By Unsie Zuege
Maybe you can relate.
The scenario: Your bedroom. It’s the beginning of a new day. The alarm goes off. You hit the snooze alarm because you are reluctant to face the day. You don’t have a bad attitude. You just don’t feel excited about starting the day because it’s going to be an awful lot like the day before, and the day before that.
You wonder about those people who can’t wait to leap out of bed in the morning, ready for their day to begin. Who are they? What do they know that you don’t?
Or this scenario: You’re in your 50s, early 60s and you notice that everyone from AARP to financial planners wants to be your friend, or at least your retirement adviser. You can’t help but think about what’s next in your life. And you realize that maybe you want your second half to be different. But you don’t know where to start.
“Finding an answer to the question ‘What makes me get out of bed in the morning?’ becomes more vital to staying alive as we age and retire,” Elizabeth Craig explained recently. Craig, who lives in Eden Prairie, is a career expert, speaker and facilitator with more than 25 years of experience. She is also a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year and award-winning author.
Craig is also affiliated with the Purpose Project, a joint project of the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality & Healing and Richard Leider of The Inventure Group. Leider is considered a pioneer and leader in the area of coaching and helping people discover the power of purpose in work and life.
The public will have an opportunity to spend a day with Craig to explore and discover purpose in their lives. On Saturday, Sept. 6, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Craig will conduct the “Working on Purpose” workshop at the Chanhassen Library. The workshop is sponsored by the Library Foundation of Carver County (LFCC), as a fund-raiser.
Leanne Brown, executive director of the LFCC, learned from Craig that the university’s Purpose Project was seeking nonprofits in the Twin Cities to conduct workshops as a benefit event.
“Elizabeth sought a good match,” Brown said. “As we talked, we realized that the foundation was ideal. It supports an educational institution that supports the greater public, supports lifelong learning and pursuits that make people happy and encourages them to grow as people.”
According to Craig, today’s baby boomers want to feel that their work is meaningful. They want to live a balanced life, and to get that, they need careers that are more flexible, that tap into a person’s key skills and abilities.
Craig is a perfect example.
“In 1982 I was doing what I loved,” Craig said, “and I was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year.”
But declining enrollment in her school district meant that within a year she had to find a new job. Becoming a career counselor was almost accidental. In the process of assessing her skills and interests and doing lots of research in seeking a new career path, she became known as an expert among her friends and peers. And she learned the valuable lesson that “you make change or the world makes the change for you.”
The experience also enabled her to realize not only her abilities and interests, but to discover what it was that made her want to get out of bed everyday – for her: helping others identify their passion and put purpose into their lives.
Finding your purpose
Craig started a consulting business in 1982. Her first clients were her friends and colleagues who found themselves in similar circumstances of change. Since then she’s gone on to become a speaker and author and a workshop facilitator.
“The Purpose workshop helps participants open up to seeing what they do well,” Craig said.
Craig, who spends winters in Florida, told the story of her neighbor, a recent retiree.
“He had been in the engineering sales area,” she said. “When he retired, what happened is what most people experience. Nothing is how it used to be. They have no idea of why they get up. After two years of this, my neighbor found himself painting his garage floor. The paint brought up fibers in the concrete and he found himself on his hands and knees cutting fibers from the concrete floor. That was his wake-up call. ‘I cannot line up the spices in the kitchen one more time,’ he said. ‘I have to find myself. Who am I to be now?’
“We’re so used to the speed with our first half of life,” Craig said. “So you really have to step back. Whether it’s losing your employment or retirement, everyone faces the ‘Purpose Wall.’”
On the other hand, Craig has a 98-year-old friend who used to sell furniture at Macy’s. Her current passion and purpose is doing something meaningful for those who are in need. Today, she hand knits and crochets caps and blankets for newborns at a Palm Beach homeless shelter. In six months she made 100 caps and blankets.
“She made the choice to move on,” Craig said, “to not stay where she was. There’s a statistic that says that 60 is the new 40. You can look at all kinds of stats – the best cities to live in the second half of life, but you have to realize that everyone is an experiment of one. When people are in a fearful mode, they look to someone else to find the answers, to tell them what to do. So you can blame the economy, the decision-makers. But none of that matters if you know that what matters most is doing what you’re supposed to be doing.”

Background
Elizabeth L. Craig is trained by and affiliated with the Purpose Project. She has more than 25 years of experience as a career expert, speaker and workshop facilitator. She is a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year and was awarded the 2007 Jules Kerlan Outstanding Achievement Award by the Minnesota Career Development Association.

Working on Purpose Workshop
What: Workshop includes a series of activities, including personal inventories, interaction and small and large group work.
When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
Where: Chanhassen Library
Cost: $140 for general public; $70 for Friends of the Library; $70 for Carver County employees. Individual registration fee includes lunch and snacks.
Benefit: Proceeds benefit the Carver County Library Foundation.
Participants receive: A pre-workshop worksheet to fill out before the Sept. 6 event
For more information and registration: go to www.carverlib.org/. Contact lbrown@co.carver.mn.us for Friends membership information.