New Seasons, Sabbaticals, and Transitions
How to Choose Your Next Chapter in Life

The 5 AM Miracle Podcast, hosted by Jeff Sanders

Episode #582: New Seasons, Sabbaticals, and Transitions: How to Choose Your Next Chapter in Life

Jeff Sanders
Most often, productivity is based on completing your next action, your next item on a checklist.

But what if your next item is not a to-do?

What if it's an unknown?

What if you need something bigger?

A vision, a dream, a magnet to pull you into a grander future.

This is The 5 AM Miracle, episode .number 582: New Seasons, Sabbaticals, and Transitions: How to Choose Your Next Chapter in Life

Good morning and welcome to the 5 a.m. Miracle.

I am Jeff Sanders and this is the podcast dedicated to domine your day before breakfast.

My goal is to help you bounce out of bed with enthusiasm, create powerful lifelong habits, and tackle your grandest goals with extraordinary energy.

I'm a keynote speaker and corporate trainer, specialize in delivering high energy, interactive, and action-oriented.

and presentations and workshops focused on productivity, wellness, and personal

and professional growth. If you want to learn more, head over to jeffsanders.com

slash speaking. Now in the episode this week, I'll break down how to recognize

when you need a significant change in your life and work, how to navigate the

messy middle when you don't yet know what to do, and how to identify your new direction

with confidence and clarity.

Finally, I do have an invitation to a new group coaching program that I will explain more about at the end of the episode.

Let's dig in.

So I have a stack of books next to me today on my desk as I record this.

And what I did was I pulled out a variety of books off my bookshelf.

that represents a pivot point.

These are books that have defined my life and especially my transitions

at so many various stages.

You have heard all of these books in this podcast over the years, most of them

dozens or even hundreds of times.

I reference them that often because they mean that much to me.

Everything from the classic Getting Things Done by David Allen, if you love

productivity, to Ultramarathon Man by Dean Carnazis, if you love to run marathons

Ultra Marathons.

The 8010 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham, if you're super into fruits and veggies like I am.

Stephen Pressfield's Turning Pro among many other books he's written that I absolutely love.

And the most recent book that I have read and not really discussed at all in this podcast yet because it is brand new to me is a book called The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins.

Now, I could go on and on for days about all the books that I've read and loved.

but this episode is not about all the books that I've read, or really anyone in particular.

This is about what they represent.

All of these books and more represent symbolically these massive shifts in my life,

these pivot points that have absolutely fundamentally changed my direction.

I would argue that books have changed my life more than most things, possibly more than anything,

except for actual real life experience.

So the conversation this week is about finding ways to navigate new seasons.

And yes, there are better strategies than just books.

But if you ask me, if you want to change your life and have a whole new path by tomorrow morning,

reading a book is absolutely one of those things.

Also, one book I didn't mention that I actually just did recently in the podcast is called The Sober Diaries by Claire Pooley.

If you're interested in going to a sober lifestyle, that book is a book

also fantastic. Once again, I could go on for a long time about the books.

My question, though, for myself, my question for you is, are you ready? Are you

interested in something new? Right? The episode title, new seasons,

sabbaticals, transitions, choosing your next chapter. The word choose, I'm

to underline for a second. Not every life transition is a choice. Some choices are

thrust upon you. One life pivot point I did not mention yet is when I became an

entrepreneur. And technically, by definition, I did choose to begin a process to work for

myself and no longer have a traditional 9 to 5 job. However, I was thrust into that

transition by being laid off. When the company I worked for went bankrupt and everyone

just lost their jobs overnight, well, I was one of those people. And when that happened,

I had a pivot point. I had a choice to make. And the funny thing was that I was

offered another job right away from my old boss. He had moved on to a new company

very quickly and invited me to go with him. And I said no. And when I said no to him,

I knew emphatically in that moment that I had just chosen to be an entrepreneur forever.

I didn't realize the power of that choice in the moment, but yet I did. Because we have that

clarity when certain things happen, we know everything's going to be different

tomorrow because of what just happened just now.

