FINDING YOUR MID-LIFE PURPOSE With Art Blanchford

Howard Brown: 00:00:00

Record. Hello. It's Howard Brown. It's the

Howard Brown: 00:00:05

Shining Brightly Show. I hope it's shining brightly wherever

Howard Brown: 00:00:08

you are in the world today, I have an amazing guest. Art,

Howard Brown: 00:00:13

Blanchard art, welcome. How are you?

Art Blanchford: 00:00:15

Thank you so much, Howard. I'm feeling great

Art Blanchford: 00:00:17

this morning. Thank you so much for having me on your show.

Howard Brown: 00:00:20

Well, I have to tell you, art's got a tremendous

Howard Brown: 00:00:23

story. Okay, I'm not gonna, you know, bury the lead, but he's

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got something to tell you here, and he's climbed a mountain, and

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he is helping others, lifting up others, and that's what this

Howard Brown: 00:00:33

show is all about. Let me tell you a little bit about art,

Howard Brown: 00:00:35

because he's a cool adult. All right. Art Blanchford is the

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founder and the host and the coach of life in transition

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podcast, and he's a midlife transition mastery coach. He

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helps people and organizations through the changes that life

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gives them after having a profound transformation, like he

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did himself in his 40s and his 50s, called kind of the second

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act in life. And he actually is the founder and general manager

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of Pinnacle leadership, and he's a strategic advisor, and He

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guides companies through leadership strategy and mergers

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and acquisitions. He's a best selling author of a recently

Howard Brown: 00:01:14

published book called purposeful living. It's the wisdom of

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coming of age in complex times. And prior to that, in 2021 he

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was an executive vice president of North America, China and

Howard Brown: 00:01:26

Korea, for the automotive business company called vioneer.

Howard Brown: 00:01:32

And they were Premier and active in safety and self driving

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company, and they got bought out. So he had the lived

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experience there for that. But before that, art, tell me how

Howard Brown: 00:01:45

you shine brightly every day.

Art Blanchford: 00:01:47

Yeah, there's two things that really bring me

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forward into every day. And the first is my quiet time, so

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meditation and journaling and prayer that I do every morning

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first thing, and then getting out in the world to exercise

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while the sun's coming up, you know, whether I'm running or

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biking, but those are the two foundations that I have found

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that really helped me keep shining brightly every day, and

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then the end of the day, I end with my wife doing gratitudes

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and what we appreciate about each other right before we go to

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sleep.

Howard Brown: 00:02:16

I love that. That's That's incredible. All

Howard Brown: 00:02:19

right, we got to dig in help, because it's fascinating your

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upbringing. You got to share, you know, a bit about your

Howard Brown: 00:02:27

upbringing and and tell people what you had to endure. Yeah.

Art Blanchford: 00:02:32

I mean, I was raised in a religious cult. It

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was really a tough environment where I saw a lot of stuff and

Art Blanchford: 00:02:38

learned to be very independent and learn to please the man,

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please the one in charge. And that I, you know, was I felt

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very different, but it served me very well in business, because

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if you could answer the questions the boss had before he

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could ask him, you climb the ladder really fast. So it gave

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me a lot of compassion for others, but a lot of insecurity

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in myself, quite frankly, a lot of lack of worthiness and shame.

Art Blanchford: 00:03:01

But I used it to be very, very successful in business. I didn't

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even realize that's what was driving me until I sort of

Art Blanchford: 00:03:07

crashed and burned at 49

Howard Brown: 00:03:09

years old. Wow. And so I mean, that was the

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influence of growing up in that just had tremendous, profound

Howard Brown: 00:03:17

impact on you, and you had to carry that with you. And so we

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all carry stuff, and I actually call that darkness, and in my

Howard Brown: 00:03:24

book, I use that I carry that darkness, and we have to learn

Howard Brown: 00:03:27

from that. And sometimes we actually don't have that self

Howard Brown: 00:03:30

actualization or realization. For many, many years. I know

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people that have held it in and again, me with, you know, my

Howard Brown: 00:03:36

cancer, you know, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. I

Howard Brown: 00:03:41

carried that with me always, but I've learned from the lessons of

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the darkness, and I know that that light is within us, and

Howard Brown: 00:03:48

some people's light is very dim, and they need to be shining, and

Howard Brown: 00:03:51

we all help them that way. So absolutely, tell us how you got

Howard Brown: 00:03:54

through and then tell us a little bit about your starting

Howard Brown: 00:03:57

your business career and and how you did succeed.

