Do you ever wonder where you’ll be in the future? I don’t know about you, but I would
always dream about retiring. I would imagine I was going to travel a lot because I love to see the world, but mainly I just thought about how great it was going to be not having to go to work! Until one day, my idea of my future changed completely.
The first thing that opened my eyes to the possibilities of my future was the following timeline exercise.
Draw a line on a piece of paper
At the left end of the line, put 0 (this signifies when you were born)
At the right end of the line, put 80 (this signifies the life expectancy in the US...okay, I rounded up a little to make the math easier)
In the middle of the line put a mark for age 40
Then, following suit, put marks for ages 20 and 60 about where they belong on the timeline
Finally, place a mark for your current age
Now that you have your artwork complete, let’s examine this timeline. If you think about it, you likely weren’t making your own decisions in the first 20 years of life. For most people, their parents or guardians were making decisions for them until they moved out on their own. Take a moment to just let that soak in. See how long you’ve been in charge of your life and what you’ve accomplished thus far. Impressed?
Moving on to the good stuff...let’s look at the future. When I first conducted this exercise, I was 40. Looking at the line, I saw I had two more chunks of 20 years where I’m in control left in my life! This was a major AHA moment for me, because I realized the sky's the limit! I believed, at the young age of 40, if I chose to make deliberate choices and remained focused on my future, I was capable of anything.
From that day on, I began making choices based on what I wanted in life and what felt good. Interestingly, I haven’t thought about retirement much lately. My dream has changed from, “some day I’m going to be so happy when I don’t have to go to work anymore”, to “I can’t wait to see what I’m going to do next”.
If you’d like to chat about your future and what's next, book a free 30 minute call with me.