And when I think about the best seasonal shifts that I've had, these pivot points,

these transitions, whenever they've happened to me, is always been surrounded

by a mental shift and this clear decision on my part to say, I'm no longer going

to be the old me, and I know it.

and even if I'm not actually emotionally ready for it, even understand what's

going to happen next?

I don't know.

The uncertainty is just palpable.

And yet, the clarity about entering into that uncertainty is absolutely true and real

and tangible.

And so on the episode this week, what I want to try to do is navigate this feeling

that we have, that subconscious gut feeling, that intuition, when we know.

no, there's big change on the horizon. Something is happening here. And even though I can't

see how this whole thing will play out, I don't know if it's going to be for better or for

worse. I don't know if this big choice is going to backfire on me or not. I'm in.

It doesn't matter. I'm still going to go do it anyway. That happened to me when I chose

to go vegan in my mid-20s. It happened when I became an entrepreneur. It happened when

my wife and I chose to have kids and then discovered we need to have fertility

treatments to have kids at all and choosing that path as well.

Just the list goes on and on of these major life moments.

When you know if I say yes to fill in the blank, everything is going to be different.

So let's start with this first component of how to recognize when you need change

in your life and work.

The first piece of this is that you already know.

You're already there.

I don't have to tell you that change is needed or that change is coming.

Change is inevitable.

It's always part of life.

I'm not talking about the daily ebb and flow of things.

I mean the big moments.

The ones where you look back at your life in the last 20 years and say,

here they are, the top three, they're

very

clear.

And when these things happened, everything was different.

You know if that's happening to you right now.

or you know that you need it because you're been dying for it for a long, long time.

I would argue that if you don't think you need a change like that, you probably don't.

If I'm talking about this and you're nodding your head and smiling and saying, yes, I'm ready, you're already there.

There's change is one of those things where you know it when you're in the moment.

It's just clear.

Now, if it's not clear and you're thinking, well, Jeff, I don't know.

Maybe I do need a life change and I just don't realize it yet.

Well, let's just walk through these criteria that I outlined that I think will help really clarify this for you.

The first is that you are always stressed out.

Anyone who experiences stress, chronic stress, constant stress, always there, never truly feeling relaxed, never truly feeling like you've got your ducks in a row.

If stress runs the show, you not only want to change, you have needed to be.

needed a change for a long time. And the stress could be coming from anything,

from your job, from your family, from, you name it, stress comes at us in a thousand

directions. And for most of us, it's a very convoluted conversation because

stress can come not just from one of those places, but from many at the same time,

which is the most common scenario, because being a human here on this earth is a

stressful experience for a lot of us most of the time. So I'm not talking about daily

stressors here. I'm talking about the type of chronic stress that is tearing you

apart. The kind of stress you can't live with anymore. The kind that's going to

make or break tomorrow, that you're going to freak out and quit your job impulsively

because you just can't take it anymore. That kind of stress is what I'm talking about.

If you're in that moment, you are very aware of it because you cannot let it go.

I'm going to argue that that's the most important time to not make any.

decisions, which is going to sound backwards from all the advice this week.

But there are moments in your life when making choices is the right call.

And there are moments in life we're making a decision in the face of stress,

fear, anxiety, panic, chaos is not the right time for a major decision.

It's the right time for a break.

It's the right time for a nap.

But it's not the right time to actually make the call about moving forward in a new direction.

yes or no. So from that perspective, if you're asking yourself, well, am I in need

of a big change? And stress is the driving force in your life. Step one, calm down.

Take a walk. Reflect on your experience when you back away long enough to see it

with calm, rested eyes. And then you can lean into these other criteria to ask the

question, what kind of change is needed now and what is the best call for me to make?

I have a tendency to sign contracts very quickly.

I'm the kind of guy who, if someone comes to my house, let's say like a repairman, comes for an estimate.

They're saying, oh, Jeff, your house is messed up and we can fix it.

And here's a contract that if you signed today, we'll give you 10% off or what are the cases.

That happens to me a thousand times every year.

And I'm the kind of guy who just says like, all right, great, let's do it.

Sign the paperwork.

Oh, my gosh, it's expensive.

Here we go.

