Navigating Transitions: Reclaiming Your Life
 

Target Participants...

• Yearn for a sense of purpose, passion, mission, adventure, fulfillment, meaning, destiny, connection,
• Are willing to address and share both life background and difficult life-transition issues,
• Are serious about developing a transition blueprint and “game plan” for their lives,
• Many (not all) member participants have exited, are about to exit, or are considering an exit from their businesses.

Format

Common Issues Among Transition Seminar Participants

All participants desire deeper personal awareness and a sense of meaning and passion in their lives. Small group participants yearn for deeper community. In addition, participants face some combination of the following issues:

• I have no idea what is next in my life; I have only a vague sense of life purpose, mission, destiny or passion.
• My career is my identity.
• I always have to be "on".
• My life is being run on a treadmill.
• My marriage needs revitalization.
• I desire deeper relationships with people who won’t judge me.
• I need friends who will be truthful.
• I need to make peace with my past.
• I would like to know God better.
• I desire greater intimacy with my spouse, family, friends and God.
• I long to experience grace and joy.

Situational Statements From Past Transition Seminar Participants

Participants at the previous Transition seminars made the following statements as part of their pre-seminar homework.

• I've sold. I've got all the money I ever expected. I want to enjoy it, but I find I have no friends, no community. What do I do now?
• I own 49%. My brother owns 49%. Mom owns 2%. I'm the one carrying all the responsibility and they just don't understand how it all works. It is time to sell or cash them out. How do I work the family dynamics to make this all happen and not lose my family?
• I want to settle down and stop moving from post to post. My pattern is that I run fabulous companies, but they get sold after a while - like the one I'm in now. It is killing my relationships with my kids, and I see it is killing my spouse, too. I'm about to get bounced again. What should I do?
• I'm thinking of selling. But what will I do next?
• How much is enough? Do I give it all to my kids ... to charity?
• I want to own a company instead of being a professional manager ... a "hired gun". How do I make the switch? Do I have the courage to do this?
• What do I tell my kids about my transition? How do I motivate them when I'm playing tennis or hanging out in my bathrobe taking my well-deserved year off?
• I want out of the business, but my family shareholders do not. What's fair? I feel like I've been carrying them for years.
• How do I balance the family and work load? I love my work, but my kids are only small once. And my spouse is asking for more of my time. Give me some strategies for changing my mix.
• My partner sold the company out from under me. What do I do next? How do I deal with my anger toward my ex-partner?
• My personal, physical and emotional health have been compromised during this transition.
• We enjoy a country club lifestyle, but maintaining it requires significant cash.
• My closest friends live in other states making regular visits and sharing difficult. I have few local friends.
• My spouse and I need to learn how to adjust to changes without letting our lives become stale or boring. We need fun.
• (From a spouse) He tends not to share his business day. I wish he'd talk more.
• I thought I might want to leave my company, but then realized, "What would I do with myself?"
• My kids are growing up without much of my involvement. It hurts.
• I loved my old job and expected to be in that capacity for 20 more years. Now, everything is different.
• What do others think of me now that I am out of a job?
• I want to be involved in something I can be passionate about.
• I have a tendency not to express my feelings so that often people think I am okay ... but most of the time I am not.
• I would like the next chapter in my life to be more significant, personally and professionally.
• (From a spouse) How do I "redefine" success, now that I am the mother of three young children?
• Even though I have plenty of money, there is something frightening about no money coming in.
• I still need the "scoreboard" of business for my ego.
• I'm tired of being responsible to everyone else and feeling guilty about time for me.
• I don't know what I don't know.
• My marriage is good, but a change in my life will challenge the marriage.
• When all my goals have been met, how do I make everything slow down long enough to look where I want to go next? How do I continue to feel joy and enthusiasm about all the wonderful circumstances in my life?
• We don't need to work, but then what? I have a number of interests outside of work, but they don't fulfill me.
• How do I stay a "player" … stay sharp and grow … if I'm not active in "the game?"
• I have no ability to do other things than "the DEAL."
• (From a spouse) My children are growing up and it is important for me to find new avenues for my energies in a few years.