Art Blanchford: 00:04:00

Yeah. I mean, I think I was, I was really lucky

Art Blanchford: 00:04:02

to be, to be, you know, I was very capable growing up, and I

Art Blanchford: 00:04:06

did a lot of things, but, you know, we lived on our homestead,

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so I learned I could do a lot of things, and I started doing work

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on myself Institute for self actualization when I was only

Art Blanchford: 00:04:14

17. So I did a ton of stuff when I was a young young man, toward

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functioning well in the world, and helping them easy to

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succeed, helping me to work with others, which was very useful.

Art Blanchford: 00:04:23

And then I treated people right. Like that was one thing I got

Art Blanchford: 00:04:26

from the very beginning. You know, I treat people right. I

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treat my employees like family. And that was how I attracted

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great employees. And with great employees or team members, you

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can, you can rise up. I mean, I was running a 10,000 person

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company in China, multi billion dollar company, when I was in my

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30s, and there's really about treating people right, right?

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And I always, I always felt in business, it's, you know, happy

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happy employees or happy team members, make happy customers,

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make happy shareholders or owners. And that was the way I

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focused in business, and was very successful at that. But I

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also didn't realize I drove myself so. Hard because I felt I

Art Blanchford: 00:05:01

was my work, like how I performed at work was equal to

Art Blanchford: 00:05:04

my identity, which is makes you a workaholic in that case. And

Art Blanchford: 00:05:09

so I burned out at 49 when I and I also had the realization of

Art Blanchford: 00:05:13

what was driving me and started on this magnificent spiritual

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journey four years ago with workaholics anonymous and really

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building my connection with with God, and driving my life in a

Art Blanchford: 00:05:24

very different way to serve others and to be healthy in the

Art Blanchford: 00:05:26

second half and take much better care of myself and my family.

Howard Brown: 00:05:30

All right, it's so funny because, you know, as

Howard Brown: 00:05:32

we've talked and got to know each other, I did the same

Howard Brown: 00:05:34

thing. I got better from cancer twice, and I got on the

Howard Brown: 00:05:38

workaholics truck, and just the speed lane, you know, with

Howard Brown: 00:05:42

startups in Silicon Valley. And, you know, work became my

Howard Brown: 00:05:45

identity. And I actually had to, my wife had to kind of sit me

Howard Brown: 00:05:49

down and say, you know, you want to have a family. You can't just

Howard Brown: 00:05:52

be, you know, Howard workaholic. It's not going to work in

Howard Brown: 00:05:56

raising a child. And it's funny. And I was doing a lot of

Howard Brown: 00:05:59

community service too, and I just blended it. I just blended

Howard Brown: 00:06:02

it too. And I now coming out of the, you know, my cancer

Howard Brown: 00:06:07

survivorship, and thank God, I'm blessed, lucky and grateful that

Howard Brown: 00:06:10

I've had that realization, you know, that who I really am and I

Howard Brown: 00:06:14

am Mr. Shining brightly, that's who I really am. And I found it,

Howard Brown: 00:06:18

and it took me a while to get there, right? So as you tell me,

Howard Brown: 00:06:22

so you burned out. And then I want to know kind of how you

Howard Brown: 00:06:27

came to that, and also the outdoors and nature and what

Howard Brown: 00:06:31

that means to you, because I know it's a big part of your

Howard Brown: 00:06:34

identity, too. Now,

Art Blanchford: 00:06:35

yeah, that is, I'll take the first one about

Art Blanchford: 00:06:37

how I burned out. I'll take that one first. I mean, basically I

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just worked myself into the ground. You know, I was

