– Jay-Z, quoted by David Letterman on Netflix Feature, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction”.

As I move into my 3rd decade of life I acknowledge I am only just beginning to grasp what Jay-Z, David Letterman and Rick Rubin are describing. 

 

Only over the past couple of years am I beginning to understand the pilgrimage required to find, believe in and commit to our life’s work. Which as result, brings fulfillment, success, world class Mastery, and impact. 

 

What I hear those incredible Masters of Craft referring to in the quote above is the work to be done in our Second Act of life. 

 

Let me explain. 

 

In it’s simplest form, I see us moving through 3 distinct Acts of life. 

 

Act 1: Become human. Know thyself. Lay Roots.

Act 2: Find Your Life’s Work. Go All In. Embark on the Pilgrimage to Mastery.

Act 3: Recognize compounded value due to invested focus against time. Scale Impact. Establish Legacy.

 

From the time we’re born until our late 20s to late 30s (approximately) we are establishing our foundation. We first learn what it means to be human, developing basic functions at all levels of our being. We then begin the long process of beginning to know ourselves. This isn’t done consciously but comes through every experience we navigated in these early informative years. We establish a set of core values – regardless of whether this is intentional or not – we begin to experience activities that intrinsically motivate us, and hopefully we take a couple of journeys outside of our comfort zone and begin to understand that these experiences don’t kill us and in fact make us stronger and wiser.

 

If we’re paying close attention and are equipped a set of tools to reflect, listen and learn, we undoubtedly get glimpses of our life’s work in the 1st Act. We experience powerful moments of Flow when immersed in tasks, projects or pursuits. We see the value we create in others through our work. We are affirmed intrinsically (I love this work and it feels important) and extrinsically (I can’t believe I get paid to do this). 

 

But for most of us, in this first chapter we haven’t gone “All In” on that life’s work and purpose. 

 

This will be our greatest challenge and opportunity in Act 2. 

 

 

Act 1 is an interesting beast. We are slowly and largely unknowingly gaining an intuitive understanding of what it means to survive and thrive in this world. Our tools to navigate in this Act are a combination of trial and error and, if we’re lucky, some key mentors and masters (see Act 3) to help guide the way. At the same time, we are equally unknowingly building our social comparison complex – the notion that as humans we are wired to continuously compare ourselves to others – this complex experiences steroid like growth due to the connected nature of our world and our increasing consumption of information intentionally and by osmosis. 

 

If we’ve had the right set of experiences and mentors to guide us, this provides us with the ability to be grateful for what we have in the world. But at the same time it also likely has left us with a feeling of desire to achieve more, to taste success and fulfillment for ourselves, and maybe a fleeting feeling that we are not where we want to be when compared to others.

 

And so as we enter Act 2 with a foundation growing in sturdiness and a vision for the life we want to build – the stage begins to present itself. 

 

Will we summon the courage and determination to pursue our life’s work with reckless abandon, full well acknowledging we are starting at the bottom and will require the next 20-30 years to build a body work that has tremendous value? 

 

The 2nd Act is our opportunity to go All In. 

The 2nd Act is where the transformational leaders are separated from the average.

The 2nd Act is where we have the opportunity to build world class Mastery and impact. 

 

But what about if you don’t know what your “life’s work” is? 

 

I would suggest there is an opportunity to invest more time reflecting and inquiring on your experiences to date in life. There may also be an opportunity to improve the way in which you do this (your toolset). I can assure you without question you have had glimpses of your life’s work in the years leading up to the 2nd Act. You need to look deeper. This is the fabric that is woven underneath the “things you do from day to day”. It is deeper than your job, your career, the things your ego tells you are important parts of your outward identity. 

 

Zeroing in on this work is an ongoing process. You never arrive but continually refine and course correct as your experiences teach and guide you. 

 

This is a large component of the work we do in the Deep End Mindset (email me to learn more). 

My comments about Act 3 are, obviously, through observation only. But the archetype both seems clear and consistent.

 

Those in life who have been able to commit 10, 20, 30, 40 or more years to their life’s work enter the 3rd Act with a platform. From Jay Z to Jay Fai, Abraham Lincoln to Leonardo Da Vinci – all Masters of their Craft we look to with awe and inspiration. All with similar stories of dedicating decades of focus, attention, intention and determination into their life’s work. 

 

Act 3 is about scaling the impact and defining the legacy of the body of work we have created. And, for those who choose to go All In within the first 3 Acts, I think there is a 4th Act available. Look at the work David Letterman (72) and Warren Buffet (88) are doing today. 

If these questions resonate, I would encourage you to take one step further and document your answers along with several other facilitated questions in this questionnaire here. 

 

You will get an email of all you responses for your records. You can complete the form completely anonymously, or if you want some direct coaching feedback from me, including your name and email. 

 

1) While I believe these “Acts” are archetypal, they operate on a scale. There are catalysts and depressants that can accelerate or decelerate the rate one moves through these chapters and therefore how much time (read- exponential compounded growth) they can create in their Second Act. A catalyst I’ve observed are individuals who experience extreme challenge or trauma early in Act 1 and manage to escape the often crippling forces of these traumas. Conversely, a child who has been coddled and raised in extremely privilege, while seemingly successful or happy on the outside, has likely experienced a stunting of the growth and depth required in Act 1 to truly stand on their own in Act’s 2 and 3. 

 

2) My wife brought up a fantastic point from her perspective that perhaps for Women there is an additional act between Acts 1 & 2 that takes into consideration the process of child birth and the maternal bond and instinct that comes with raising children. I found this fascinating and am thinking about this further.

 

3) In many ways you can think about the Acts of our life as the growth of a tree over time. In Act 1 you are laying down your roots. You have not yet had the luxury of time to allow for your growth but indeed you are laying the foundation upon which growth will occur. Depending on a combination of many things including how intention you are raised to the rate by which your external environment forces the deepening of your roots – you will be ready for Act 2. In Act 2 we are doing the work, the tree analogy again works as this work must be applied in a singular direction to have resounding impact and create world class results in the 3rd Act. By the time we are reaching the 3rd Act of our lives, our roots (Act 1) combined with our ability to dedicate Act 2 to doing the work (growing vertically), will be realized through the height of our branches. It is only in this last Act that we will outwardly be able to see the full result and benefit of deep roots when compared to a tree that did not lay down that foundation and resulted in much smaller and less significant growth when it’s all said and done.