Finding Purpose Later in Life with David McNally

Join Dr. Pete and acclaimed speaker and bestselling author, David McNally as they discuss living in the moment and simply making the best of the life you're living. David has spent his life exploring one big idea: human potential—what’s possible for all of us, no matter where we begin. David has inspired audiences around the world to aim higher and live with purpose. 

His insights aren’t just professional—they’re deeply personal. David has faced significant loss and overcome serious health challenges, experiences that have only strengthened his belief in the resilience of the human spirit.

Today, we’re diving into what it really means to stay engaged, find purpose, and keep growing—at any stage of life.

Learn more about David here: 

https://davidmcnally.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello and welcome back to On Air with Dr. Pete. I'm your host, Dr. Pete Econobo, and happy to have you back here today, because as you know, we always have amazing stories, and uh I often speak about living in the moment and simply making the best of what you're doing in your life. And our guest today is no stranger to that philosophy. David McNally has spent his life exploring one big idea. What is human potential? What's possible for all of us no matter where we begin? As a Hall of Fame speaker and best-selling author, he's inspired audiences all around the world to aim higher and to live with purpose. But his insights aren't just professional, they're deeply personal. Because David has faced significant loss and overcome serious health challenges, experiences that have only strengthened his belief in resilience of the human spirit. How beautiful is that. So we are diving into what it means to stay engaged, find purpose, and keep growing at any stage of your life. David, thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Yes, what a pleasure, Dr. Pete. Thank you for this invitation.

David’s Global Roots And Early Drive

SPEAKER_00 1:17

It is my pleasure. So tell us a bit about your background for listeners that are new to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

No, I well, first of all, I think your audience would be interested in the fact that I was born in London, England. So that's where I began my life. My parents immigrated to Australia when I was nine years of age. So I spent my formative years in Australia. Got married in Australia to an Australian woman, and uh I have lived now in uh Minneapolis, Minnesota for since 1980. So I've spent now over half of my life in the United States. So that's that's my sort of uh biography, if you like, in terms of um where I've been geography. But I've also worked around the world. I've lived in South Africa, I've spoken all over the world, so I I feel like I'm a a citizen of the world, if you like.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

It certainly sounds like it. You've been around the globe. Uh I'm curious, and we'll get to maybe how you landed in Minnesota, but what sparked your passion at first, you know, to help people discover their purpose?

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Well, when I was uh a young man, uh I was uh a very ambitious young man, but I think that's pretty common to people who are the children of immigrants wherever you are in the world. But you they've they've emigrated to get a better life. And so I was the oldest child, and I am I inherited that ambition. So I wanted to be successful. Um and success to me meant you know uh acquiring things at that stage of my life.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Sure, sure.

Zig Ziglar And The Human Potential Spark

SPEAKER_03 2:53

So I went I went on that track, and and I was at a conference when I heard two speakers uh uh who were then known as motivational speakers. Now I'm now in my twenties, but they have uh one one of them is particularly well known because his name is Zig Ziggler.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

And he became very famous uh throughout the world as a key motivational speaker. And listening to Zig Ziggler, I realized that there were so many possibilities that I hadn't even thought about for my life, and I got very, very excited about that and and decided that perhaps one day that is a track that I would love to move towards.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Where was that? Where where was that? Is that a conference? But where was that in the world?

SPEAKER_03 3:40

The conference was in my hometown of Adelaide. I hadn't left Australia, Adelaide, South Australia. That's where he came. I was only 24 years of age at that time, just newly married, just as he took me out of my seat and and you know, I went to a whole new level listening to him. That led me on a journey of discovery, uh, you know, uh looking at all the motivational, inspirational resources that that were out there. And in a way, the whole field of human potential was in its infancy.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Not that throughout history people haven't talked about human potential, but but in regards to the way it is known today, uh it was in its infancy.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Because this was I'm sorry, this was in the 60s, probably, right? If I'm doing my math. So for sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

That's really helpful to put into context. So go ahead. Yeah, no. It's uh it uh hey, uh, I'm uh I'm an older dude, uh Dr. Pete now.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

I've been you're you're I well I I was doing the math because I know you're gonna be 80 years young, right?

Why Seniors Need Purpose Too

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Yeah, yeah, 80. I'm gonna be 80 in um uh August, which is absolutely amazing. So I've been around over 50 years involved in this work. Amazing. Which has made me realize that needing a sense of purpose never goes away. It's it's there for all of your life.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Well, this is why I think you focus on seniors. I wonder maybe you'll tell us why like why do you focus on seniors now?