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traveling around the world twice a month, most months, every

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month, at least once. And, you know, had offices on three

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continents, two in the US. And you know, was just running like

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crazy and pretending jet lag didn't matter, pretending sleep

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didn't matter, and still maintaining a very high training

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you know, I was doing endurance races and Iron Man and ultra

Art Blanchford: 00:06:59

marathons during this time as well. So I was just running my

Art Blanchford: 00:07:02

body. I wasn't listening to my body, and I was running it into

Art Blanchford: 00:07:05

the ground. And Emotionally, I was still completely identified

Art Blanchford: 00:07:08

with work and really afraid, like, if I made one mistake, I'd

Art Blanchford: 00:07:12

be fired and then I would starve. Like that was how fast

Art Blanchford: 00:07:15

my mind was, even though I was, I was saving good money and

Art Blanchford: 00:07:17

saving for retirement and so forth. But I was, my mind was

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that fast to to want to shut off so or, you know, to freak out.

Art Blanchford: 00:07:25

But I, I got to a point in 2020, right as covid hit, where my

Art Blanchford: 00:07:30

body shut down. I got back from Asia. I couldn't go to China

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because covid was raging there, but I was in Japan and Korea.

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And then I got home, and then my body shut down. And my first

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thought was, they're going to find out I'm I'm broken, and

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then I'm gonna be fired and starve like that was my first

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thought. But my company was much, much better than that. And

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said, hey, you need to get well, and, you know, we'll reduce your

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job until you get well and take care of yourself and get

Art Blanchford: 00:07:56

healthy. But I realized I had been thinking for a while, I

Art Blanchford: 00:07:58

need to change something, but I didn't. I couldn't, I couldn't

Art Blanchford: 00:08:01

separate myself from my identity of work, and so I didn't know

Art Blanchford: 00:08:04

what to change. And my wife suggested that I check out

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workaholics, anonymous 12 step recovery program for

Art Blanchford: 00:08:10

workaholics. And that really started me on this wonderful

Art Blanchford: 00:08:13

spiritual journey, I shouldn't say started I've been on, I've

Art Blanchford: 00:08:17

been, you know, a spiritual journey my whole life, and been

Art Blanchford: 00:08:19

very active in church and so forth. But it, you know,

Art Blanchford: 00:08:23

exponentially increased my spiritual journey to really

Art Blanchford: 00:08:25

surrender and let go and let God became my my theme. And with

Art Blanchford: 00:08:29

that, I let go of my job right at the peak. And it was very

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prayerful consideration about it, and but I know I needed them

Art Blanchford: 00:08:37

to get myself healthy. And it coincided very, I was very

Art Blanchford: 00:08:41

blessed that it coincided with the sale to I helped get the

Art Blanchford: 00:08:43

company sold to Qualcomm, and I had a few shares, so that gave

Art Blanchford: 00:08:46

me some breathing room to figure out what's next in my life, and

Art Blanchford: 00:08:49

not have to just feel like I have to stay on the treadmill.

Art Blanchford: 00:08:51

And that's, that's the journey I've been on. Started my

Art Blanchford: 00:08:54

company, done a bunch of consulting, started my podcast,

Art Blanchford: 00:08:58

wrote my book, and really working with people in midlife

Art Blanchford: 00:09:01

transition now, like what I've been through and really learned

Art Blanchford: 00:09:03

a lot about so that's it's been an amazing journey. My 18 year

Art Blanchford: 00:09:08

old. My youngest is 18, a girl adopted from China, and she's

Art Blanchford: 00:09:11

she talks now because she gets to see both dads, really,

Art Blanchford: 00:09:14

because she was still at home after I came home in 2020 and

Art Blanchford: 00:09:17

she talks about, yeah, that was when you were a bad dad, and

Art Blanchford: 00:09:20

this is when you're a good dad. Like, those are two

Art Blanchford: 00:09:21

differentiate. I mean, which I wasn't really a bad dad, but I

Art Blanchford: 00:09:24

was gone half the time, right? So, yeah, it's early. Life is

Art Blanchford: 00:09:29

very different than it was five years ago for me.

