Posted by As humans, our average life expectancy is 75 years. I know right I thought it was going to be longer too. This leaves us with less that 4000 weekends. I am 32 and I have about 2286 weekends left in my life. To see it as a number really touches a special cord in my mind. In Australia, the retirement age is 67 years. So in a normal world, I would have a full time job until I am 67. If i keep everything I really want to do to until after retirement, I will have 8 years to do them.
What I am getting to with these numbers is that I can’t wait for retirement to start doing things that I really want to do and that bring me joy. What if I don’t even make it to retirement! Nothing is guaranteed. Not to sound too grim but it is important to live and love your life now. Do you ever say I would love to learn the piano, or love to learn to knit, to run a marathon?
Our professional life is a part, fraction actually (one-third to be exact), of our day. It is important to be completely present and make progress to your professional life. This will keep us motivated and keep us going. I really hope that this is something you love to do.
At the end of your life, would you like this job to define what your life was about?
Think about this for a second. If the answer is yes, more power to you to change the world with what you do.
For others, your full time job is a means to grow professionally. You can have more than one bucket. It is super important add experiences to your life to make it memorable. Here are some ways that will change your life and make it the most well-lived life ever –
- Add a key event to your year – Have at least one thing in your calendar in the year that is a new big event. It could be something you haven’t done before. Could be a marathon, travel to a new place, or tick something off the bucket list.
- Start a hobby or side hustle – Do something that is completely different that your actual profession. It could be carpentry, painting, gardening, knitting, sewing, cooking. But go all in. Make it your passion project. It actually taps into your creative side and works out other parts of your brain our normal job may not use.
- Do things that make you happy – Things bring you joy is what you should be focussing on. As long as it is ethically okay, invest in experiences that bring you joy long term.
The best time to start was yesterday, the next best time is now.
Planning Over Coffee 