There are two men sitting in front of me. One is 89 and the other will be 89 shortly. Both are weak with age. "Did you ever think we'd make it this far?". "No." One of them is my Dad and the other is his best man. Friends for decades. It is interesting because, despite the CNN (constant negative news) and the narrative that we are hell-bent on destroying ourselves and our planet, our population has never been this large and the world has never been safer. Chances are, you'll make it into your eighties and beyond. So it may be worth remembering that your future starts now.
Diet and pensions come to mind. These are the two topics that people seem to put off or put on the long finger. I'll start my pension when the time is right. I'll eat better and exercise when I need to. Despite of the data presented to them, most people are poor planners for the future and its consequences. Planning for the future is not just for business. Your life should be your business. There should be room for error and expansion plans. You may be required to pivot at certain times. And wherever you find yourself on the ladder of life, you should be thinking bigger. Amazing things happen when you create. There is an unintended consequence, a re-framing of how you see the world. Things take on a completely different aspect even though the only thing that changed is you. A field full of dandelions becomes a field full of wishes. You see opportunity where adversity existed, you see solutions instead of problems and you seem to have the energy to accomplish more in the same amount of time. On a recent radio interview i explained, it is better to run towards the ribbon than to run away from the starting blocks. No-one knows when their race is run but we all will pass that finishing ribbon of life. At the end of the day, what matters is how we filled our days. We won't be able to take what we accumulated across the finish line. Work towards what you look forward to rather than away from what you fear. The path won't change but you will be in a better frame of mind to negotiate it. So, planning is for life. As Stephen R. Covey said in Habit 2 begin with the end in mind. Visualise what you would like to have achieved. And may your only regret be like Robert Frost, that you are only one traveller to get it all done.
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AuthorHoward Hughes Archives
November 2023
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