Life coaching for retirement
Finding purpose in life after 50: a practical place to start
Finding purpose in life after 50 starts with separating who you are from what you did for a living, then matching your values and strengths to how you actually spend your days.
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What should I do if I have no direction in life at 50?
Start by naming what the lack of direction is really about: usually it is the loss of a role that used to answer who you are and what your days are for.
Feeling directionless at 50 is not a character flaw. When a career has organized your time, relationships, and sense of worth for decades, its absence, or its approaching end, leaves a gap. Rarified Life's Preferment framework treats that gap as the start of a redesign rather than a decline. It is a research-backed approach for high achievers that helps you align future plans with your personal values and cultivate meaningful pursuits beyond your career.
Starting life over after 50
Starting over rarely means starting from nothing. It means carrying your skills and values into a new shape. Rarified Life's founder, Anne van Leynseele, is one example. She built and sold a film and television production company in Los Angeles, advised Fortune 100 companies on digital strategy across three continents, served as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration, and now co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. Four reinventions, each built on what came before.
Five questions to sit with this week
These prompts follow the order of the Preferment modules. Write your answers down; do not just think them.
Identity
If no one could ask about my job, how would I describe myself?
Motivation
What would I still do every week if no one paid me for it?
Alignment
Which of my values and strengths go unused on an ordinary day?
Accountability
What structure, people, or schedule would keep me showing up?
Launch
In one sentence, what is my mission for the next chapter?
The best retirement advice from retirees
"I thought work defined me, but I discovered I am so much more. I learned to 'be' rather than just 'do' on autopilot."
If you want a structured way to work through these questions, the free retirement webinar is the first step, and the Preferment course works through them over eight weeks.
Start with the free presentation
Registration is free and gives you instant access to the 5-step plan for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement.
Common questions
See all 44 questions- I have no direction in life at 50. Can this help?
- Feeling directionless at 50 is a common reason people look at retirement transition coaching. Preferment's Motivation and Alignment modules focus on finding what moves you once a paycheck is no longer the reason, and on matching your values and strengths to how you actually spend your days.
- Is it too late to start life over after 50?
- Rarified Life's founder is a working example of reinvention. Anne van Leynseele has lived four reinventions, from film and television, to digital strategy, to government law, to a chocolate farm in Hawaii. Preferment is built on the idea that life after 50 can be an active, purpose-driven chapter.
- What if my whole identity is wrapped up in my work?
- That is the exact situation the presentation addresses. Rarified Life says the plan works even if your entire identity has been wrapped up in your work, and the course's Identity module focuses on separating who you are from what you did for a living.
- What if I already feel lost months into retirement?
- You are not alone. The presentation covers why smart, capable women can get eight months into retirement and stop answering the phone, and what you can do to start turning that around today. One Preferment participant described those years as "wandering around like a goldfish in a bowl."
- What is the best retirement advice from retirees?
- One Preferment participant put it this way: "I thought work defined me, but I discovered I am so much more. I learned to 'be' rather than just 'do' on autopilot." The lesson is that preparing who you will be matters as much as preparing what you will have.
- What is the Preferment framework?
- Preferment is Rarified Life's research-backed approach for high achievers to redesign life after 50 as an active, purpose-driven alternative to traditional retirement. It helps you align your future plans with your personal values and build meaningful pursuits beyond your career.