For experienced professionals
Your Best Chapter
May Still Be Ahead.
The 4th Quarter is for experienced people who still have a lot they want to do, but are starting to think differently about work, health, relationships, purpose and what comes next.
You’re not done. But you may be done doing things the same way.
You have spent decades building a career, relationships, financial security, and a life you are proud of.
From the outside, there may be very little wrong. But the questions have started to change.
Do I still want to do this for another ten years?
Am I staying because I want to, or because I am good at it?
Is my experience still an advantage, or am I becoming too comfortable with what I already know?
What happens if change is forced on me before I am ready?
What do I want more of now, not just professionally, but in the rest of my life?
You do not have to be unhappy for these questions to matter. In fact, they often show up when life is going reasonably well, but you know you do not want the next ten years to look exactly like the last ten.
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You do not need to blow up your life. You may just need to get clearer about what you want from the next part of it.
What changes in the 4th Quarter?
Rethink the work
Stay relevant, change direction, or decide whether the path you are on still fits.
Use your experience differently
Build, advise, consult, lead fractionally, mentor, or create something of your own.
Protect the life that makes the work possible
Health, energy, strength, recovery and the habits that support the years ahead.
Invest in the people who matter
Friendships, family, relationships, community and the people you want around you.
Question the things you think you know
Identity, ambition, confidence, blind spots, purpose and the assumptions that come with experience.
Why I Started The 4th Quarter
Jon McGinley
A couple of years ago, I realized I had been working for almost 30 years. That stopped me for a minute.
I still had ambition. I still wanted to build, learn and contribute. But the questions I was asking had changed. How do I stay relevant? What do I want the next ten or fifteen years of work to look like? What do I want more of outside work, and what am I no longer willing to trade away?
After three decades in business, I had seen plenty of experienced people reach this stage with strong careers, good lives and more options than ever, but not always a clear sense of what they wanted next. I realized I was asking many of the same questions myself.
The 4th Quarter grew out of that. It is the community I wanted to find for people who still have a lot they want to do, but know they don’t want the next chapter to look exactly like the last one.
