Welcome to Vision for Men Over 50
This Substack website and newsletter offer men over 50 practical guidance, daily inspiration and occasional humor to help them navigate some of the most exciting and prosperous years of their lives.
Your 50s don’t have to be a decade of decline. I started my 50s making a career pivot and then getting fired. Ouch!
Lessons learned and applied, I ended my 50s happier, healthier, and wealthier with an abundance of friends, an amazing Proverbs 31 wife, grandchildren, and a church where we truly belong and volunteer. The arrow in your 50s can point up for you, too. Guidance offered here will help.
Most of the content is from me, Mark O’Keefe, a “recovering” journalist. I love feedback, positive and negative. I’m open to running guest blogs and would like to network more with other writers on Substack.
Topics we focus on
We’ll go on this journey together with seven content pillars that could change with time:
Work
Relationships
Faith
Health
Money
Technology
Stories
Changes you might see in yourself
If you are open to change, it’s my hope you can learn to abandon a “scarcity” mindset and embrace a “growth” mindset to:
Discover how you are uniquely wired for an extraordinary life.
Clarify your vision to align with your values and strengths.
Maximize your returns on health, wealth, faith, and service.
Embrace your masculinity to boost your strength, resilience and creativity.
Engage in new relationships with a community of motivated men over 50.
What’s significant about age 50?
Midlife is often a turning point for men, with high-stakes challenges and new opportunities.
You have more to give and more time to give it. Don’t drift. Head in an intentional direction. With a fresh vision, you will know how to speed your boat through choppy waters.
My story: I got fired at 50
Fifty has special significance for me.
After my multi-decade career in journalism that included six Pulitzer Prize nominations, I pivoted to become a VP-level editorial guy at a prestigious Washington, D.C., think tank. I thought I was on a roll until I got fired at age 50, hitting a new low. Ouch!
What studies show
I didn’t know it then, but I was hardly alone. According to a pre-COVID longitudinal study, over half of the American workforce was pushed out of a job after the age of 50. Only one out of ten ever regains the salary once earned before being pushed out.
This study was done before the rise of Artificial Intelligence, which makes people over 50 even more dispensable.
In the U.S., 90% of hiring managers are likely to consider candidates under age 35 for AI-related roles, compared to only 32% for those over age 60.
Source: “Age-Proofing AI: Enabling an Intergenerational Workforce to Benefit from AI.”
Men need other men to help navigate the complex and turbulent waters of life and career.
This newsletter and website aim to provide just that.
My side gig as a coach for men over 50
Wanting to help others with what I had learned, I earned a certificate in executive coaching from American University in Washington. With that training, I continued to work full-time while coaching men as my side gig.
Are you a man over 50 who could use one-on-one coaching to help you get from where you are to where you want to be? Please let me know, and I'll offer you a complimentary coaching session via Zoom, allowing you to determine if coaching is the right fit for you.
Consider this from one of my clients:
”After three weeks of examining my self-limiting mindset, I secured $120,000 in new business, more than I had made the previous year. Being aware of the path, which was probably there all along and just needed to be uncovered, brings me calm, confidence and peace.”
— Jeff, a Boston-based author, speaker and consultant
Why focus on men?
I have frankly struggled with this. There is a dearth of practical help for men over 50. Men need men to grow. They open up more to other men and are uniquely challenged by other men. The riches are in the micro-niches.
That said, more than half of my subscribers are women.
Go figure. I’m OK with that.
Pulitzer Prize nominations, Blah, Blah, etc.
For over a decade, I have covered religion as a journalist for newspapers and news services.
My reporting and writing were nominated by editors six times (did I say this already?) for the Pulitzer Prize. I never won, but I did snag an Overseas Press Club Award, among other trophies, medals and pieces of framed paper that collect dust on my bookshelf.
My three-word vision statement
I help my coaching clients develop a three-word vision statement because, as the Bible says, “without a vision, the people perish.”
Here is my vision statement: “See. Say. Inspire.”
Where else to connect
Contact me on X (@MarkOKeefe), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Medium.
How to inquire about coaching
Are you interested in one-on-one or group coaching? If so, email me at OkeefeComms@gmail.com to schedule a talk.
How to subscribe
Subscriptions are free. Paid options offer exclusive, premium content and benefits.
If you know other motivated men of faith over 50 who might benefit, please send them my way so they can subscribe as well.
The Bottom Line
You’re not over the hill. You’re going to climb new mountains!
However, you need a fresh vision to determine which mountains to climb and which to avoid. The adventure will be invigorating, and you won’t be climbing alone. We can do this together with me as your friendly guide.