Howard Brown: 00:09:32

So I speak in my book about finding your happy

Howard Brown: 00:09:35

place, your stress free zone, and to go there and schedule it

Howard Brown: 00:09:39

in. Tell me about your affinity with nature and the outdoors.

Howard Brown: 00:09:42

Yeah,

Art Blanchford: 00:09:43

so that is, and thank you, Howard, because that

Art Blanchford: 00:09:45

is you see this picture over my shoulder? Oh yes, 12 of my

Art Blanchford: 00:09:48

family members that I led into the Bob Marshall National

Art Blanchford: 00:09:51

Wilderness in northwestern Montana for six days last year,

Art Blanchford: 00:09:55

and I planned and prepared and took them out there. And that's

Art Blanchford: 00:09:58

ah, was like. Like being in the mountains for me, being in

Art Blanchford: 00:10:03

nature generally, being in the mountains specifically, is my

Art Blanchford: 00:10:06

happy place, like you talk about as your basketball court. I mean

Art Blanchford: 00:10:10

that was living in community together, like the way that we

Art Blanchford: 00:10:15

were meant to be. I feel like for it was for those six days

Art Blanchford: 00:10:18

being with my all five siblings, plus one brave sister in law and

Art Blanchford: 00:10:22

a bunch of nieces and nephews, was really amazing. And, you

Art Blanchford: 00:10:25

know, I do a lot of hikes and backpacking like that and that,

Art Blanchford: 00:10:28

it just grounds me and connects me and brings me all kinds of

Art Blanchford: 00:10:32

joy. Being in the mountains and I and I'm going, next month,

Art Blanchford: 00:10:36

I'll be out in the Rockies again, hiking and then doing the

Art Blanchford: 00:10:39

rim to rim to rim 50 mile race through the Grand Canyon in

Art Blanchford: 00:10:42

October. But being out in nature by myself, I love it. And being

Art Blanchford: 00:10:47

out in nature with other people and building that community, I

Art Blanchford: 00:10:49

also just absolutely love it. It's just, it just nourishes my

Art Blanchford: 00:10:53

soul, absolutely. Yeah,

Howard Brown: 00:10:54

so for those that are listening and not watching,

Howard Brown: 00:10:56

I gotta tell you, there's a picture in the mountains with

Howard Brown: 00:10:59

the group, but the expression of joy on your face right now is

Howard Brown: 00:11:04

just contagious. I'm just like, I want to go hiking with you

Howard Brown: 00:11:07

right now. I want to, let's, let's do it. Let's hit the

Howard Brown: 00:11:09

trails. Oh my god, I really appreciate that. So you spoke

Howard Brown: 00:11:14

earlier about what you're doing now, and you have life in

Howard Brown: 00:11:19

transition podcast. You have a coaching mastery group, and you

Howard Brown: 00:11:23

have a book. Can you share? Share what's going on there?

