From Achievement to Alignment: Exploring What Truly Matters - Part 1
Written by Sarah Parkins. Published July 20, 2025
Clarity from the Top: Prioritizing What Truly Matters
This week, Scottie Scheffler, currently ranked as the number one golfer in the world, shared again that being a husband and showing up for his family are his top priorities - even above holding his prestigious title. He said it simply, without fanfare. That clarity stood out in a culture that so often equates success with external achievement alone.
In a world obsessed with climbing ladders, accumulating wealth, and securing status symbols, hearing someone at the very top of their profession openly prioritize values like family reminds us how essential it is to be anchored in what truly matters. It’s a potent example of living in alignment - not just achieving for achievement’s sake, but letting core beliefs and values steer the ship.
Values: The Deep Inner Compass That Guides Life
Values like family aren’t just preferences or nice-to-haves; they are the deep inner compass that shapes our choices and grounds our sense of self - not only in moments of transition but every day, across every aspect of life.
These core values give meaning and shape to the decisions we make, the boundaries we set, and how we show up for others. When aligned with these values, life feels coherent and purposeful. When misaligned, even the greatest external success can feel hollow or unsatisfying.
Understanding and embracing values is one of the most profound steps toward living a life that feels authentic and fulfilling.
Identity: More Than Titles or External Roles
Identity is the lived experience of who we are beneath the surface. It’s the collection of deeply held principles - the core beliefs, values, stories, and purpose - that give our lives meaning and direction.
This identity persists beyond any external role or status. Yet it’s also vulnerable to disruption, especially in moments of major life shifts.
Many people’s identities are deeply tied to their careers, titles, or roles they play in the world. But those external markers are only one layer of who we truly are.
Recognizing that identity is more than these roles is a powerful realization, especially when those roles begin to change or fade.
Retirement and Legacy: Navigating the Numbers and Emotions
This week, I led a workshop with an investment fund focused on retirement and legacy - topics often reduced to numbers, tax codes, and asset management. But beneath those financial details lie some of the most profound and destabilizing moments a person can face.
How do I know this? Because whether nearing retirement or working closely with those who are, you’ve likely witnessed how often people return to their numbers, revisiting and reanalyzing them repeatedly.
That simmering uncertainty creates anxiety. Obsessively reviewing financials, even when the future is unpredictable, offers a fragile sense of control.
For many Baby Boomers, Allianz Life found that worries about running out of money often outweigh fears of mortality. This highlights that retirement isn’t just about spreadsheets or portfolios - it’s deeply tied to emotions, identity, and what truly matters at the core.
Retirement as a Seismic Shift in Identity
Retirement is not just a practical transition; it can feel like a seismic shift in identity.
For decades, self-definition has often been tied to work, achievement, and productivity. When that structure disappears, it can feel like the ground beneath shifts.
It stirs existential questions that can’t be answered by spreadsheets or financial plans:
Who am I if I’m no longer defined by my career?
What is the value of my life beyond output or success?
How do I create meaning when familiar structures fall away?
These questions reflect a profound challenge: navigating the tension between external roles and the internal sense of self.
The Universal Journey: Identity and Purpose Across Life’s Seasons
While retirement may be the most visible example of these questions, they aren’t confined to this stage alone.
They surface anytime life invites reflection on identity and purpose - after a career change, relationship shift, loss, or other major life moments.
Transitions can feel destabilizing, but they also offer a chance to realign with what truly matters.
How do you hold onto a sense of self when the roles that have defined you shift or fade? How do values and beliefs help anchor that sense of self amid change? How can purpose serve as a guiding light when the path feels uncertain?
Aligning Beliefs, Values, and Purpose to Live Fully
Alignment is more than a buzzword. It’s a lifelong practice of understanding and choosing what matters most - rooted in beliefs and values that feel authentic.
When aligned with these, life decisions come into sharper focus, and everyday moments gain deeper meaning.
Purpose acts as the compass, identity is the soil where it grows, and values are the roots that keep it steady through storms.
Beginning the Conversation: Beyond Retirement, Toward Wholeness
This is just the beginning of the conversation.
If you’re ready to explore these questions more deeply, to learn how beliefs and purpose intertwine with identity, and to hear real stories about navigating retirement, legacy, or any life transition with clarity and courage, find out more inside the Birch Cove Members Area.
Together, we’ll go beyond the numbers and step into a fuller understanding of what it means to live aligned with what truly matters - every day, in every season.
Disclaimer: The information and services provided by Birch Cove are for educational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Birch Cove is not a medical provider and does not treat, cure, or prescribe for any medical conditions unless otherwise stated. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider with any medical concerns. Birch Cove assumes no liability for actions taken based on the provided information or services. Product links may be affiliate links, meaning Birch Cove could receive a small commission on purchases.
