Customer Reviews

Game Plan: Winning Strategies for the Second Half of Your Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a gem and will impact the design for the rest of your life. It offers a critical challenge and practical strategies for creating significance in the second half of life. Bob Buford presents a refreshing view for being active in our middle and senior years. He cites that our accumulated experience and wisdom over our first 20 professional years have prepared us to truly take our gifts and talents to another level, to contribute to the lives of many, and to leave a legacy that continues to make a positive difference after we're gone. His insights are valuable. His recommendations work well. His references to God and Christian principles are sensitively presented and make good sense regardless of the reader's stance on faith. I've been using the strategies effectively for the past 6 months. I have an enhanced personal vision and purpose and an expanded set of goals for my next several decades. I highly recommend this book.

Game Plan is an excellent read for those who are struggling with their purpose and significance in life.

Among some of the excellent points Buford mentions are:

1. The first half of life is spent on someone else's agenda while the second half is more about your true self.
2. Learn to say no to many good things.
3. We must have time alone with God and let Him speak to us.
4. Eventually, you will have to take a chance in the second half of your life (career, relationships, interests, etc).
5. The second half of your life can be much better than the first half.

All in all, an excellent read for the person who wants to finish well!

For those who have climbed the "ladder of success" and then wondered "is that all there is?", this book will help direct one in their pursuit of real meaning in life. While being driven from the early days of our first career to achieve "success" in line with the secular world, it is helpful to reflect on how our life can move to being of value to others. In redirecting our developed skills and ambitions, we can uncover real satisfaction and meaning from our contributions. Highly recommended for those who have already "achieved" much, but are looking to "significance" for the remaining years.

Game Plan has some commendable content. Buford is seeking to debunk the myth that the second half of life is all about decline and lack of meaning. He holds out the promise that the second half can be the most purposeful and fulfilling time of life. Buford does a great job of pointing the reader away from retirement as the goal of work and toward ideas like meaning and legacy as its goals.
My main concern with the book is its idealism. The author seemed to have nothing to say to those who have struggled through the first half of life. It seems to speak only to those who have had success. I don't know how this book applies to one who has struggled through the first half years and indeed there are many, who, because of bad choices and/or bad timing, have not "made it." Not everyone has had the combination of skill and timing that Buford had that made him a success in the first half. This book left me with the problematic idea that those who have struggled to find success in the first half will not be able to find significance in the second half, which I have seen in real life is not always the case. Additionally, I would have liked to have seen more clarity regarding the role of the spiritual life in shaping our approach to the second half of life. I desired a more specifically Christian and biblical treatment of the subject, though I know his purpose was to appeal to any reader. Overall, I would not recommend the book to anyone, but would recommend it to those who have had a measure of success in the first half and are wondering where to go from here.

I had high hopes about this book as being one that could provide insight into my own mid-life career change, but am sorry to say I was disappointed. I got the feeling that the author is a great guy, someone I'd like to know, but who stumbled in telling his audience a potentially great story. Sports analogies were used to overkill to mask pretty lightweight content. I feel the author did not take this project very seriously. I'd suggest the content would make a great presentation outline for a speaker, or maybe as online blog content... but not a book.