I just, I love change so much that I say yes all the time.

to all kinds of things. It's a real sticking point with me. It's a problem, right?

Well, recently, my father-in-law actually pointed out to me that this was an issue of mine.

He didn't even know it at the time, but the story he told made it very clear that his perspective was one of a slower pace, that his approach to signing contracts and big life choices was much more calm, much more measured, much more mature.

And when I heard him talking about this, it dawned on me.

You know what?

That's what I need to do.

That's when the aha moment kicked in.

The clarity came from someone else.

One of the biggest revelations you're going to have about change is that oftentimes

it's not an internal epiphany.

It comes from someone else and then you realize it yourself.

Someone else will say something, maybe on a podcast, who knows?

My case was my father-in-law, you know, telling me something just from his perspective,

he was very nonchalant about it.

And yet for me, it was this massive moment of, oh my gosh, I get it now.

That is who I am.

That is what I do.

I'm glad I've learned that now so I can take a slower approach to major life change.

And so you may approach these things in very different ways than I do.

But my advice would be that if you are considering something significant, if you're looking for the next big move,

do not make that decision in duress.

Do not make that decision hastily or on the spot.

Don't sign big contracts the day of.

Don't do these types of things, right?

Think about these things.

Ponder them because a little bit of time goes a long way to get the clarity you need to ask the right questions and make the right move.

Having said that, there's a few more criteria here to know about these big changes.

The next one is let's imagine a scenario where you don't want to do the thing that I talk about on this podcast all the time, which is you don't feel.

that energy behind my statement of bouncing out of bed with enthusiasm.

That when I say those words here on this podcast every single week,

you hear that and think, no, that's not me.

And you think that because you're not looking forward to tomorrow.

Because tomorrow sounds like another down day,

another stressor, another difficult moment,

another just drudgery to have to fight through.

This is paired with the stress conversation, but it is one of those where if tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. or time it is you got out of bed, if that alarm clock goes off and you are mad about it, if you are not excited for the day. I would argue change is needed.

Now, everyone is a little bit different in terms of how they wake up in the morning. I get that. But I'm talking about the emotional response to a new day beginning. If you're not.

not on board with tomorrow morning. Something should change now. Change today so

tomorrow can be better. And if you're not looking forward to tomorrow, you are in

this camp of needing change. Positive change. Real forward moving, awesome life adjustments.

Because that's what's going to allow you to have that experience of bouncing out

of bed with enthusiasm, as opposed to any other negative emotion you might be feeling.

Another criteria, let's imagine that you are constantly tired, sick, or just far from your healthiest best self.

I constantly talk about health on this podcast through the lens of a productive high achiever.

And I do that for one reason, which is that I view myself as the kind of person who wants to achieve big goals, but recognizes that there is no way those goals are going to happen if I'm tired and sick and falling apart.

and so if you care about your personal goals, professional goals, career, family, anything, if you care about your life, you don't want to experience all of those struggles of goal achievement that are already built in to the process while also being sick, while also being tired, while also having to struggle with your personal health.

It just is a ball and chain to carry around.

It makes everything harder.

And so if that's you, you know yourself, you can see yourself in the mirror,

you feel that experience every day.

If you feel like that is your story, change is needed.

Another criteria.

If you experience a lot of tension in your close relationships, I say this

from personal experience of knowing that whenever I find myself getting kind of

snappy, kind of argumentative, right, I get set off by little things and it hurts

my marriage, hurts my business partnerships. It hurts me talking to my friends and

neighbors. I can feel it to myself when my personal tension is increasing, right?

When that boiling point is getting closer and closer. Whenever that's happening,

generally for me, that just simply means I'm doing too much. The overwhelm is

taking over and that what I need to do is slow down, calm down. And once again,

go for a walk and go for a hike, go get outside.

I'm going to say this a lot because this is one of the absolute best things to do when times are difficult, when you're feeling the pressure of life, is you need to be able to step back in some way that is clear and reflective and calm.

And taking a walk in nature is one of the absolute most effective means to do that.

Hopefully well rested and well hydrated, but really the time in nature is it's such a power.

strategy here. So the criteria in this one is tension. If you feel the tension

in your relationships, that could be a sign that change is on the horizon.

