Episode 001 – What is the Passionate Purpose podcast about?

In the debut episode of the Passionate Purpose podcast, host Greg Gerber, who founded Forward From 50, outlines his vision for the show and describes what listeners can expect.

Passionate Purpose will be a weekly podcast that comes out every Wednesday afternoon. The episodes will usually feature interviews with men and women over the age of 50 who are passionately pursuing a specific purpose for the second half of their lives.

Occasionally, Greg will record an episode by himself, especially if he has a message that can help people identify a purpose for their lives and take steps to pursue it. The people he will be talking to will come from all walks of life from corporate executives to stay-at-home moms.

Some might have jobs, while others run businesses and still others utilize their skills, talent and abilities in a volunteer endeavor. What they all have in common is that they reached a point in their lives where they were looking for more.

Perhaps they were stuck in a job they didn’t like, or were basically pushed out of careers they loved long before they were ready to leave. They may have been contemplating an idea for many years and finally took that essential first step of faith. In some instances, fate just stepped in and directed them to a new opportunity.

Greg shares his own story about what transpired in his live over that helped him come up with the idea for Forward From 50. He also outlines what the platform can do for listeners and people who visit the website.

A resident of Sun City, Ariz., Greg describes how too many people plan to retire, kick back and engage in one recreational activity after another. However, after a few months, many retirees are bored out of their minds.

The internet is full of websites promoting things people can do to achieve greater longevity, such as follow a nutritious diet, don’t smoke, moderate their drinking, maintain a healthy weight, control their stress and get plenty of sleep. But, they are all missing the key point – the need for a purpose.

Without a sense of purpose, Greg believes the reason so many men die so early is because they want to. They can’t imagine living one more day without the ability to make an impact on people and the world around them.

The need for purpose is obvious and that’s why Greg started Forward From 50 — to help men and women over the age of 50 to live more purposeful lives by pursuing things they are truly passionate about. The Forward From 50 website and platform features:

  • Inspirational stories about what we like to call go-getters, people over 50 who stepped out to do something completely different than what they did before turning 50.
  • Insightful articles to help give people new ideas and help them enjoy a more purposeful, joyful and spiritually-abundant life.
  • An online community of enthusiastic dreamers already pursuing a new direction for their lives
  • Virtual courses to help people change their mindset or get started on a new venture.
  • One-on-one or small-group coaching to brainstorm ideas or a path to take
  • Finally, this podcast where people tell their stories their own way in their own words

The ultimate reason for purpose is to create a legacy, or how you want people to remember you when you’re gone. Yet, our purpose often changes as the seasons of our lives change. For example:

  • Pre-30s – Our purpose is to gain skills, begin forming a network, start working and start a family
  • During the 30s-50s – The chaos years – Our purpose is to gain experience, raise kids, fine-tune our talent, and learn new skills often to benefit ourselves.
  • During our post-50s, that’s when our true purpose guides us to our destiny – the reason we were born and bestowed with specific skills, talents and life experiences to benefit others.

A genuine, life-changing purpose always benefits others to some degree.

Greg closes the show with a quote from playwright Gertrude Nelson Andrews, who said, “There is no reason why a person shouldn’t be young at eighty, but there are a whole lot of people who die at fifty and aren’t buried until they are eighty. We have a right to be useful and creative if we live to be 100. A man at eighty should be a masterpiece, not something to be thrown on the dump heap.”

Thanks for listening to Episode 1 of the Passionate Purpose Podcast. For more information, visit www.forwardfrom50.com.