If I’m living my personal purpose in both life and work and striving toward my long-term personal vision, then the likelihood that I feel unworthy of my successes is reduced because my success is more genuine to me and, no pun intended, purposeful. So if natural feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt creep in, I can remind myself that my success didn’t come out of nowhere, but was instead the result of planning, skill, and hard work.

Far too many of us look at the prospect of our fleeting, mortal lives with dread. We fill our lives with busy and hurry—seldom, if ever, stopping to check in with ourselves and ensure we’re living out the promise of our purpose. One of my goals with the Saturday Morning Muse is to help drive a shift in perspective—from the negative to the positive—from “I have to,” to “I get to.” If you want to be an effective, compassionate leader in life and in business, start engaging in your own mindfulness practice. What do you want to be known for? Up to this moment, have you done the best that you could?

Your personal self evaluation should take precedence over the self evaluation that is required as part of your annual performance review at work. In doing so, you’re making it clear to yourself that your personal performance and well-being takes priority to what is happening at work. All too often, work takes precedence, we get stuck on the hamster wheel, and we’re left personally unfulfilled.

Are you feeling disengaged or ‘stuck’ at work? Does it feel like you’re trudging through mud and that the light in your eyes has dimmed? From my own personal experience, it can be very difficult to pinpoint the root cause of these feelings and it’s even harder to break through to an improved state of well-being and engagement.

The second is that sixty is a time in one’s life when you can look back and see with relative clarity things that you’ve done and will never do again. Some things you don’t want to do again and others you can’t because entropy has begun to take the upper hand. At exactly the same time, sixty is a time when you can look forward to a canvas of opportunity to make a difference and experience life with vigor and purpose. There’s a certain sense of urgency to live life to the fullest since the end is assuredly closer than the beginning.

When I use the word “you,” I’m speaking to myself as much as I’m speaking to my readers. I don’t have it all figured out, none of us do. We’re all works in progress. What I do have going for me is a diverse portfolio of leadership experiences, business “wins,” and a load of errors, challenges, and mistakes that I’ve turned into learning and growth opportunities through the years.