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Well, because I am one. And I am and uh and I'm relevant. So in the world of speaking or leadership development, the world that I have been in, one of the key factors that's always very important, really, and it's just pertains to your show as well, it's who's listening, and the whoever is listening to you is listening because what your show is relevant to them. Of course. So I had to make a decision about three or four years ago out of adversity, which we'll probably talk about in a moment, where I then wanted to pivot to spend the rest of my life and the work I wanted to do. And I realized that where I was relevant were people of my age, people who were seniors. I like to call them elders, people who are still alive, but as the title of my new book suggests, our mission on earth isn't finished. That's right. Because the creative spirit within us only expires when we expire.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I wanted to give that quote to the readers. I love that. So I love I love that you you jumped ahead because you're just so brilliant. And and I I always like to say elders are you know, or or wise folk, you know, the the wisdom. And so you were you were quoted where you identify that age is just uh a chronological fact, not an indictment, and you have learned quote the creative spirit within you expires only when you expire. So I that's just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Well, well, thank you. Um and it comes out of, of course, experience and the desire to keep living and living fully and stay engaged in life. Too many people just exist. Yeah. Retirement is a uh a false goal. To retire is is is so disappointing for so many people. Yes. They get to that retirement, they believe that they're going to have a life of leisure and relaxing and drinking martinis and and going on cruises, and they find after six months or a year that there's an emptiness within them, and they need to fill that up. So, what are they gonna fill it up with? And that's what I love to talk about now.

Loss, Grief, And A Late-Life Pivot

SPEAKER_00 7:39

I love that. Filling up your cup. Wait, you so you said that there was I think I missed this, something about academia or some sort of thing that you changed from, or some profession that you changed from one to the other. Is that what I heard you say just a moment ago?

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Well, I had spent my life or my career in the whole field of leadership development and employee motivation. And what happened was that I've had two wives in my life, two wonderful women, both of whom have passed away. My first wife died when she was 57 from ovarian cancer. This was the mother of my five children. I had the great fortune a few years later to meet another wonderful woman uh who I was with for 16 years. Only six of them married. We got married at the age of 70, believe it or not. I love it. You know, you always have those feelings. Sure. But unfortunately, she was diagnosed with uh uh Alzheimer's. So she passed away about three years ago, and at that time uh I had to make a decision uh after the grief. You know, you can't avoid the grief, no matter how positive you are. That's right. You still have the grief. So I was grieving, but I said, you know, I uh I don't want to be put out to pasture. Uh I want to still do things. So I had written my new book, and then I said, well, do I want to go back to what I was doing? No, there are so many young, talented, wonderful speakers. So as I mentioned a little earlier, I said, okay, where where would be an audience that would see what you are now saying as relevant? So what I took, I took all the things that I've developed over the years and now apply them to the whole notion of vital aging. So that was the pivot that I made.

Morning Journaling And Bully Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 9:38

I love that. It's really beautiful. So you I know you have a morning routine uh that you set you've done for 40 or more years every morning. What what is that ritual?

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Well, my ritual is always to prepare myself mentally for the day. Yeah and I feel that that is so critical. So I journal every morning, but there's an objective in that journal, and that is the fact that I feel that many of us, and in my conversations, I realize I'm not alone. Things happen in the night. The thoughts happen in the night. Many of them are often negative, worry thoughts. I like to call them bully thoughts, thoughts that want to bully us, right? And so my journaling in the morning and my reading is all about documenting these thoughts in some way and moving through them, allowing them, the process to allow them, you know, not fight them. They are what they are, but they're only thoughts, right? Yes. And then start to read things that align me with how I want to experience my day. How do I experience it fully and engage fully? And where can I contribute today? So that prepares me to move forward in the best way that I possibly can.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

That is so beautiful. In cognitive behavioral therapy, we sometimes allow clients that are struggling with worry and anxiety for those bully thoughts to take a couple minutes and just say them out loud in the mirror, you know, in the morning or something like that. And so I love that you take the opportunity to journal them. It's really, really effective strategy to not be bullied by those bully thoughts.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Yes. And it's amazing when you go back in your journal and you realize how many of them are repetitive. Yes, and you have to continue to move through them.

