Life is the longest things we’ll ever do.

by Joan Kelly on January 5, 2010

Many people will tell you that life is short, particularly when it’s around some kind of tragic event. The reality is that life is the longest things we’ll ever do. Longer than most of your relationships – your parents, possibly siblings, not usually your children – but you get the picture. Those experiences that people are urging you to do is what makes up life, not the other way around. That being said, it seems that we don’t generally do a good job in planning out our life. As I hit 45 a few months ago I realized I’m not even midlife – I’m beyond. Based on family history I don’t envision living until I’m 90 years old, although I’ll give it my best shot.

Now that I’m focused on it, I have a better chance than my parents did because of their health. Mom made it to 54 and Dad to 76. Since my eldest sibling only made it to 53…I’m thinking I’d better get my ass in gear and focus on living healthy and not just living. I wish when I was younger there was a session on life planning, similar to financial planning. That way I would understand the development of my system: body, spirit, heart – throughout life, how it would change, what I needed to do and how to prepare for the future – the way we do with our 401k.

Well I say it’s never too late so I’m creating a plan that will focus on the immediate 18 months (Peter Drucker tells us that an 18th month horizon is appropriate for your career so I’ll borrow from that). I’ll set goals based on my aspirations, my current health and financial level, create targets to achieve and check in 3 times a year for an assessment. I need to figure out who’s on my team – my own Dream Team. Any suggestions? I was thinking of it as my health circle – the different folks I’ll need to be successful.

While life may feel short and be short for some – certainly for my brother Arthur who made it to 3 – it’s the longest thing we’ll ever do, even for those who go young. I want to discover more rainbows like the one in the bay in Sausalito. So let’s make the best of it in a planful way. I’m starting – how about you?