Despair Is The Price

“Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim”.Graham Greene

Wow. Then what does it mean, “If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough”?

Simply this:  You can set the bar low and reach a goal, and then wonder if you could have done better, eventually living with a certain degree of regret for not trying harder.

Or, you can set the bar impossibly high, give it your absolute best, fail, yet live with the satisfaction and peace that you left nothing on the table.

There are no guarantees in life.  But you already knew that, right?

Who Gives A Crap?

“He that would govern others, first should be Master of himself”.Philip Massinger

If this is the case, then there really aren’t too many qualified leaders out there. Are there?

How hard do you work to gain mastery over yourself?  Do you even care?  Isn’t it an awful lot of work to polish things no one can immediately, if ever, see?

Then why do it?  Simply this, you will know.  And if you never get to the point where this is important to you, then you will never understand self-mastery.  If you never understand this, you will always be frustrated with people, particularly yourself.

Who gives a crap, right?  My point exactly.

Mid Life Workaholics Unite

“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings”.Ed Gardner

Workaholics rarely have courage for self-confrontation.  We’re too busy trying to control things and control life.  If we pause long enough to notice the bleeding, we might have to change who we are.

Panic attack, right?  When will we take time to:

  • Rethink
  • Reprioritize
  • Recommit

Probably never.  Am I wrong?

Or maybe when the phone rings, “Honey, it’s for you, it’s your wake up call”.

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

“Whose life is it anyway”.Brian Clark

You know what?  I’m not sure where to begin on this one.  Seriously.  The quote is so intriguing, yet so open for interpretation.

If you’ve been in the workplace all your life and now into mid life, you are well aware of how “work” can own you.

Others may understand this, “You either run your business or it runs you”.

Or, no one ever said on their deathbed, “I wish I had spent more time at the office”.

No matter how you think about today’s quote, it certainly does make you think, doesn’t it?

But does it call you to any action?

Shhhh, It’s a Secret

Is it a secret?

What?

The vision for Mid Life Celebration.

No, it’s not a secret. But it is crazy.

Crazy? Why?

Because who am I to think that I could rally enough Baby Boomer men to help make the world a better place?

There’s roughly 80 million Baby Boomers. Let’s say half are men, that’s 40 million.

Let’s suppose, since 97% of the world’s wealth is controlled by 3% of the population, there’s an assumption that says 3% in any category are “movers and shakers”.

Three percent of 40 Mil is 1.2 Million Baby Boomer men who are predisposed to be excellent.

Initially, I’d like to challenge these 1.2 million men, as they start to retire and have, theoretically, more disposable money and certainly more disposable time, to do something great.

To turn off the television, get up of their butts and “do something great“!

The “doing something great” definition encompasses this:

  • As simple as mending an important Family relationship
  • Help raise enough money to find a cure for an incurable disease
  • Or, anything in between the first two suggestions

The world needs a ton of help. Elder men ought to assume enough responsibility to proactively start the momentum for positive change.

If we’re lucky, these Baby Boomer men will create a ripple effect.

And then, Baby Boomer women, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials and on down to elementary schools will be predisposed – to plants seeds of social, spiritual, physical, emotional and financial responsibility.

As President Obama has said, “We can.  We Will.  IF, we all work together”.

Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

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