Elders Encouraging The Young

SPEAKER_00 11:26

You have to move through them. And I'm sure your children and grandchildren really benefit from all of that. So I know that you you said you have five children, four grandchild uh you have four grandchildren. Yes. Being involved in the lives of young people is one of the life, you know, great existences, one of your main purposes. I would love to hear how your grandkids and those around you keep you young.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Well, first of all, involvement with them. Uh, I'm I I have the great privilege to uh have a very good relationship with all of my five children, uh which is um I I know not what everybody does have. So I have a good relationship. We communicate very well. I I feel as we get older, when you talked about purpose a little uh uh previously, that one of our key purposes for us as elders is to encourage the dreams of the young. Yes. That that that is what we're about or can be about, that is so powerful in terms of contributing uh to the world as we get older. So, in regards to my own children, obviously I you never stop being a parent. Um, my oldest child now is 52 years of age. She's an executive at an airline company. But every morning she calls me on her way to work and we dialogue and obviously we talk about personal things, but she also shares with me challenges at work, processes things with me because of the fact that I have a lot of experience in that area. But that happens with all of my children. We're able to really sort of support each other, and they are very protective of me. So it's very much a win-win in our relationships.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

That's that's it's important. And are they all over the world and global passports like you have?

SPEAKER_03 13:17

No, not as much as me, but I know I'm the great privilege I have four of them in the in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities area, and one in North Carolina. So uh yeah, we're very close to each other.

Minnesota Move And Career Turning Point

SPEAKER_00 13:29

I love that. Is there how did you land in Minnesota? Is there a story behind that?

SPEAKER_03 13:33

Well, yes, because when I began in this business uh when I were at the age of 30, uh I I did not have any of my own material. Uh I hadn't written anything, I hadn't developed anything. So I was looking for an organization that I could join who had developed the material like leadership programs and management and sales training programs, and I found a company in Minnesota, so Friends.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

And that's how it all began. I became their Australian franchisee, and after five years, they loved the work I was doing there. We became very successful in Australia and asked me to come and would I join them here in the United States, which of course ended up being Minneapolis. It didn't work out, interestingly enough, with them. Uh I left and then I started my own business here in Minneapolis.

Purpose As Contribution To Humanity

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Isn't life beautiful? You come for one thing and you find another. Exactly. Yes, and so speaking of finding another, if someone's listening and someone wants to rediscover their purpose later in life or at a major life transition, what would you how could someone do that?

SPEAKER_03 14:42

One of the best ways to do that, Dr. Pete, is to reframe it. Reframe this in a different way that makes it much more tangible, right? And so the way I endeavor to work with people in this area is to simply say, look, let's go to a very, very high level. And this is sometimes very hard to grasp, but each human being is a member of the march of humanity. Humanity moves forward, always moving forward. It's always progressing. We are a part of that march, and human beings contribute to that march in their own individual way. So when we look at it in that way, rather than say, you know, what is my individual purpose? Ask myself, what is it that I can contribute to the world? What are my gifts and talents? What am I passionate about? What causes do I believe in? And this is especially true as we get older. Or if I'm in the middle of my career, you know, what sort of work do I feel is very, very valuable that I would love to apply my gifts and talents. And when we figure that out, when we figure out where we want to contribute and where we feel we would be more satisfied and fulfilled, that really is the key to finding our individual purpose.

Ain’t It Awful Versus Amazing

SPEAKER_00 16:11

So there's definitely somebody listening who just heard what you said, and they're like, there is no way humankind is progressing right now in 2026. They feel stuck, they feel the world is on fire. What would you say to them?

SPEAKER_03 16:25

Yes, and I would say that's a perfectly understandable thought system. Yes. And many people get stuck in a whole frame of mind of ain't it awful. Right? That there are many conversations going on around the world about ain't it awful. And I think one of the evidence of that is simply the fact that that through that we are inundated with negative news, social media, all of that, we're we're just the the negative stuff is being implanted in us consistently. There is another reality, however, and that reality is that there is many amazing things that are going on in the world.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Yes.

Gratitude Stories About Modern Life

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Amazing. Life is also amazing if we shift our focus from Ain't It Awful to isn't that amazing? But what we what happens to us is that we take so much for granted. So much for granted. I always love to tell a story of my grandson when he was uh one of my grandsons, when he was 13 years of age, came, gave me a call and said, Grandad, I need to see you. I said, Evan, that sounds pretty serious. And he said, Yes, it is. So he came over to see me. He lived near me, we sat around the dining room table, and he said, I got a problem. I said, What's your problem? He said, It's mom. Well, mom is my daughter. I said, What's what's going on with mom? And he said, She won't let me have a cell phone.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

And I said, Well, why is that a problem? All my friends have cell phones. What do you think? So I say to myself, I'm gonna decide to uh support my daughter or my grandson. I knew what I was gonna do, support my daughter. So I say to him, Evan, I think you are a bit young to have a cell phone. And he says to me, Dr.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Pete, he says, Well, how old were you when you had your first cell phone? And I said, 50.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

He had no idea that cell phones did not exist after. Yeah, and now when I speak to an audience, so may there could be a hundred people in the room, and many of them now are 60 plus. I asked people to put their hands up if they don't have a cell phone. Yeah, no one puts their hands up. Nobody. No one, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:55

