Episode 21: How to Activate Hope and Strengths for a Fulfilling Retirement with Polly Chandler
05/12/25 • 44 min
In this episode of The Real Retirement Show, hosts Yasmin and Kathleen welcome Polly Chandler, a leadership development and transition coach. They explore Polly's journey from academia to coaching, highlighting how she helps individuals navigate major life transitions by leveraging their strengths. Polly shares her innovative approaches, including the use of the StrengthsFinder tool and her concept of a 'Hope Journal,' to inspire people to discover their true calling and find joy and purpose. The conversation delves into topics such as addressing career transitions, finding hope, combating fears, and realizing one's potential using a strengths-based approach.
00:00 Overcoming Roadblocks and Finding Purpose
01:27 Welcome to The Real Retirement Show
02:10 Introducing Polly Chandler: A Journey of Reinvention
04:25 Polly's Transition from Academia to Coaching
09:02 The Hope Journal: Finding Hope and Purpose
14:08 Strengths-Based Approach to Life Transitions
22:31 Exploring Strengths and Individualization
23:04 Coaching Through Transitions
23:39 Energy and Alignment
24:20 Understanding and Utilizing Strengths
26:53 Navigating Roadblocks and Comparisons
31:43 The Role of Community and Mentorship
32:35 Optimism, Hope, and Action Plans
39:04 Finding Your Tribe and Passion
42:27 Final Thoughts and Anchors
About Polly Chandler
Polly Chandler is a Leadership Development and Transition Coach for Polly Chandler Coaching. This career path evolved from an intentional decision to focus on what energizes her most: coaching, mentoring and training facilitation. Her previous career was in higher education where she served as the Chair of the Department of Management and Director of the MBA in Sustainability at Antioch University New England.
Polly now coaches individuals and trains teams in many sectors. She is particularly interested in helping people to navigate personal and professional transitions. Her speciality areas are strengths based leadership development, post career reinvention, and serving people and the planet.
Website: http://pollychandlercoaching.com
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pchandler1
Real Retirement Video Podcast: Real Retirement - YouTube
In this episode of The Real Retirement Show, hosts Yasmin and Kathleen welcome Polly Chandler, a leadership development and transition coach. They explore Polly's journey from academia to coaching, highlighting how she helps individuals navigate major life transitions by leveraging their strengths. Polly shares her innovative approaches, including the use of the StrengthsFinder tool and her concept of a 'Hope Journal,' to inspire people to discover their true calling and find joy and purpose. The conversation delves into topics such as addressing career transitions, finding hope, combating fears, and realizing one's potential using a strengths-based approach.
00:00 Overcoming Roadblocks and Finding Purpose
01:27 Welcome to The Real Retirement Show
02:10 Introducing Polly Chandler: A Journey of Reinvention
04:25 Polly's Transition from Academia to Coaching
09:02 The Hope Journal: Finding Hope and Purpose
14:08 Strengths-Based Approach to Life Transitions
22:31 Exploring Strengths and Individualization
23:04 Coaching Through Transitions
23:39 Energy and Alignment
24:20 Understanding and Utilizing Strengths
26:53 Navigating Roadblocks and Comparisons
31:43 The Role of Community and Mentorship
32:35 Optimism, Hope, and Action Plans
39:04 Finding Your Tribe and Passion
42:27 Final Thoughts and Anchors
About Polly Chandler
Polly Chandler is a Leadership Development and Transition Coach for Polly Chandler Coaching. This career path evolved from an intentional decision to focus on what energizes her most: coaching, mentoring and training facilitation. Her previous career was in higher education where she served as the Chair of the Department of Management and Director of the MBA in Sustainability at Antioch University New England.
Polly now coaches individuals and trains teams in many sectors. She is particularly interested in helping people to navigate personal and professional transitions. Her speciality areas are strengths based leadership development, post career reinvention, and serving people and the planet.
Website: http://pollychandlercoaching.com
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pchandler1
Real Retirement Video Podcast: Real Retirement - YouTube
Previous Episode
Episode 20: How to Navigate Beyond 'Shoulds' in Your Retirement with Marilyn Hintsa
In this episode of The Real Retirement Show, hosts Yasmin and Kathleen delve into the evolving concept of retirement with guest Marilyn Hintsa. Marilyn shares her personal and professional journey, highlighting her pivot from a corporate career to becoming a retirement coach. She discusses the pressures and expectations surrounding retirement, emphasizing the importance of personal choice and rejecting societal 'shoulds.' Marilyn also introduces her initiative, Next Chapter Dialogues, which offers group sessions encouraging retirees to explore life after work. Through meaningful conversations and community support, Marilyn helps clients find joy and purpose in their post-career lives. The episode underscores the value of direct conversation, shared experiences, and stepping out of one’s comfort zone.
00:00 Introduction: Rethinking Retirement
00:51 Welcome to The Real Retirement Show
01:35 Meet Marilyn Hintsa: A New Path in Retirement
02:43 Marilyn's Journey into Coaching
05:17 Challenges and Insights in Retirement Coaching
06:24 The Importance of Group Dynamics
07:15 Mindset Shifts and Overcoming Fear
14:05 Purpose in Retirement
21:48 Creating Safe Spaces for Vulnerability
28:34 Final Thoughts and Farewell
About Marilyn Hintsa
Marilyn has been on her own retirement journey since late 2019 when she was unexpected “early retired” from a corporate career. Not ready to go out to pasture, she became certified as a leadership coach, decided to use her new skills to help her contemporaries lead themselves into their post-career lives, and set up her practice, ULeadU Post Career Pathing, in 2021. Since then, her practice has evolved and recently launched Next Chapter Dialogues, a weekly, Zoom-based, guided discussion group that people join on a monthly subscription basis. Next Chapter Dialogues is a powerful opportunity for people anywhere on a retirement journey to travel together in community and, with Marilyn’s guidance, explore topics related to life after work, aging and longevity.
Website: https://www.uleadu.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hintsa/
Real Retirement Video Podcast: Real Retirement - YouTube
Real Retirement - Episode 21: How to Activate Hope and Strengths for a Fulfilling Retirement with Polly Chandler
Transcript
If you don't run into that roadblock, you're probably aren't stretching yourself quite enough. Right? So sometimes people, they latch onto an idea quick. And one of the reasons in big transitions, particularly a career ending kind of transition where doors open or not, is that they get so much advice, right? You should do this, you should try that, you should do this, you should do that. And before you know it, their lens has gone from wide
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