I am rereading Bob Buford’s “Half Time”, which is a wonderful and inspiring book if you have not read it. Regardless of whether you are in the second half of your life (past 50 like me) or not it is well worth the read and a book that I suspect would remain in your library.
Right off the bat, in the foreword there is a statement that I have been holding to for some years now – “…the second half can – and should – be more creative, more impactful, more meaningful, more adventurous, and filled with more learning and contribution than the first half. A successful first fifty years should be viewed as nothing more than a good start.”
What a wonderful challenge. Especially in a time where I am looking for my next great career adventure and wanting the last half to be the adventure I feel I missed, to some extent, in the first half.
This is not to say that my first half was bad in any way. Not at all! My first half has been filled with both great occupational and vocational challenges and adventures. It is just that, armed with the knowledge of my first half I feel far more prepared for the significance of the second half of my life.
Especially knowing that I have far fewer years to do the things I wish to accomplish in this half than I did in the first. However, if you consider it, this is not true. It may be from a purely mathematical standpoint, as I probably won’t see 100. Yet from a productivity standpoint you have to somewhat discount the first 20 years of life as learning the basics. So the time I have (30-40 years) is about the same as I have had from a life productivity standpoint. So I am good with the concept of the “last half”.
Until I realized this I was more concerned with having “fewer” years left than I have lived. Armed with the knowledge that I am beyond the basics allows me to look upon the last “half” with much more anticipation than angst.
Today, I am sitting in one of my favorite restaurants having lunch and writing this after taking a bit of time to read “Half Time” this morning. I am becoming part of what I had hoped to be in the second half of my life as the quite writer in the corner. Sipping my coffee after lunch and quietly writing and watching the other patrons interact.
I know that may sound very pedestrian, but it is a vision I had of myself that has slowly come to manifest in my life. And it is a vision that I enjoy and value more than you can imagine. It is a joy and fulfillment of a very long-sought part of my life.
Having a vision for the various parts of your life are, in my opinion, imperative. Without a visual “idea” of who you want to be makes it very hard to fulfill what should be the very powerful word based vision for your life. Words have power, but when teamed with an actual image of what that word based concept looks like is beyond powerful!
You can say what you will about the “woo-woo” idea of manifesting what we want in our lives, but I am first hand living proof that teaming a powerful mission statement with a visual image (both in your head and on a vision board) of what you want from life WILL manifest what you get out of life. Sorry, for that long one breathe sentence. But it can and will work.
My hope and desire is that you do not wait, as I did in many ways, until you reach this point to envision your second half. I don’t think you have to wait till you are fifty to have this epiphany for your life. I think it is just as relevant at thirty as fifty if you are willing to forego a bit of success for a life of significance. Additionally, I fully believe that doing so will amount to far more lasting success through significance than purely financial or peer level success ultimately provides.
Money, you will find, is merely a mechanism that drives what is truly lasting and significant in life.
As I consider and contemplate all of the things that are still possible in my life I am buoyed by the prospects. Again, armed with the knowledge I have gained from the life I have lived, the way ahead is truly open for anything. It is only through any limiting belief that I might still hold that could shortchange my future.
This holds true, I believe, for anyone willing to set aside limiting beliefs and strive for the significance you want out of life. My only caution is that you may get exactly what you wish for, thus, you must be prepared for whatever form it may manifest. Be willing to forego short term financial gain for longer term personal gain which may or may not be financial in nature.
However, I believe that if you stick to it, that the significance you wish to embrace (which should be far bigger than you and quite out of your reach) will also lead to both personal and monetary success.
Just maybe not in terms the world may understand but you surely will.