Howard Brown: 00:11:26

Yeah,

Art Blanchford: 00:11:26

absolutely. I'll start with a quick one, the book

Art Blanchford: 00:11:28

I wrote for my kids, and I wrote it over the last 15 years, and

Art Blanchford: 00:11:32

it's called purposeful living wisdom for coming of age in

Art Blanchford: 00:11:34

complex times, but it's appropriate for everybody. It's

Art Blanchford: 00:11:37

the lessons that I have learned that I packaged up in a way. And

Art Blanchford: 00:11:41

a lot of the research I've done, I've read 1000s of books, I've

Art Blanchford: 00:11:44

attended hundreds of personal growth seminars and spiritual

Art Blanchford: 00:11:48

retreats and silent retreats and monasteries and ashrams and

Art Blanchford: 00:11:52

everything in between. And I just packaged that wisdom up,

Art Blanchford: 00:11:55

focused on really two people in that book, if you will, two

Art Blanchford: 00:11:59

audiences, people coming of age and people raising people coming

Art Blanchford: 00:12:02

of age, and I wanted to make that available to my kids and

Art Blanchford: 00:12:05

for other people. So that's the book. It's, it's not incredibly

Art Blanchford: 00:12:10

smooth, but there's a lot of great wisdom in it. Let me put

Art Blanchford: 00:12:13

it that way, and I like it quite a bit. So that the things I'm

Art Blanchford: 00:12:16

really pouring into right now is my midlife transition business

Art Blanchford: 00:12:20

and support for folks, I have a midlife mastery. I've written

Art Blanchford: 00:12:24

the eight steps to mastering midlife transition, and we have

Art Blanchford: 00:12:27

monthly calls to support that community. Very exciting, very

Art Blanchford: 00:12:32

beneficial for folks, getting clarity, getting clear about the

Art Blanchford: 00:12:35

purpose, building authentic community, and then having the

Art Blanchford: 00:12:39

action to overcome the fear to move forward to what it is that

Art Blanchford: 00:12:42

really juices them for their second half. And that's, you

Art Blanchford: 00:12:45

know, what I've done in the last four years, and now sharing that

Art Blanchford: 00:12:47

and sharing the wisdom from the guests of my podcast, hundreds

Art Blanchford: 00:12:50

of interviews that I've done as well with that with that

Art Blanchford: 00:12:53

audience. And then I love doing the podcast I love, as Timothy

Art Blanchford: 00:12:58

Ferris said, the main reason for doing a podcast is to connect

Art Blanchford: 00:13:01

with people you actually want to connect with and are curious

Art Blanchford: 00:13:03

about, and the people I've met like you, and then people you've

Art Blanchford: 00:13:06

introduced me to. But it's just really enriching my life and

Art Blanchford: 00:13:09

helping me learn and really making a difference for our

Art Blanchford: 00:13:12

listeners as well. So those are the main things that I have

Art Blanchford: 00:13:15

going on right now. And you know, of course, doing my

Art Blanchford: 00:13:17

adventure athlete and raising kids. I'm off next week to take

Art Blanchford: 00:13:20

my daughter to start university in Scotland. Really looking

Art Blanchford: 00:13:24

forward to that, and then be meeting some friends from my

Art Blanchford: 00:13:26

midlife mastery group in London for dinner afterwards. So, yeah,

Art Blanchford: 00:13:30

really, really, a great life right now, very different than

Art Blanchford: 00:13:34

what it was five, six years ago. I

Howard Brown: 00:13:36

and rightfully so. And you know, you've kind of

Howard Brown: 00:13:40

corrected the ship, and now you teach others how to do that, and

Howard Brown: 00:13:44

we are very aligned. I mean, I talk about walking in the

Howard Brown: 00:13:47

darkness, getting knocked down in life and in business and in

Howard Brown: 00:13:51

health, in my case, a couple times, and also in

Howard Brown: 00:13:53

relationships. And even even the most successful people of what

Howard Brown: 00:13:59

to do next, they get stuck, and you have this beautiful story

Howard Brown: 00:14:05

that be able to figure that out. And I believe I figured it out

Howard Brown: 00:14:10

too, but it's always a work in progress. Absolutely always just

Howard Brown: 00:14:14

a work in progress. But I love that getting the help to get

Howard Brown: 00:14:18

that clarity that is really important, because we all have

Howard Brown: 00:14:23

blind spots, and people like you help, you know, see what you're

Howard Brown: 00:14:30

not seeing or don't want to admit to. We just did a little

Howard Brown: 00:14:33

bit about that in the green room with me. So I was, you know, you

Howard Brown: 00:14:36

helped me out a little bit there, in talking through some

Howard Brown: 00:14:39

stuff. So I appreciate that very much. And so right now, what are

Howard Brown: 00:14:45

the priorities for you in life? Yeah,

Art Blanchford: 00:14:47

I mean, I think my number one priority is my

Art Blanchford: 00:14:50

connection with God, right? And that's that. And I and I

Art Blanchford: 00:14:53

actually just this morning, I recommitted to increasing my

Art Blanchford: 00:14:55

prayer time in the evenings and my meditation time, because I'm

Art Blanchford: 00:14:58

only doing the mornings regularly. Yeah, and I feel like

Art Blanchford: 00:15:00

that's because to me, that's the connection, like I can do all

Art Blanchford: 00:15:04

kinds of action, but if it's not what I call inspired action, it

Art Blanchford: 00:15:07

may be taking me in actually, the wrong direction completely.