And the final criteria to recognize when you need significant change,

is that you're bored? You just don't care. You lack the interest, you're apathetic.

You just don't want to get out of bed tomorrow morning because it just doesn't

sound fun at all. I've been there. I know that feeling.

Fortunately for me, I experienced most of that in my life when I was much younger, when I was in high school, maybe early 20s a bit.

But for the most part, that was me in school, right?

That was my feeling of boredom and lacking interest was me a long time ago.

Me as an adult, I'm much too stressed out to be bored.

That's the reality.

But you may be in a position where your day job, your day-to-day rhythm, your grind that you're in, it just doesn't interest you.

Maybe it did for a while, but you got good at it, which is a very common response to a lot of jobs.

The first part of it is difficult.

You learn a new skill.

You have a whole new season to begin a new chapter.

But after a while, you level out.

You hit a plateau.

And if you stay in that plateau for too long and boredom kicks in and becomes the norm, life is pretty drab.

It's just the same thing over and over without change.

You're going to know that feeling and know that change is required and has been for a while.

And boredom is one of the best places to spice things up.

It's one of the best times to find something new to explore a whole new chapter.

Honestly, that's where books really come in.

Books are one of the absolute best things to gravitate towards when you're looking for inspiration.

When you are seeking out something new and exciting, looking for that magnet to pull you into something that's going to be your next

big thing. So with all those criteria in mind, everything from stress to tomorrow

morning might suck to your health is off, there's tension, you're fighting, or you're

bored, or any of these criteria, and you're ready for change. Let's discuss now the

next phase, which is how to navigate the messy middle when you're not sure yet what

to choose. So in this first part, we know change is needed, but now the question is, change to

What? Where are we going to go? This is where I get stuck. I know when changes needed. It's

usually very intuitive. But knowing what to choose, that's where we all get stuck.

So let's go there. The first step to take if you are stuck in this messy middle is to take that big step back we discussed already.

Now, how big of a step is going to vary widely, everything from a few minutes to take a couple of breaths, all the way to a full sabbatical and a year off to really, you know, try.

a whole new thing. My question to you is not how long a break do you need.

My question is, what do you expect from the break? Because that's going to dictate

how long you really need, what that might actually look like. And of course,

there are plenty of life factors that will determine how much time you actually

practically have. I've never had a traditional sabbatical, but I have taken extended

breaks that are very minimized. In other words, I'll take a regular season of my life and just

cancel everything I possibly can.

And this is where I think most of us have a lot of power we don't realize.

You can look at your calendar and say, well, the calendar is filled this stuff.

I've got activities and meetings and requirements and obligations and I'm dying for a break.

I'm dying for some opportunity to not do all this stuff, but I can't because I'm stuck

in the obligations of these responsibilities.

But here's the thing.

You have a lot of power.

you can cancel stuff.

You can just not show up to things.

That sounds weird.

Someone like me, if I say yes to something, I will show up.

So to cancel something, to say no, to back out, to not be there when I said I would be there, sounds like a major fopaw.

It sounds like a part of my identity I can't live with.

But the reality is that saying no or say no after the fact is a thing.

And it's a real powerful thing and it's a necessary thing.

It's a skill set.

It's a necessity in these moments when your life is not going the way it should be going.

And you need this change.

You are dying for this big shift, this pivot, the willingness to step into the word no and say it repeatedly until you have enough free time laid out for yourself.

And then that is your ticket to freedom.

So imagine that no has become part of your life.

And you are in this messy middle.

However, you have now canceled activities.

You have freed up time.

What do you do with this time?

I have done this in my life many times where I have canceled plans.

I have given myself a morning hike.

I have given myself the flexibility of a weekend off.

And then that weekend shows up.

I go for that hike.

And then I wonder, now what?

Like, what am I here to discover?

Like, what's the point of this time away?

The funny thing about this is that what usually happens is that when I'm looking for an answer, when I'm doing brainstorming sessions and I'm actively asking, answering questions and really trying hard to solve the problem.

I don't solve the problem.

