Is The Sky On Fire?

Mid Life Dreams.  We all have them. We all like them.  We all want them to come true.

This is probably where we take a wrong turn. Somewhere. Somehow. It happens.

But we are completely unaware.  For a long time. A really long time. Maybe a couple decades.

We somehow miss the turn, get lost, and then end up at the proverbial midlife crisis.

It’s a ton of work to overcome decades of status quo.

It’s a ton of work to start a business. It’s a ton of work to get healthy and stay healthy. It’s a ton of work to save enough for retirement. It’s a ton of work to have a peaceful and contented spirit.

Everything is a ton of work.

It’s very similar to the early pioneers. This is the follow up video to the one from a few weeks ago. It was the burning sunset that prompted me to stop.

Unscripted and one-take, the way You Tube videos are traditionally done.

Harvard Business Review Says

Duh
Duh

Harvard Business Review simply says this, in reference to the proverbial mid life crisis:

“A growing number of researchers are defining middle age more broadly and in positive terms, as a good time to reassess life goals and chart a new course.”

“Midlife is your best and last chance to become the real you,” declared an article on the topic last year in the Harvard Business Review, which drew thousands of emails in response, says co-author Carlo Strenger, an associate professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University in Israel and a researcher and consultant on midlife change.”

It’s simple.

We go through life and most of us mess it up.  We get a second chance.

It’s called Mid Life Celebration.

Knowing this is meaningless.

Acting on it is everything.

Impossible is nothing.

Humble Servant

Old Faithful
Old Faithful

Humble servant.

Profoundly simple.

Easy to remember.

Easy enough for others to remember it.

But not powerful enough to get others motivated to think long enough, and hard enough, to do anything about theirs.

463 Word Vision Statement

Spring Grove, Pennsylvania
Spring Grove, Pennsylvania

There once was a man from Nantucket, ….

Okay, sorry, forgive me please.

There once was a man from Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, who traveled around the country, by bus, by (someone else’s) car and by bicycle.

In 1984, he and his wife of one year, flipped a coin.  Palm trees and sunshine won out over mountains and wide-open spaces.

As the years went by, he read many a good book. Gained a ton of knowledge, and even hand-crafted a personal vision/mission statement.

A 463-word vision/mission statement.

Until one day, while teaching to others the critical importance of a leader’s vision, he had a flash of brilliant insight.

The reason people don’t remember fancy, wordsmithed corporate vision/mission statements is due to one glaring reason.

With only a few glorious exceptions, they are way too fancy and way too long.

So he set out to do something about it.

And he labored and poured his heart and soul into it. He took a 463-word vision statement and made it shorter.

Much shorter.

He made it 461 words shorter.  For real.

He made it two words.

What’s You Biggest Dream?

Brain Power to Dream
Brain Power to Dream

It’s fun to dream big dreams, isn’t it?

We did this constantly as children, a little less often as adolescents, and even less as teenagers.

Well, maybe we dreamed more as teenagers, but mostly about  sex relationships.

But when did we stop dreaming about flying, or becoming an astronaut, artist, inventor, teacher, parent, Olympic athlete, President, CEO, farmer, race car driver, explorer, adventurer, writer, etc?

When?

When life started to get complicated.

When we can return to simplicity, our dreams will start to flourish again.

How do I know?  Because I’m writing this for you to read.