Art Blanchford: 00:15:10

So that's my number one priority. And then from that,

Art Blanchford: 00:15:13

it's taking care of myself, because if I'm not healthy and

Art Blanchford: 00:15:17

rested and clear, I can't be of use to anybody else. And after

Art Blanchford: 00:15:21

that, it's then taking care of my immediate family, both my

Art Blanchford: 00:15:26

children and my wife, as well as, you know, brothers and

Art Blanchford: 00:15:29

sisters and cousins. I have a lot of extended family, and then

Art Blanchford: 00:15:32

serving serving others right and which is right now, primarily

Art Blanchford: 00:15:37

through people going through transition, people that have got

Art Blanchford: 00:15:39

to midlife and are successful and then going. But now what? I

Art Blanchford: 00:15:43

still feel empty. I still feel hollow. What do I What's or

Art Blanchford: 00:15:45

maybe I'm sick, or maybe I'm getting divorced, like things

Art Blanchford: 00:15:47

are starting to blow up. When I did everything I thought I was

Art Blanchford: 00:15:51

supposed to do everything society taught me, my parents

Art Blanchford: 00:15:53

taught me to do. I checked all the boxes, and yet life still

Art Blanchford: 00:15:56

isn't what I imagined. I still don't feel inside the way I

Art Blanchford: 00:15:58

imagined I would helping those folks find their true north,

Art Blanchford: 00:16:03

find their what Joseph Campbell calls saying a hearty yes to

Art Blanchford: 00:16:08

their adventure, right? To help them identify what their

Art Blanchford: 00:16:10

adventure is, and then to work toward that and to do things

Art Blanchford: 00:16:13

that really juice them, like I never would have had time to do

Art Blanchford: 00:16:16

that hike in Montana while I was a corporate executive, right?

Art Blanchford: 00:16:20

Yeah,

Howard Brown: 00:16:21

that's so true. I will tell you, there's a lot of

Howard Brown: 00:16:23

empty nesters. I'm in that phase now. My daughter's launched.

Howard Brown: 00:16:27

She's a TV reporter in Missoula, Montana, and my wife, and we're

Howard Brown: 00:16:31

trying to figure it out, right? We're trying to get that clarity

Howard Brown: 00:16:35

to move forward, and we're going to change things up and get to

Howard Brown: 00:16:39

California and, you know, experience new people, new new

Howard Brown: 00:16:43

things to to kind of get that clarity. And I'm really looking

Howard Brown: 00:16:47

forward to embracing that. Plus, it's really cold here in

Howard Brown: 00:16:49

Michigan.

Art Blanchford: 00:16:51

I'll share that. I'll share that eight steps

Art Blanchford: 00:16:53

master midlife transition with you as well. These are the eight

Art Blanchford: 00:16:55

steps that I have found for me to overcome fear and to get

Art Blanchford: 00:16:59

clarity. It's on my website, but I'll share that with you as

Art Blanchford: 00:17:01

well. Howard really, really been useful for me and and getting

Art Blanchford: 00:17:05

clarity and having the courage to overcome the fear and all the

Art Blanchford: 00:17:09

all the patterns and programs I had in my head based on how I

Art Blanchford: 00:17:11

was raised.

Howard Brown: 00:17:13

Are you going to share right now?

Art Blanchford: 00:17:15

I'll send it to you. No, I'm not going to go. I

Art Blanchford: 00:17:17

mean, I could, but I'm not going to go through it right now.

