Unplugging isn’t always easy. Even when seen as a natural and even beneficial process, we can still hear a continuing whisper (or something louder) calling for an ongoing pursuit of purpose and meaning. A voice from within asks us to be of service and value, to align with our most heartfelt intentions, and to continue as lifelong learners, contributors, and enrichers of the relationships that matter to us most.

That inner drive inspires me to recommend a book that might not seem like the obvious go-to for a graduate of life’s earlier chapters. Yet the essence of this book – EPIC, The Woman’s Power Play Book, by Carolyn Buck Luce – makes me say "Take notice."

EPIC goes beyond the career planning or direction setting that many will read it to learn. That message is worthy, for sure. I see the impact the book has had on my coaching clients, especially those who are building or leading businesses in executive roles. With clarity and precision, EPIC guides readers to design a decade-long plan for meaningful, satisfying levels of contribution beyond any achieved so far in their lives – on their terms, in a way that leverages their intrinsic superpowers. Based on my experience and my clients’ breakthroughs, the framework works.

Yet EPIC has a deeper message, one relevant to people like us, who have completed many adventures and who now seek ways of contributing beyond what was called for earlier on our paths. EPIC guides us to set intentions for how we want to show up in the world. It helps us define who we are to the people and purposes that matter most. And it maps the mindsets and actions that lead to a true, fulfilling expression of our life’s work and our truest self.

Carolyn, who recently celebrated her 70th birthday with an all-new 10-year plan, observes in her own EPIC plans much of what’s noted in spiritual and psychological studies of aging and the self. Her own plans have shifted from ambitions of accomplishment and doing to visions of magnanimity and being – in short, from focusing life on the “Whats” that drive earlier years to the "Hows" and "Whys" that mark a life of deep intention and meaning.

In Carolyn’s words, "The first chapters of life focus us on ‘production’ as we learn from the outside in. We are ambitious about family, profession, reputation, community. The later chapters invite a new relationship with ambition so we show up from the "inside out." Our presence and the clarity of our commitments create the ripple effects that, over time, allow us to claim our role as an ancestor of an age to come. Both chapters are EPIC - because epic means a long form verse of ‘derring do’ - daring to do and daring to be. EPIC guides the lifelong journey of uncovering our purpose, recovering our power, and discovering our destiny as we evolve to our most essential self."

Ellen Petry Leanse is a leadership and life coach, author, neuroscience educator, and retired business innovator whose current work focuses on mental wellness.

To learn more about Carolyn, view her TEDx talk on living purposefully, by design. And, Carolyn is leading a women-only MEA Mastery Week April 3-8.