Most of us would fire our contractor building our dream home if she tried to make the plans conform to "specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound." So why do we do that to our own lives?
Session two of the Back to School (of Midlife) series. If last week was orientation, this is the core curriculum — the actual framework behind everything Laurie coaches: BEST LIFE™.
She starts by naming the pushback she hears constantly — "I'm not a high achiever" — and dismantles it directly: if you've ever solved a problem nobody asked you to solve, put yourself last on the list, or believed your rest had to be earned, you're a high achiever, whatever your job title says.
From there she walks through the two real reasons she built BEST LIFE™: the goal-chasing problem (achieving the goal without ever asking what you actually wanted, and feeling empty anyway), and her long-standing issue with SMART goals as personal-life advice. The dream house metaphor she opened with threads through the entire back half — you wouldn't build a house without a plan for what you actually want to live in, so why are you building a life that way?
Then she breaks down BEST LIFE™ letter by letter — BEyond your wildest dreams, Success on your terms, Truly want, so you can build a LIFE of Legacy, Impact, Fulfillment, and Excitement — with homework at the end: pick one letter, write down what it actually means to you.
What we cover:
- Why Laurie built BEST LIFE™ for two specific reasons, not one
- The "I'm not a high achiever" pushback, and why she doesn't let anyone off the hook for it
- The success playbook checklist — school, job, marriage, kids, house, promotion, retirement — and why finishing it doesn't always feel the way you expect
- Why chasing the right goal without checking in with yourself first still leaves you empty
- What changes when clients do the foundational work first — what do you want, what does success mean, what does your best life look like
- Laurie's own story: 20 years in commercial real estate and brokerage before she became "student one" at the School of Midlife
- Why the SMART goals framework is excellent for a sales quarter and terrible for a marriage or a health goal
- A closer look at two SMART letters specifically — Attainable and Time-Bound — and why Laurie thinks both are the wrong filter for your personal life
- The dream house metaphor, used to explain why you plan a life the same way you'd plan a home: you can't hand someone the blueprints until you know what you want
- BE: Beyond your wildest dreams — letting yourself want something big before your brain talks you out of it
- S: Success on your terms — redefining success outside of money and job title, specific to this season of life
- T: What you truly want — stripping away everyone else's opinion, including a nod to that scene in The Notebook
- LIFE: Legacy, Impact, Fulfillment, and Excitement — including the generational angle: what your daughters and sons learn by watching how you live
- This week's homework: pick one letter, write down what it actually means to you — not a dictionary definition, the real one
- A preview of next week: the three seasons of life — Learn, Earn, Yearn — and why waiting for the last one is a bad bet
Quotable moments
- "You have to remember, I was student one at the School of Midlife."
- "If there is a problem in your life, more often than not, you're the one who solved it, even when nobody asked you to."
- "I don't care if you get there. When we talk about attainable and achievable, I want you to make it so big — wildest dreams big."
- "If this is something you genuinely want... who cares how long it takes?"
- "You have to stop trying to make everybody happy and start living a life that is true to you."
- "If, like, none of it excites you, it's probably someone else's goal or dream that you've just adopted."
- "This is not just some rosy saying that should make you feel good. There is intentionality behind this."
Resources + links mentioned
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