In fact, all I do is make myself frustrated and angry because I can't figure out what the answer is.

I'm trying to get clarity so bad and working so hard at it that I just miss it.

The point of taking time away and the point of a long height,

the point of a weekend away, or a retreat session, or anything that's going to give you the flexibility of time and a breather,

is that you just take that time and you breathe.

And it's only in the calm that these epiphanies will just show up on their own.

And you don't have to force it and you don't have to try so hard.

If you're a high achiever like me where perfectionism runs the show most of the time,

I'm experiencing that right now recording this podcast.

It doesn't work.

In fact, what actually does work is lowering your shoulders, relaxing, taking a deep belly breath.

The kinds of things you don't do when you're stressed out.

The kinds of things you don't do when you're overly programmed, overly busy trying to do it all.

You find yourself clenching your fist and not even realizing it.

Those are the obvious signs that you've been holding on too tight.

And you need to let go.

And it's only in the letting go where you detach from all of that stress,

or you actually have enough freedom from it that the epiphanies will just show up when you least expect them to.

And so part of this is intentional.

It's not just a complete, do nothing, and the answers all show up.

There is an active process here.

And what I have seen that works best for me, we'll use the latest book that I just read as a really good example here.

So one of the big questions I've had for my life and my business, especially as I turned 40, was what are my long term financial plans?

You're looking ahead long term to retirements and literally the rest of my entire life.

What does our money look like as a family?

What are our long term plans?

And when asking myself that question, I didn't have a great answer.

I'm not a financial analyst.

I don't have a lot of financial knowledge, not as much as I should, not even close.

And so one of my questions was, well, how do I solve business?

problems if I don't have the skill set to do so. And the obvious answer was back

to books,

right? I always

go back to a book. And so I picked up a book from my bookshelf

that I bought years ago and never read and thought, this is the chance to dig in.

And so I got the book. I listened to the audiobook version, actually. And as I heard

the audiobook playing out, I just knew this was what I was looking for. When I was trying

really hard before to quote unquote, kind of fix my money or get things in order.

What I was just doing was getting frustrated.

It was only when I calmed down and let someone else kind of lay out a path that I was

able to then hear that message and integrate those strategies into my life and make

change possible.

But this is one of those classic examples of when the student is ready, the teacher

appears.

And when I was finally willing to admit that I was ready to learn, the answers were right in front of me.

In this case, the form of a book, but it could come from anywhere.

And then when I read the book and I got the information, I was able to then take action on it and make change and see results.

And now all of a sudden, the fears I may have had, anxieties, questions, all the challenges, all the stress associated with money, which is a lot of that all the time, all of a sudden, I've got a lot more peace about it.

and I've got a lot more peace because I have a plan I believe in.

I have a plan that I know can work.

Now, that's not to say that what this book actually teaches is what you should follow.

I'm not a financial advisor, but I will say that that simplicity is there.

That if you're struggling and you're fighting hard, a simple way to approach it is to take that step back and to be calm and then let in some new information and let that stuff simmer for a bit.

let it percolate in the back of your mind.

And what's going to end up happening is that you're going to have epiphanies over time,

randomly in the shower, out for a walk, it'll just happen.

And then when it does, you then have those moments to say,

oh, there's a good idea, write that down.

And then tomorrow I'll take action on it.

And then I'll take that action.

Then I get another idea that leads to another and another and another.

And next thing you know, you've snowballed yourself into progress,

solving problems, and seeing change take place.

and it all stemmed from your willingness to just take that constant state of stress,

back away from that for a few minutes, gain some clarity, get some new information,

and then act on it.

And the pivot point, the moment where everything changed, in this case, it wasn't the book that I read.

It was the decision to read the book.

The decision to say, I'm going to tackle this part of my life now on purpose.

but I'm not going to approach it from a state of stress, anxiety, fear,

typical Jeff Sanders, high achiever, go, go, go attitude.

It's like, no, let's let this be for a minute.

And then as I was able to absorb the information, see a plan take place,

then my typical behavior is kicked in and I was able to get very aggressive very quickly.

But that all comes from this acknowledgement that change is necessary,

that you're in a season where you need the pivot,

but you're not going to force it.

