It is the season to seek justification for our actions even when it is purely emotional rather than logical. We were urged by major box stores that if we didn’t shop on Black Friday then we would lose out on all of the best prices for holiday shopping. Hidden away was that whisper of truth that the hottest shopping days are actually the ten days preceding Christmas when the best deals not only reappear they are usually better than earlier so-called bargains. Then we had to weather the storm of speculation over what we would do with our winnings from a mega-million lottery drawing. Buried somewhere in all the hype was the message that the odds of winning were about the same as receiving an anal probe from a Martian, but we bought tickets in record numbers anyway. Oh, and if you haven’t heard, the world is coming to an end in a few weeks. Plan for it… the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012, and we all know that they couldn’t just go to Staples for a new calendar when the old one ran out. Get your affairs in order now.
I would make fun of the stupidity shown by people who use artificial timelines to make important decisions, but I would be pointing fingers at myself as well. Why do most new gym memberships peak after the first of January? People who need to get in shape or lose weight pick that date to make a life altering resolution to change for the better. For some reason that date has become a motivator to drive us to do things that would not have been possible on November 15th… or on any other date that our brains are awake and our eyes are open. Since there are no rules to guide us, we simply follow the crowd and mindlessly decide to act on any whim that is stirred up by mindless moments in time. Maybe it’s time to make a few rules.
Plan for Our Wealth (or Lack of It) – This very moment is critical to our future well being. Most of us are not going to hit the lottery, so that is not a viable retirement plan. It is estimated that many employees approaching retirement age are not prepared financially for the day that their earning power is less than in previous years. Surveys show that many new grads entering the workforce are not particularly excited about retirement plans or 401K matching funds, but reality needs to enter their minds at some point before it is too late.
Look for Next Career Steps – In the workplace we already are seeing older workers stretching out their careers and retiring at a later age than in the past. This is due to both the financial difficulties mentioned earlier and also that the general health of the work population is improving. This should be the best of all worlds if we are able to manage the interaction between mentors and mentees. In many cases, this is a reverse mentorship where younger workers bring a fresh perspective into the workplace and spark new initiatives by older workers who have already fleshed out many things that won’t work. Building the technology for generations that follow depends on all of us.
Improve Our Health – There is no time like the present to assess where we are now and where we want to be physically. Looking at a longer working life and the need for extended earning careers means that we owe it to ourselves to start now to focus on diet, exercise and mental preparedness for a changing world. There is no set date to start and it is not over until we are unable to care for ourselves anymore. We know from facts and our intuition that the date of our physical decline is extended by good behavior and shortened by bad habits.
Expand Our Minds – Learning never ends. New grads have a baptism of fire when they learn that academic education alone does not prepare them for life after college. Changing environments and technology challenges the mature workers to stay sharp, requiring the ability to keep up with education by trying and perfecting new skills. The new era of collaborative intelligence demands that we participate by contributing knowledge to the common good as well as taking from it.
Grow Our Spirituality – Some people can find reality by tapping into the surreal. An abiding faith in something outside of ourselves can be key to all of the other rules we are considering. Whether it is called prayer, meditation, or just quiet time, we need to punctuate our lives with breaks from the chaos that surrounds us. Just as in music, the rests are just as important as the notes. Without this life can be just an unmanageable blur.
I am planning to wake up on December 22nd and continue to write new rules for my life every day… not because I have just survived the prediction of doomsday but because I believe that I am in control of my life. There will be certainly be circumstances that will tempt me to temporarily believe in superstitions, but hopefully even those will lead to a new look at reality if I choose to make them so.
Â
