What lies ahead (I have no way of knowing)
“There’s no playbook for this.”
You hear this about the big challenges in life, like marriage and parenthood.
However, a quick search on Amazon for those subjects devours that rumor faster than an NFL rookie’s signing bonus.
Thousands upon thousands of book titles offer specific playbooks for whatever flavor of parenting or marriage fits your taste.
Yet, search Amazon for “midlife playbook” and you get exactly ONE result; a book by a wellness journalist named Steve DeVane focusing on nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness for your second half.
I haven’t read it. I’m sure it’s useful for understanding why despite endless pushups your mantits insist on drooping downward. (Wild guess. It’s the beer?)
But when facing the questions around who you are and your place in the world, there truly is no playbook for what lies ahead.
Only awareness and understanding.
This came as a great surprise to me after spending twenty years in the digital marketing world where countless experts, coaches, and “thought leaders” pump out instructional courses like fried Twinkies at a state fair.
There are thirty-five million men between the ages of 40 and 60 in the U.S. alone. Surely at least half of them are seeking guidance on reinventing themselves? (The other half are shooting hormones and buying sports cars to drive away the inevitable.)
But then I got it.
There is no market for this, even though millions of men are experiencing it, because nobody talks about it.
So, there is no data to back up the need.
In conversations with Joe on this fact, he concluded, “The playbook is questions, not answers.”
The most effective approach to sales is to not view it as a transaction, but a conversation. A conversation below the surface of the current assumptions about the problem.
Ask good questions and allow the other person to provide their answers.
The best buying decisions we make are not the ones someone convinced us were good choices. They’re the ones that expose a deeper problem we were led to acknowledge needed solving – and given trust that the solution being offered was the best choice for us.
In the case of the MIddle Passage, the solution is yours to discover… And it can only be found by asking the right questions.
Trust the questions and you will find the courage to discover the answers.
No credit card required.
Kevin
P.S. While there is no playbook for the MIddle Passage, there are soundtracks. For me, it’s been Tom Petty’s Wildflowers. Tom was smack in the middle of his transition when he wrote and recorded the record. Every track is a deep reflection on the questions Tom was asking himself, with brilliant musicians bringing life to his quest. Highly recommend.
Don’t forget to check out the YouTube Channel & Podcast!
I’ve found asking the right questions is good. It’s the “doing” part of the discovery. For me, the answers come in the “allowing” party. If you can find a balance between doing and allowing, answers show up.