The answer is action
The question is straight forward. As a Boomer I’m likely to live for another 30 to 40 years. What do I want to do with my time? This is a very difficult question to face because the answer is not a statement, but a process. Let me illustrate.
Several years ago my daughter, then 22, asked a similar question. She and some friends were sitting at a campus bar in Stevens Point, WI discussing their major areas of study when someone said, “You know in eighteen months we’re going to have to get jobs working in our majors.” To which my daughter, without a pause, said, “If I have to do that I’m going to blow my brains out.” The silence at the bar was followed shortly by a statement from a friend, “Well you need to get a new major.”
As you might guess she saw the truth her friend spoke, but she had no idea how to follow through. After some thought and several conversations with friends she found that those in the Communications School were very happy. She switched to a double major of Psychology and Communications. Not only did she like it, but her grade point went from a 2.4 to a 3.6. During the process a teacher pointed out that she had a talent for mediation. She also had a passion for it.
She got into a graduate program the Communications School at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee which offered a certificate in mediation along with her MA. In her first course she learned that the Business School offered a more interesting program in Labor Relations with the same mediation certificate. She switched majors and is now looking at a co-op position with the National Labor Relations Board. One step leads to another.
The answer to the question “What do I do with the next 35 years of my life?” is the answer to another question “What am I going to do tomorrow?” If the answer is golf, go golfing. Eventually the answer will be “not golf”. At that point you get to give another answer.
To put it another way, the Army said the worst thing to do in combat is nothing. Life is combat. Don’t think about the answer to the question. Get up and do something, anything. If it isn’t the right thing for you go on to something else until you find thing that fits you.
If you need money do something that generates money. There is more than enough paid work to do out in the marketplace. Are you willing to do that particular work? My wife’s aunt is in her mid-80’s and still working for the Social Security Administration. Chances are that if you are bored or complaining you want to do that.
Over the past 30 or 40 years many of us have worked for the dollar, because we needed it. Maybe we will continue to need it. Maybe we have a little slack to follow a passion we haven’t in the past. If you’re not going to do it now when are you going to.
My wife said to a friend that she would like to take up the piano when she retired. The friend said, “Why wait?” She didn’t.
In his very good book The Number one of the things Lee Eisenberg writes about is how to think about retirement. That’s good. I’d spend some time reading his work, then I’d get up and do something. Don’t ponder. Do.
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POSTED IN: Boomer Talk
2 opinions for The answer is action
University Update
Dec 10, 2006 at 12:10 pm
The answer is action…
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Matt Keegan
Dec 14, 2006 at 6:58 am
Life is truly a journey. When we see it that way, we can fully understand that by investing in our lives, we can bear more fruit, be more productive, and generally much more happier with ourselves.
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