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Every Man Is Guilty

“Every Man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do”. — Voltaire

This thought almost has me speechless.  Seriously.  Wow.

This is a profoundly simple, yet simply profound statement.  Why?

It signifies, perhaps, one of the original seeds of mid life crisis.  We get to mid life and question, “What the heck happened to all my plans to do great things”?

If we are strong enough and focused enough, to have the will to turn our mid life crisis into a mid life celebration, we can realize a second chance in life.  It’s up to each one of us.  And yes, it will NOT be easy, but it will be worth celebrating.  Big time!

Mid Life Celebration Einstein

Mid Life Celebration Einstein.  Huh?  Exactly.  Confusing isn’t it? Here’s what I mean by mid life celebration, Einstein.

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them”. — Albert Einstein

Listen, everyone recognizes Einstein as a genius.  We ought to seriously consider his insight here.

And I think Mid Life adults have the most potential to embrace this and make creative choices, and take creative action, to reverse the mid life crisis and let it morph into a mid life celebration.  Ya with me?

Psssst.  Shhhhhh.  (whispering) Here’s a little secret between you and me.  Most mid life adults will miss virtually every opportunity to hear messages just like this one.  And their mid life crisis never gets to be their mid life celebration.  Bummer.

Mid Life Crisis Candle?

Mid Life Crisis candle burning?  Nope.  It’s more like this:

“I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got to hold up for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” — George Bernard Shaw

Thank you, readers and regular followers of Mid Life Celebration. Your support is one of the reasons I write daily.  The main reason, of course, is to leave a trail for our son.  My wife and I are in our early 50’s and he’s nine.

It’s sort of like The Last lecture concept, except I currently am not aware of any terminal illnesses.  In The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and given six months to live.  At that time, his three children were all six and under.  He set out to leave a trail too.

If you got some “bad news” and didn’t have time to “leave a trail”, would there still be one?

Be Afraid to Stop

“Be not afraid of going slowly;  be only afraid of standing still”. — Chinese Proverb

I just wrote a blog post at jeff noel.com about this very subject.  About wondering if now is the right time, if the current approach is the right approach.

This type of potential self-doubt and potential fear, can sabatoge us from breaking through to something we can be great at.  And something we should be great at.  It’s just that we are late bloomers and are playing catch up.

This time delay – from creating a compelling vision – to it actually materializing, takes way longer than most people can comprehend.  This is why people give up and stop,

So, be not afraid of going slow.   Be afraid of stopping.

Identify Your Highest Skill

“Identify your highest skill and devote your time to performing it.  Delegate all other skills”. — Ronald Brown

Mid life adults get to mid life for a variety of reasons, including luck, passion, focus, discipline, etc.  What we do once we get to mid life is a different game though.

How?

Why?

Many reasons to be sure.  Well, at least if we pay attention. Many people at mid life have the proverbial Mid Life Crisis, lasting from a few hours, a few months, and even a few years.

One of the mid life tips to consider is to do what Ronald Brown suggests.  Only one challenge with that though?

Most have no idea what their highest skill is.  None.  Crisis?  What crisis?