I have been blessed with a very diverse audience as I go about proclaiming Living a Life of Excellence. Men, Women, Young and well… experienced. What I find interesting, is the assumption that those who are a bit older shouldn’t take goal setting too seriously. I usually get a chuckle from a group (especially if there are retired folks in the crowd), when I start teaching setting goals that are 20 years out.
Now, if you’re 100, I suppose that would be pushing the envelope a bit…yet, there are those who live well beyond that. As of April 2008, in the U.S. there are 75 people (64 women and 11 men) who are older than 110. The oldest is Edna Parker who just turned 115. Now I know the average lifespan for men is 75 and 80 for women. However… this is the average! Many live beyond that. Many of us live, thinking that we’ll drop dead when we hit these magical numbers. This is far from the truth. Many of us live longer, much longer.
So my question to you is… why do we stop goal setting after we hit a certain age and what age is that for you? 40? 50? 60? 70? or… 80?, 90, or even 100? If you have just 1 day left on this planet, you can make a difference in someone’s life.
I also have a caution. A roadblock to Living a Life of Excellence that you should be aware of. It is living a good or comfortable life. I heard an interesting statistic the other day about Generation X. During the1980s, the average Gen Xer was hoping to retire in their 40s! Since then we’ve had the .com burst, 9/11, the war on terror, and now the housing crisis. These all had a negative impact on the retirement age of many of us, including Gen X. Now I have nothing per se against retirement. However, why do so many of us look forward to the day we can retire? What does that mean? Time off for me so I can just do what I want? Many of us assume that once we retire, life becomes just playing tennis, visiting the grandkids and meeting for coffee somewhere.
Me… I never want to retire. Sure, I want to be financially comfortable and be able to spend time off with my wife as we visit our children and grandkids. But I don’t want to wake up everyday, with no other purpose than to see what the day holds. I want my life to be full of purpose. I want goals to the day I leave this world.
Living a comfortable life… can prevent you form Living a Life of Excellence. Regardless of your age, take the time to examine your life and set some goals. You won’t regret it.
All the best,
All the time,
JT