Some Answers To the Homework Question: What do I want from this seminar?

• Do some planning, self-inspection and interaction with others in similar situations.
• Aid in self-examination, discovery; face the issues in this transition; solve my anxiety.
• I want to determine if "transition" means retire ... or do I want to attack new challenges?
• A chance to see my issues more clearly in the light of others' suggestions and experiences.

• To open my mind to new possibilities and start the process of redirection that must be possible if I want to have a better perspective.
• Improvement in my marital relationship from something I learn at the seminar; something we will both act on.
• A sense of direction and renewed spirit; a better understanding of which path I should follow or blaze.
• Identify and develop a business plan for future life goals.
• To discover what I want from life, how to become "satisfied" with life again; to realize what is important.
• Some insight into healing; completion, focus and clarity to allow me to pick a direction, to move on, to begin again.
• Exit strategy plan and/or transition for more balance in my life.
• Understanding the transition process. Ideas on how to sell my business and to deal with my partners.

Comments from Prior Transition Seminar Attendees:

Over 230 YPOers, WPOers and spouses have attended YPO / WPO Transition seminars since 1996. Some of their comments following the seminar are given below:

• Fascinating. Awesome. Incredible. The most valuable event (YPO or otherwise) I have ever attended. Everybody should attend. A life changing experience.
• Transformational. Life changing. Radically experiential. The facilitators went the extra mile to get us through intense experiences.
• My wife and I cleared a lot of fog. We are looking at new options for our lives. The best YPO experience yet.
• Outstanding. The dramas and experiential exercises really brought home the concepts and resonated with my soul.
• A wonderful experience on so many levels. A wonderful tool for couples in transition. You should attend if you are open to figuring out your life. Just showing up is half the effort … then let the facilitation team take it from there.
• The facilitators' intuition is excellent and their delivery is awesome. This seminar is a "must do" for everyone who wants to understand themselves and their relationships with others.

• The facilitators are supreme professionals who find ways for every participant to feel something profound for the first time in their lives. You should attend if you need to find the "missing stuff" in your life and want to try and become "complete."
• The most exceptional personal development / life issues seminar ever. I highly recommend to everyone in midlife.
• Awesome. Like an exponential retreat experience.
• If I can carry forward the learnings and feeling, it will truly change my life. Bring your spouse (if you have one) at all costs.
• Best YPO experience I have ever had! Fabulous! The program hit me at a very appropriate time in my life and has helped provide a foundation for some of the decisions I have to make that will have far-reaching implications for my family and myself. The diversity was valuable.
• I came into the seminar with a loose, ill-defined idea of my next career objective. The seminar helped me look inside myself to focus on my strengths and gave me the tools to focus in on a clear career objective. My transition is now over - the exact career objective I defined for myself is now a reality.
• Through adversity comes strength. By inviting me to deal with uncomfortable issues, I attained clear focus and a game plan to implement. It changed my life!
• I came to the Transition seminar thinking I had one set of concerns - only to discover I had different, more meaningful issues. I got the tools and insights to address them.
• Shutting out the world for four days to go "downward and inward" has opened up many more worlds to go "upward and outward." FANTASTIC!
• I will always look on the Transition seminar as a truly great, if not the greatest, growth experience of my life. The facilitators helped me identify and learn to deal with some of my internal filters that adversely affect all my relationships, especially the one with myself. I now have a stronger foundation to embark on a rewarding "second half".
• The facilitators went the extra mile and did whatever it would take so as many participants as possible could have a life-changing experience. Their ability to create an environment of safety, caring, trust and respect is magical.

For additional information on Navigating Transitions: Reclaiming Your Life ,  Contact Jim Warner.