You know, it's funny, David. I I uh just recently a client was talking about how they're the loner and that they want to kind of be alone and that recharge their battery. And so I asked them to ref like what do they do? And so during that, they're like scrolling a little bit or on YouTube, and I said, What do you think someone that was a loner did 50 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago? You know, what what did they actually do to be alone versus like you think you're recharging, but to your point, nobody in that room that you were speaking to doesn't have a cell phone, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Yes, which is amazing, the things we take for granted.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Uh being from Australia, people often say to me, Um, oh my gosh, I've always wanted to go to Australia. And I say, Well, well, why don't you? And then they say, Well, how what how long is the flight between I say 15 hours from LA to Sydney? And they go, Oh, I could never spend 15 hours on a plane. And and I say, Hey, 150 years ago, it took you three months to get to Australia, and you had a 50-50 chance of dying of making away.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 19:59

Yeah, exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

So it's perspective. Perspective.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Perspective.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Exactly. And and all the evidence, however, the research out of Harvard, some of the most brilliant uh researchers and scientists, you know, tell us that the world, for example, has never been as peaceful as it is today. And you go, I can't believe that. I know.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

But it's true.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Because we focus just on the news. Yeah.

Books, Terry Fox, And The Film

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah. So tell me, I know you're a best-selling author. I think you recently published your fifth book. Yes. So correct? You tell us about that or yeah, no.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

Uh well, my first book that I wrote was called Even Eagles Need a Push: Learning to Soar in the Changing World. That was a book that put me on the map and uh started to establish my brand and a notoriety as a speaker. My latest book, called If You're Alive, Your Mission on Earth Isn't Finished, is a book about helping people who are 60 plus realize that there is more to life, that if they want to live fully and be engaged in life, there's still lots of wonderful things they can accomplish. And I think the most important thing at this time of life, in that time of life, is to reorientate ourselves towards what is my life about. And as we get older, I believe as we leave being ambitious about our career, we need to become ambitious about discovering who we really are. To to to uh be ambitious about growing emotionally and spiritually in terms of just being a human being. And of course, at the same time, as we discovered earlier, how do we contribute now? How do we how do we find ways to serve a worthy purpose and live a life of meaning? And that's what the new book is about.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

I love it. I mean it's really I know it I'm assuming this links to this award-winning documentary, The Power or Purpose.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Yeah, The Power of Purpose, uh, which was the first big production I did. Uh yes, thank you.

unknown 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

We want to tell the listeners about that? Yes, I'd love to, because it's a very powerful story.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

It transformed my life. The Power of Purpose is based on the story of a young Canadian boy who in 1980, so quite some time ago now, ran the greatest marathon ever. He was a cancer victim. He had lost his leg to cancer, and he ran 3,339 miles across Canada on a prosthetic device and one leg, nearly a marathon a day, to raise money to fight cancer. It was an extraordinary story. He aligned the whole nation of Canada behind this story. He was being shown on television all over the world. His name was Terry Fox. Today, the Terry Fox Foundation still runs, has runs every year in his honor and has raised now, Dr. Pete, over a billion dollars for cancer research. It's the most amazing story. When I read his story, I said to myself, what a powerful inspirational film that would make. I've never made a film in my life before. I was looking for a way to serve my own purpose, and that became the contribution that I felt I could make. So The Power of Purpose came out in 1984, is still used, is still seen after all of these years. It was narrated by Christopher Plummer. And the Foundation over many years had had had used it at that time as their vehicle for raising money. So very powerful movie.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Yeah, so so we'll we'll have links to all of that. I mean, really such inspiring work, David, and your career in that it is not even close to over. There's no such thing as retirement, and your creative spirit expires when you expire. Right?

SPEAKER_03 24:12

It's refirement, not retirement. That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

What a better way to end the show. It's refirement, not retirement. That's all I think. Yeah. So where could uh I know there's gonna be a lot of listeners that want to follow along on all this amazing work that you're doing and the journey that you're on. Where can they find you best?

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Yes, uh, my website, very straightforward, David McNally, D-A-V-I-D-M-C-N-A-L-L-Y.com. My website's very comprehensive. All of my books are available on Amazon. My website will tell them how to get in contact with me if they want to ask a question or talk about uh engaging me as a speaker, if they have a community that they feel this message would be relevant to. So yeah, it's all there and love to speak with them.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

DavidMcnally.com. We find everything there. Thank you again for being here, David. And uh for those listening at home, thank you for listening. We'll see you back here next week. And until then, spread a little kindness and stay well.