Every single time I've tried to force success, I've missed it.

Now, you could technically kind of force success,

work your butt off and see results

and think, well, Jeff, doesn't hard work actually lead to success?

And my answer to that is hard work leads to results.

It doesn't always lead to success.

And that nuance is really important.

you can be a high achiever who works your butt off 24-7 and gets quote-unquote results

that others see as successful, but it's killing you inside.

You are just dying from all the hard work, no free time, no chance to breathe.

That's not success.

That's not a life to live.

You're not a machine.

You're not going to go 24-7 and make it work.

And if that's how you approach it, you will break down.

No ifs about it.

It will kill you.

I'm the guy with the story.

I went to the ER in my early 30s.

I know this.

It literally will, can kill you.

And so stress is not the answer, right?

Just hard work by itself.

No, no, no, no.

Strategy is everything.

A calmer, more methodical approach to whatever you're trying to tackle

is actually going to lead to the long-term success you're after.

not just the resume building results that you think you actually want or need.

I know this is a nuanced conversation.

It might sound like semantics, but there really is a ginormous difference between those who achieve success in a very chill way and get phenomenal results in the process.

I mean, I'll go back to this book, this book on Unwealth, The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins.

His name is Jim.

Jim Collins has such a chill attitude.

I heard the audiobook, and when I did, it was so clear that he just gets this.

And it's not a stressor.

It's not a fear.

It's not anxiety producing.

It's just what he does.

It's so matter of fact.

And that sounds bizarre when you approach anything in life.

Let's take weight loss is a good example, marriage counseling.

You're thinking like, oh, my gosh, I've got these challenges, and I want to fight through things.

and someone else, it's just, it's no big deal, right? They've got it down.

Well, you want to mimic those people, not the ones who are hyperactive and really aggressive, but the ones who just get it.

They just get it. It's just who they are and what they do. Those are the people who truly have it nailed down.

And when you find those people, your success is all but guaranteed too.

Let's now shift to the final section here, which is,

how to identify your new direction with confidence and clarity.

You know, one of the best strategies that's worked really well for me in my own

massive life pivots is increasing my awareness.

It is keeping my eyes open, specifically for new things that draw me in and light

me up and cause me to feel excitement and nervousness at the same time.

I said before the top of the episode that one of the ways you could view this is a magnet

that pulls you in.

One thing that has been so undeniable for me in the process of trying

to force success versus just letting it happen is the magnet metaphor.

If I'm trying to push my way into something, using the one side of the magnet

where it's repelling things, it's literally forcing things into action, it's destructive,

it's aggressive, and it's usually not the right answer.

But the opposite, the other side of the magnet that attracts the,

things to you that brings them in. Oh, it's easy. It's flowing downstream. It's just

everything just works. What you're looking for here are the magnetized poles,

the things that just light you up and say it's just a natural fit. Like,

that's where I belong. In that area of life, let's go. So when you make big decisions,

what we're looking for is love, not fear, ease, not tension, clarity, not confusion,

and a magnetic pull, not a forced push.

When you focus on love, ease, clarity,

and that magnetism that draws you into things you care about,

that's it.

You've nailed it right there.

Those are the areas of life where doubling down makes the most sense.

But the opposite is also true.

If you approach the next big decision through fear, tension, confusion,

and a forced aggressiveness to push your way,

way in, you're doing it all backwards, and it's just not going to work.

And even if on paper, you can technically force it into being, the experience is

just terrifyingly bad.

I can't miss the opportunity here to use the marathon metaphor that I use all the

time.

Back when I was running a ton of marathons and ultra-marathons, I was a very aggressive

runner, and I thought that the way that you run a long distance is the same you run,

a 5K or a short distance, which is just brute force.

I thought the answer was you run really hard for just a long, long time.

And those who are successful at marathony and ultra-marathony, man,

they can run hard and strong for hours and days on end.

But that is not it.

But all that's going to do is break your body into a million pieces.

The answer to endurance activities, and that could be endurance in sports or endurance in life.

