments: [email protected]; @drjennsmith