Howard Brown: 00:17:19

I'll send out. Okay, well, I want people to be

Howard Brown: 00:17:21

able to get access, yeah, so

Art Blanchford: 00:17:22

they can pick it up on Artblanchford.com or life

Art Blanchford: 00:17:25

in transition podcast.com

Howard Brown: 00:17:27

Perfect, perfect, perfect. Alright, so tell me now

Howard Brown: 00:17:33

differently. You know when you were, you know, thick in the

Howard Brown: 00:17:35

thick of business. You know, who are some of your role models

Art Blanchford: 00:17:39

in business? No, just well in life, yeah, so one

Art Blanchford: 00:17:43

is right behind me on the head. People can't see it, but that's

Art Blanchford: 00:17:46

Stephen Covey behind me. Okay, so I really had so when I think

Art Blanchford: 00:17:50

of heroes right for myself and in general, in life, I feel like

Art Blanchford: 00:17:54

I've had three heroes or role models that I've really looked

Art Blanchford: 00:17:58

up to. One was Stephen Covey, author of seven habits and the

Art Blanchford: 00:18:01

eighth habit. And just what someone who I've had the

Art Blanchford: 00:18:04

pleasure to work with him and meet him and talk with him, and

Art Blanchford: 00:18:07

someone who really walked the talk right? Amazing, amazing man

Art Blanchford: 00:18:12

that I had so much respect for another was og mandino, this

Art Blanchford: 00:18:16

author of many, many, many, many books, also had a chance to meet

Art Blanchford: 00:18:20

him and hang out with him before his passing, and just talking

Art Blanchford: 00:18:23

about a better way to live and how to have you know how? You

Art Blanchford: 00:18:27

know, he also has an amazing story, but he has probably 25

Art Blanchford: 00:18:29

books, and started life over in his 40s after losing his family

Art Blanchford: 00:18:33

and wanted to commit suicide. You know, he was going to shoot

Art Blanchford: 00:18:35

himself, but it was so cold and wet outside, he went into the

Art Blanchford: 00:18:38

library for a minute to wait for this rain to stop, and found a

Art Blanchford: 00:18:42

book and started reading it, and turned his life around, and then

Art Blanchford: 00:18:45

became this best selling author. And, you know, married again and

Art Blanchford: 00:18:48

started a new family and and helped millions of people, and

Art Blanchford: 00:18:51

really inspiration to me. And then the third one was Tony

Art Blanchford: 00:18:53

Robbins. You know, did a ton of work with Tony Robbins when I

Art Blanchford: 00:18:57

was younger and very geared toward action and creation, but

Art Blanchford: 00:19:01

really helped me tremendously. And when I see his story and

Art Blanchford: 00:19:03

what he overcame, and how much value he's adding in the world

Art Blanchford: 00:19:06

right now, those, those are folks that have really, I've

Art Blanchford: 00:19:09

really looked up to. There's other business mentors and

Art Blanchford: 00:19:13

things that I had in business as well, but those are the three

Art Blanchford: 00:19:16

sort of that I would put in the in the hero category for me that

Art Blanchford: 00:19:18

I've tracked for the last, you know, 30 years plus,

Howard Brown: 00:19:22

I love it. Thank you for sharing that. I'm going

Howard Brown: 00:19:23

to ask you to put on your sunglasses. I know you got some

Howard Brown: 00:19:26

cool, cool shades here. So this is the time of the show that we

Howard Brown: 00:19:30

call the shining brightly spotlight. And we are shining

Howard Brown: 00:19:32

brightly on each other, but I'm shining it on you to share how

Howard Brown: 00:19:36

the best way to get a hold of you. I know you mentioned it,

Howard Brown: 00:19:39

but mentioned it again, and then please leave me with some

Howard Brown: 00:19:41

inspirational quota story, and then we'll wrap up the show.

Howard Brown: 00:19:45

Absolutely.

