If you wait until retirement to think about retirement you may end up disappointed and unprepared. These 10 concepts are actionable and will help you be ready for what could be the biggest transition of your life. For more information on navigating transitions such as retirement go to www.MaryLeeGannon.com

Transitions are difficult. It is gutting to lose a job, loved one, or end a rewarding a career. At the end of anything meaningful (a career, marriage, relationship, role) comes the threatened losses of: 1) Identity, 2) Connections/Community, 3) Structure, 4) Purpose, 5) Passion, and 6) Relevance. We’ll get into all of this and what to do so that your Next Spark is full of fireworks not fizzle. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.

Grief shows up in many different ways. In this episode we discuss how grief can sneak up on you, what happens when grief is not honored, how you may be grieving something other than the death of a loved one without recognizing it, and how to process grief in a healthy way so that you may move on. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.

Storytelling is an art that anyone can learn. The value in it is being able to illustrate your point through the eyes of compelling characters without seeming didactic or preachy. In this episode we talk about how to be a good storyteller and why it’s important. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.

We face expectations every day – expectations at work, expectations from our partner and children, expectations from our parents and extended family, expectations of ourselves. Expectations can imply pressure – pressure to perform or you won’t be accepted, appreciated, or included. When anxiety over unmet expectations takes over, you could fear that you may be rejected, lose your job, lose you livelihood, not belong and any number of debilitating thoughts. In this episode we talk about how to discern if what is expected is reasonable and how to have a conversation regarding unrealistic expectations. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.

Whether it’s a friend, a direct report, your partner, your boss, or your children sometimes people cannot see the effect of their own behavior or what they haven’t considered that is obvious to you. In this episode we define questions you can ask that will help them realize what they haven’t considered with humility without you having to be didactic which never works. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.

You might be excited about this new phase of your life. You might be anxious about it. You might be a little of both. In this episode we talk about 5 key action items you can take be prepared for a transition and to navigate through it with inspiration. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.

In this episode I disclose some scary information that is out there on generational differences, what we can do about it, and how I deal with generational differences in my own family. Don’t fret over the generational divide between you and your children or parents. Be prepared. Don’t be leery of hiring managers who are younger or much older than you are. Know how to disarm bias and build alliance. For more information on career and life self-regulation go to www.maryleegannon.com.