I turned 50 a while back. Although it’s just a number, it’s a big milestone. Hopefully, it’s a halfway point. During my first 50 years, I’ve learned some things and here they are in no particular order:
- The quest for the Holy Grail is all about the quest, and less about the Grail.
- Soft tissue injuries are much harder to get over than you think.
- Execution is all about preparation. Prepare well, and you’ll be able to execute when called upon. Wing it and your execution will be a crap shoot.
- Preparation is difficult and requires discipline. Building and maintaining discipline is one of the greatest challenges in life.
- No matter how smart, strong, tough, fast, or independent you think you are. You aren’t.
- Nearly everything is easier said than done.
- Just because you can watch someone do something doesn’t mean you know anything about what it takes to actually do that thing.
- Doing is the key to enjoying. Stop talking about it. Stop thinking about it. Stop procrastinating. Stop making excuses. As Nike said so well, Just Do It! You’ll probably suck at it at first, but so does everyone else.
- The real “99% and 1%?” Ninety-nine percent of people will try something, suck at it, and quit. One percent will continue the struggle (see discipline above), and incrementally improve. They may even continue long enough to become a master at it. Another variant: only one percent will try something, and the other ninety-nine percent will focus on explaining why they can’t or won’t.
- Whenever I’ve become the most anxious in life, I usually realize that I’ve skipped exercise or going outside to play for more than a week (it happens more often than I care to admit!). Exercising and playing are the best ways to build a foundation of clarity and calm.
- Another thing I’ve noticed when I’m most anxious is that I’ve probably pushed gratitude out of my mind. When your mind is filled with gratitude, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for other things like anger, frustration, or negativity (this also happens more often than I’d like).
- Vacations are nice. Travel is nice. Seeing exotic places is nice. But, there’s nothing like creating a life at home that doesn’t require a vacation for happiness. Vacations should be icing on the cake.
- Every person who lives in the US should spend at least two weeks in a foreign country…preferably when they’re young. That way, the lessons they take away from the experience can be applied early in their life. Something I’ve found from traveling to at least 10 (maybe more) foreign countries is that the US is like Disneyland. Even compared to modern and thriving countries, the standard of living in the US is noticeably higher. It is easy to take all these differences for granted, or to be truly ignorant of them…until you spend time in a foreign country.
- Tom Petty had it right: The waiting is the hardest part. Everything in life takes longer than you plan in your head. That’s probably because we plan and think in our head for a long time before we spring our thoughts on the “world.” Or, things just really do take a lot longer than we think they should.
- Jobs become obsolete (and so do certain companies). People don’t (and neither do companies) unless they allow it.
- The best way to avoid obsolescence? Continuous learning. Continuous exploration. Saying yes more.
- Save early and often in your life. Those savings will yield a huge amount of freedom later in your life.
- In the struggle between service and earnings, choose service every time.
- The most beautiful sound in Nature is uncontrolled laughter.
- The most beautiful sight in Nature is the smiling eyes of someone you love.
Photo Credit: Unsplash–Massimo Mancini
Encouragement is Personal 