{"id":24930,"date":"2020-02-24T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=24930"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:24:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:24:34","slug":"halftime-moving-from-success-to-significance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/halftime-moving-from-success-to-significance\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving From Success to Significance: A Compelling Strategy for Maximizing Life\u2019s Second Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I turned 50 I took time off to read a book which had been on my reading list for some time. The book is titled Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance<\/em>, by Bob Buford. It connects that transition period during a ballgame with that point in a person\u2019s life when a new game plan is needed for maximizing life\u2019s second half.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a ballgame, allowances are made for mistakes and fumbles in the first half. But as the clock winds down to zero, the players know they must give it everything they have. So it is in the game called life.<\/p>\n

Even if you’re nowhere near mid-life, don’t stop reading.<\/h3>\n

Even if you\u2019re nowhere near mid-life, don\u2019t stop reading, for there\u2019s a sense in which we\u2019re all at halftime no matter where we are on life\u2019s continuum, because we\u2019re not promised tomorrow.<\/p>\n

So, as underscored in the book\u2019s subtitle, Buford offers this simple yet compelling strategy for making the most of the time left to us: move from success to significance.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”Move from success to significance. – Whaid Rose”]<\/p>\n

A highly successful businessman, Buford found himself yearning for a new game plan at mid-life. He reasoned that since his first half was all about material success and achievement, the second half ought to be about pursuing something of eternal value.<\/p>\n

This conviction began what Buford calls \u201ca process of discovery\u201d through which he was forced to enter the \u201cheart\u2019s holiest chamber\u201d where he wrestled with life\u2019s big questions about meaning, purpose and legacy.<\/a><\/p>\n

This led to the creation of “the halftime strategy.”<\/h3>\n
\"Halftime:
Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This then led to the creation of \u201cthe halftime strategy,\u201d which, simply stated, is writing our own epitaph and spending the rest of our life making sure it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Buford writes, \u201cWhen you select an epitaph as an expression of gratitude for your singular talent\u2014and as a goal to which you are committed until you rest, at last, beneath the gravestone\u2014you identify yourself as a person with a purpose and a passion that has been encoded in your life.\u201d<\/a> (p. 25)<\/p>\n

Buford\u2019s epitaph simply reads: 100X<\/strong>. It is based on the parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 and represents his understanding of what it means to truly live a life of significance. He writes, \u201cI want to be the seed that was planted in good soil and multiplied. I want to be a symbol of higher yield, in life and in death\u201d (pp. 24-25).<\/p>\n

This book had a profound impact on my life.<\/h3>\n

Needless to say, reading this book had a profound impact on my life, so much so that it became a kind of \u201cspiritual marker\u201d for me.<\/p>\n

Looking back, that was the genesis of my \u201csignificance journey,\u201d which led to my stepping away from a leadership position I had held for many years, and which influenced my decision to pursue coaching training.<\/p>\n

What does coaching have to do with it? Ask the world\u2019s leading leadership expert, John Maxwell, who in recent years has made coaching and mentoring a major focus of his organization.<\/p>\n

According to Maxwell, our life takes on significance when we begin to focus on the needs of others.<\/a> If success is about climbing the ladder, significance is about holding the ladder for someone. When boiled down to their bare essentials, equipping, coaching, and mentoring is about \u201cpeople of value, adding value to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not sure you have any value to add to others?<\/h3>\n

Not sure you have any value to add to others? Just look into your box. Buford explains, \u201cSignificance begins by stopping wherever you are on the journey to see what\u2019s in the box and then reordering your life around its contents\u201d (p. 87).<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Look
Look to your treasure chest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Expanding this analogy, Pastor Andy Stanley says each of us, especially those over 40, has a \u201ctreasure chest\u201d which contains treasures from our \u201cunique combination of successes, failures and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is, what are you going to do with it? Sadly, many people\u2019s treasure chest gets buried with them when they die. But God wants us to leverage ours for the benefit of those coming behind us, because, as Stanley emphasizes, \u201cThe value of a life is always measured by how much of it is given away.\u201d<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”Sadly, many people’s treasure chest gets buried with them when they die. – Whaid Rose”]<\/p>\n

Our drive to be the best we can be points to positive aspects of the human spirit.<\/h3>\n

It should be underscored that success isn\u2019t necessarily bad. Our drive to be the best we can be points to positive aspects of the human spirit. But success that\u2019s \u201call about me\u201d has a way of leaving us empty.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, crafting that single phrase or sentence which captures our dreams and passions doesn\u2019t come easy for anyone<\/em>. But keeping the halftime strategy in our thought process can greatly influence the way we live out life\u2019s second half.<\/p>\n

So move from success to significance. Craft your epitaph. Develop your halftime strategy. Look into your treasure chest. Pour yourself into others. You\u2019ll maximize your second half, and make an eternal difference.<\/p>\n

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