Art Blanchford: 00:19:45

Thanks. Howard, yeah, you can best way to reach

Art Blanchford: 00:19:48

me. I mean, I'm LinkedIn, art Blanchford. I'm actually the

Art Blanchford: 00:19:51

only one out there. And then Art blanchford.com, life in

Art Blanchford: 00:19:55

transition podcast.com, really look forward to interacting. I'm

Art Blanchford: 00:19:59

also on all the socials and art blanchford, or life in trans.

Art Blanchford: 00:20:03

Position, so I really appreciate that and look forward to

Art Blanchford: 00:20:07

interacting. I have two quotes that I want to share. Howard, if

Art Blanchford: 00:20:11

it's okay, sure. The first one is one that actually came to me

Art Blanchford: 00:20:15

early in the morning, about three o'clock in the morning, is

Art Blanchford: 00:20:19

that life is not a monument to be built. It is an unfolding

Art Blanchford: 00:20:22

adventure to be experienced. And the second one, and I don't know

Art Blanchford: 00:20:27

who said this one, it's not for me, but it's a happy life is

Art Blanchford: 00:20:31

merely a succession of happy moments, but most people forego

Art Blanchford: 00:20:34

the happy moments in pursuit of a happy life. Go for the

Art Blanchford: 00:20:38

moments, and the happy life will take care of itself.

Howard Brown: 00:20:43

Wow, I love it. Thank you so much for that, just

Howard Brown: 00:20:48

taking it in because it's profound, and I'm glad it came

Howard Brown: 00:20:51

to you, and I'm glad you shared. Well, this has been incredible.

Howard Brown: 00:20:57

I hope people will reach out to you and buy your book and take

Howard Brown: 00:21:02

your class as well as invite you to speak. And I just, I really

Howard Brown: 00:21:07

appreciate you. Know, we just over the last few months,

Howard Brown: 00:21:10

developed a really nice friendship, and we I appreciate

Howard Brown: 00:21:13

you, and I wanted to let you know that that I appreciate your

Howard Brown: 00:21:16

friendship and also the knowledge that you you bestowed

Howard Brown: 00:21:19

with me, and then now the audience. So this has been the

Howard Brown: 00:21:22

shining brightly podcast show you can reach me, Howard Brown,

Howard Brown: 00:21:25

Mr. Shiny@shiny.com where you can learn about, you know, my

Howard Brown: 00:21:30

book and my life memoir and the lessons learned to lead a

Howard Brown: 00:21:33

resilient life with hope. But also, if you'd like to hire me

Howard Brown: 00:21:36

to speak and come make your event shine, a fundraiser panel,

Howard Brown: 00:21:42

please contact me, and also, let's This podcast is their

Howard Brown: 00:21:45

stream there as well, and we've got a huge audience out there.

Howard Brown: 00:21:48

But the most important part of my website, absolutely, is my

Howard Brown: 00:21:52

advocacy and the cancer world for survivorship, for screening

Howard Brown: 00:21:56

and to support those in their time of need and

Howard Brown: 00:21:58

entrepreneurship mentorship with Babson College as well. And so I

Howard Brown: 00:22:02

just want to give a quick shout out to front edge publishing,

Howard Brown: 00:22:05

who makes me look great. Read the spirit magazine, also of the

Howard Brown: 00:22:11

amplify network, my podcast, finishing house makes me look

Howard Brown: 00:22:14

great. And also the diamond moments magazine, who are

Howard Brown: 00:22:19

sponsors, I got a few others coming on board here, and just

Howard Brown: 00:22:22

remember, if you choose to shine brightly just a little bit each

Howard Brown: 00:22:25

day for yourself, and then lift up others with that beautiful

Howard Brown: 00:22:30

light in your communities, in your neighborhoods, yes, the

Howard Brown: 00:22:34

world would become a better place. Thanks, art amazing.

Art Blanchford: 00:22:38

Thank you. Howard, such a pleasure to be

Art Blanchford: 00:22:39

with you and thanks for all the support that you've given me as

Art Blanchford: 00:22:42

well. Thank you. My pleasure. Bye.