If you want to survive for the long haul, you have to go at it with a much calmer approach, much easier, much more of a gliding motion, and you ease your way into the long distance and you just find a rhythm you can maintain.

A very progressive rhythm that might look aggressive on paper, but your experience in it, it's just chill.

You're flowing downstream. You're just going with the flow. You're making it work, but you're not forcing it.

And if you feel like you have to force it, that generally means you're just not ready yet.

There's another skill set to gain.

There's something else to do first.

But you'll find that flow.

And everything will work beautifully.

Another way to view this conversation on identifying your direction with confidence and clarity is what I always discuss in this podcast, which are the fundamentals, going back to the basics.

And one thing that's been true about me is that when I'm trying to move forward, one of the first things I do,

do is I look backwards. And I asked the question, what was true about my life 15 years

ago? What was true about me in the past? Because that is usually indicative and

clarifying for where I need to go now. And so I may ask a question, what did I always

want to do? Way back as a teenager in my 20s, what did I always want to do with my life?

Or even, where did I imagine I would be at this age where I am now when I was a lot younger,

which could lead to a lot of regret if you are not where you thought you should be,

but also it leads to that clarity on what needs to happen now to really fulfill that childhood dream.

Or even finally, what is always true about you and how can you leverage those tendencies

but in a more healthy, progressive, positive way?

Your identity, your characteristics, your skill set, your natural inclinations,

to lean on those and flow downstream with those and let those,

those characteristics define the next big pivot and the next most powerful way.

So to wrap this up in this conversation on choosing your next chapter in life,

there are a thousand things to consider.

There are so many factors at play.

Life is not simple.

I wish that it was.

But it is complex.

It is complicated at times.

But one thing that is always true is that when big change is needed, you know it.

And if that's where you are, then I fully,

support you making a big change. I fully support you uprooting your life and

forging new territory and a whole new direction because that's where life has lived.

You know, there's this very famous phrase that, you know, your best life

has lived on the other side of fear and that plays into this scenario perfectly.

If you are considering something big but you're scared to move, move anyway.

Move directly in the direction of the fear because that is where you're going to find so much fulfillment, so

much joy, so much potential, and it's going to come from your willingness to

engage with the things that so far have held you back, that so far have caused

you to pause and hesitate and never truly lean in.

But it's in that leaning in that you actually discover your best self, or a whole new

best self you didn't even know was possible.

All right, now let's discuss that thing that I talked about the top of the show,

which is a potential new group coaching program.

So I have an idea that I am not dead set on yet.

This is just a consideration, but I'm looking for feedback and possible interest in this.

So the group that I am working on is called Habit Miracles.

It is a group coaching program that is designed specifically to focus on habit change and long-term growth.

It is about big life pivots.

It is about asking that question of what's next next?

for me and how am I going to tap into that and truly be able to leverage my daily

habits to add up to long-term success.

And the group is going to focus on vibrant health.

That includes your diet, fitness, breaking addictions.

It will also discuss productivity from the peaceful perspective of finding peace

while pursuing ambitious goals and, of course, your daily task management.

And then finally, a section on personal and professional growth, everything from

reading amazing books to goal setting and skill development. So that's the idea

behind the group. There is a lot to work out the details on and to really finalize

this, but what I'd like to hear from you is if you are interested in this.

And if you are, email me, jeffat jeffsanders.com. If there is enough interest,

this group will exist. And if there's not, then I will probably turn this into an

online course or some kind of other opportunity. But for now, I would like to begin

this concept around this idea of a small group where we work through long-term

habit change and long-term success through all of these various means I just

discussed. So once again, email me, jeff at jeffsanders.com for the Habit

Miracles Group Coaching Experience.

And for the action step this week.

lean into your lack of clarity if you're struggling with what to do next let it come to you

once again making big choices should be rooted in love not fear ease not tension

clarity not confusion and a magnetic pull not a forced push give it time and let the

answer make itself known now subscribe to this podcast and your favorite podcast app

or go to 5am miracle premium.com for the special VIP experience.

And that's all I've got for you here on the 5 a.m. Miracle podcast this week.

Until next time, you have the power to change your life.

And all that fun begins bright and early.

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