In midlife, many of us feel a quiet shift: after years of chasing success, we begin longing for significance – meaning, contribution, and alignment with our values. The promotions, possessions, and packed diaries that once defined us start to lose their shine. We’ve reached what society told us we should want, but something deeper calls. This is the moment when rediscovery begins: a turn from external success to inner fulfilment, from status to purpose, from doing to being. If you’re in your 50s, 60s or beyond and asking “What now?”, you’re not alone. This blog explores how to find your ‘why’ later in life – and how meaning, contribution and values alignment become the true measures of success in your Later & Greater years.
The Success Season
Let’s give success its due. It has its season. There’s nothing wrong with working hard, striving, and achieving. Building a career or raising a family takes grit and focus. Success often pays the bills and gives us stability.
But success is also a moving target. There’s always more money, a higher rung on the ladder, another milestone waiting. Chase it forever, and you never arrive.
That’s why, later in life, success can start to feel strangely hollow. You realise the things you once sacrificed sleep for don’t actually feed your soul.
The Call to Significance
Significance whispers a different question: Am I making a difference?
It’s not about impressing others; It’s about impact, meaning, and alignment. Ultimately, it’s about rediscovering your why.
Think of it this way: success is climbing the ladder. Significance is checking that the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
Rediscovering Your Why
Here’s the good news: your why is already within you. You may have buried it under responsibilities or routines, but it’s there.
Rediscovery begins with curiosity:
- What lights you up?
- When do you feel most alive?
- What problems in the world do you care enough about to get involved in?
Your why doesn’t have to be grand. You don’t need to cure cancer or start a global movement. Your why might be mentoring a teenager, painting a canvas, or planting a garden that makes your street brighter. Significance is about contribution, not applause.
Real-Life Rediscoveries
Magic Johnson
In a piece by Dr David Lawson titled “Leadership and the Importance of Significance over Success”, he describes how leaders with success (authority, prestige, wealth) may still lack significance – that is, impact, contribution and aligned purpose. apuedge.com
He uses Magic Johnson as a case: while his basketball success was extraordinary, it was his later philanthropic and entrepreneurial work that shifted him into significance. apuedge.com
Elizabeth Taylor
Once a Hollywood icon, Elizabeth Taylor later turned to activism and philanthropy – notably cofounding the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991 and leveraging her fame to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. Her success in acting provided the platform; her significance emerged via meaningful action for others (and advocacy) in later decades.
The Role of Age
Here’s where age becomes a secret weapon. At 25, you’re often chasing success because you’re still proving yourself. At 55 or 65, you’ve lived enough to know what matters and what doesn’t. You’ve got perspective – and perspective is rocket fuel for significance.
Humour Helps
Of course, sometimes finding your why feels daunting. (No pressure, just… what’s the meaning of life?!) Relax. This isn’t an exam. It’s an exploration. And, unlike those terrifying “Where do you see yourself in five years?” job interviews, you get to make up the rules.
A Practical Exercise
Try this:
1. Write down your top three “successes” in life so far.
2. Then ask: why did they matter? Did they bring you joy, connection, contribution?
3. Use those answers to spot patterns. That’s the breadcrumb trail to your why.
The Bottom Line
Success may define your earlier years, but your later years are an opportunity to pursue significance.
And the best part is, you don’t have to go out and “find” it in some mystical way. You simply rediscover it – the why that’s been sitting quietly inside you all along, waiting for its turn on stage.
Your Next Step: Rediscovering Significance Through Coaching
If you’re ready to explore what your why might look like in this next chapter of life, coaching can help you uncover it. Through reflection, value exploration, and practical tools, we can rediscover what truly matters – and design a life that feels rich in meaning, not just busy with achievement.
Later & Greater is a coaching programme for anyone navigating midlife change – a space to pause, reflect and realign with your authentic self.
Further Reading & References
- Greater Good Science Center: Here’s How to Find Meaning in Your Midlife Crisis
- Psychology Today: New Careers Past Age 60 — Not an Oxymoron
- FourFourTwo: Gary Neville on UA92 and Giving Back
- Vantage Aging: Success Later in Life
