Thoughts on the book:
The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die

By Alan Kearns

I thought I would start with a very light question this week.

How many people do you know that are 60+ who are totally fulfilled with their career and their lot in life? What if you could find out a common set of principles that you could apply to achieve this goal for you? This week's podcast is with John Izzo, Ph.D and best-selling author of the Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die. This book came out of a television series that John did for the Discovery Channel. He spoke with more than 235 successful, mature adults and asked for their advice about careers, relationships and healthy living.

John has had a lifelong fascination with discovering what it means to live a full and meaningful life. It started when he was six years old and was further focused when his own father died at the young age of 36. His father's death was a defining moment in his life. He recognized that "you don't know how much time you have to live a life that really matters." John wondered if there would be a way of discovering a path sooner rather than later.

He and his teams started by asking more than 15,000 people for recommendations of individuals who were 55+ and whom they thought were happy and successful. They ended up with more than 1,000 recommended people that met this criteria. They further refined that list to 235 people, aged 59 - 105. This group had a wide range of professions, income and education. They ended up spending between 2-3 hours asking each of them a set of survey questions on a variety of issues. Here are some of the types of questions they asked this group:

What brought you the greatest joy?

What has brought you the greatest sense of meaning and purpose in life?

What is the greatest fear at the end of life?

What one sentence would you give to those younger than you on finding a happy and meaningful life?

Now that you have lived most of your life, what are you almost certain brings you happiness?

What they discovered from this group of people were a common set of elements that were consistent in each one of their lives. You may be thinking that they all started their lives growing up in a happy home. To his great delight, most of these people were not born "happy" but moved towards this end with work and discipline. He said, "they were people like all of us that had slowly navigated towards a better quality of life". All of them started at different points, but they all ended up in similar situations of authentic fulfillment in their lives. Here is this wise groups recipe for a successful career:

3 things not to do in your career

Don't be greedy - Earn enough for what you need for your lifestyle.

Don't seek status, power and popularity - There is always another level to be achieved. You will never satisfy this if you chase it.

Don't worry about what other people think of you - A majority of people won't remember who you are in 10 years time.

3 things to do in your career

Do focus on you - You have to choose work that is true to your soul. Your work has to be in alignment with who you genuinely are.

Do maintain balance - listen to your life. At times you can spend more time at work and other times you will need to do less. Trust your intuition about balance in your life.

Do work that gives you meaning - When your work is bigger than you, the impact is amazing and more rewarding.

I recognize all of these are not easy to do all of the time, but if you are continually intentional about being aware of these things in your life, you will find things will slowly move in a positive direction. Remember, as John says, "you don't have to wait until you are 60 to be wise. We can discover the secrets to life at any age, the sooner we start practicing them, the more fulfilling our life will be."

Need help with some of the dos and don'ts? Join our free teleworkshop based upon my book Get the Right Job Right Now! Looking for more of a personal approach? Book an initial consultation today.

Learning, along the road with you! Alan

P.S. The 5 Secrets from John's book:

Be true to yourself Leave no regrets Become love Live the moment Give more than you take

Alan Kearns Canada's Career Coach is the founder of CareerJoy: The Career Coaching Company. He is one of Canada's foremost experts on all things relating to careers. Alan has more than 17 years of experience coaching professionals with successful career decisions. Alan was voted one of the Top 40 entrepreneurs under the age of 40 and is the author of Get the Right Job Right Now!

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