Life History Part VII - The Future

This is the last of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history. Previous posts in this series: 

• Introduction and childhood
• Favorites
• Habits
• Emotions
• Family and Friends
• The Present

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This last part is about the perception of the future. Most people do have something that they are anticipating. It isn’t ‘history’ but it deserves a place in an individual’s life history. Use the prompts to start the conversation. 

• Do you plan to retire?
• What will you do after you retire?
• How are financially?
• What is your most significant goal for this year?
• What is your most significant goal for the next 5 years?
• What is our most significant goal for the next 10 years?
• On a scale of 0 to 10 - 0 being roll with the flow and 10 being goal directed...where you are
• Do you plan to live to 100?
• What obligations do you have into the future?
• What is your most active area of learning right now?
• What 5 things are on your 'must do before I die' list
• Do you have an 'end of life' plan? Who makes decisions for you if you are not able to
• What if your vision for what it will be like when you are 90
• When do you think you will stop driving?
• Do you want to live in Tucson for the rest of your life?
• How much traveling do you want to do....where do you want to go?
• What if the area has extreme water shortages...would you move because of an environment stressor? 

Summer Wardrobe Planning

We’ve had a few warm days --- and I am looking through clothes to decide if I have what I need for summer. Have you done your summer wardrobe check yet?

Shoes. I quickly realize that the flip flops and sandals I bought near the end of the season last year are still in almost-new condition…so new shoes are not necessary.

Capris/shorts. Last year I enjoyed capris more than shorts. There are more of them in the pile than I remember having…so no purchases needed.

Slacks/jeans. I don’t wear slacks and jeans much in the summer. I do have a pair of linen-like slacks that would be my top choice for summer wear; they should probably stay hanging in the closet year round. Maybe I’ll keep one pair of jeans out as well.

Skirts. I’ve been collecting more of them over the past few years. When it is really hot - they are always my favorite. There are enough skirts.

T-shirts. I have too many. Since I don’t wear them all the time, they tend to last a long time. Some of them are 20 years old! This year I need to focus on wearing T-shirts for working outdoors (with sunscreen to keep my arms and neck from burning) rather than just whatever top I have on at the time.

Tops. I prefer cap or short sleeves to sleeveless and have been collecting some I really like over the past few years. I have some long sleeved big shirts to wear over everything if I’m going to be out in the sun and/or wearing my photo-vest and need fabric between the vest and the back of my neck. Go anywhere tops may be the one area of my wardrobe that needs shoring up a bit for summer.

Swimsuit. It still fits and will work for the few times I need it this summer.

Overall I am in reasonably good shape for summer except for tops. I’m going to make some stops at the local thrift store between now and when it gets really hot!

Quote of the Day - 2/14/2012

The important thing is to do something, even if it’s as simple as making a pile of pile of pebbles. For it is always the doing that leads to the becoming, and before you know it you’re on the next stage of life. - Joan Anderson in A Walk on the Beach (2004)

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Just thinking about something is not enough even if the change you are making is mostly a mental one. While there is a concept of continuous learning - in reality, we learn in spurts. Getting to a next stage of life generally prompts a learning spurt; sometimes we experience a spurt when we discover something new and pursue it with intensity. I find it more descriptive to think about life as a series of transitions. These transitions can vary in length and importance; they can overlap. The idea is to recognize our situation (the ‘as is’) and what we want (the ‘to be’) so that we can take the actions to make it happen.

Finding a way to ‘do something’ is an accelerant to transition. Realizing this should influence how you plan ….making sure that you focus on tangible actions. In reality there are almost always multiple transitions going on concurrently at various stages of maturity; think about your plan as something that will continue as your life moves forward; some transitions will complete but others will start…it’s the nature of life.

Here are my rules of thumb for developing a personal transition (life?) plan:

• Plan a ‘something’ for every day that moves you toward a goal. It is easiest to have it be something that is part of a daily rhythm rather than a totally unique action. My current example: this blog.
• Identify a larger project that will take several months and add the time phased actions it will take to make it happen. My current example: get the interior of the house painted.
• Write it down. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I like to use a task list that includes dates and categories unless a project gets complicated enough that I need to identify relationships between the tasks (then I use something like Microsoft Project). My current example: task list in Microsoft Outlook with categories of blog, house, etc.
• Check off actions as you complete them. My current example: I look at the list every morning and, most days, mark everything complete by the evening.
• Every week/month assess how well you are moving toward your goal and make adjustments to your plan. My current example: I pretty much know how I am doing every day but I find adjustments or additions to the plan are made either weekly or monthly, depending on how quick the series of actions are.

A great periodic self-assessment is to ask yourself what you are doing differently from the way you were 3-6 months ago. The focus should be on how you have translated something you learned into how you live. It’s looking at the results of your plan from a different perspective and may help you answer the really important question - Did you move yourself toward your ‘to be’ objective?

Quote of the Day - 1/3/2012

Nature uses as little as possible of anything. - Johannes Kepler

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Nature is a great teacher. The tangent I want to take from the quote today is not so much the first order lesson of biology…it is the translation of what we observe in nature to the way we live our own lives. The beginning of the year prompts thinking of changes we want to make and the theme for me this year is what I take from this quote.

‘Use as little as possible’ is a great mantra. I want to de-clutter all aspects of my life. Clutter gets in the way of what is truly important. It means that I need to better differentiate between what is essential and what is fluff.  The fluff needs to be used up, reused, donated, or recycled. Over the past few years I have focused on reducing the amount of trash the household produces but there has been a slow accumulation of things - older clothes, furniture that is no longer needed, etc. It needs to find a new home in 2012 enabling my life to be honed in the same way nature hones biologic systems.

Quote of the Day - 1/1/2012

There were two kinds of ambition. The wrong kind seeks power for the sake of power. The right kind of ambition for the power to accomplish any duty, no matter how hard or heavy it proves to be, for the sake of one’s country and for what one believes to be right. - Mignon Eberhart in Run Scared.

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Ambition and purpose….the drive behind the actions we take to guide our life. Philosophically we associate the desire for control with integrity and high moral standards too. That is the positive side of ambition and counselors/mentors often encourage us to develop a driving ambition and purpose rather than drifting through life, accepting what comes along.

But - as the quote from Mignon Eberhart points out, you can do all those things and still have the negative result of being drawn to power without the underpinning of integrity and a sound moral compass.

As we begin 2012 and are thinking of the goals we are setting for ourselves, let’s keep in mind that ambition needs integrity and morality to be a healthy part of 2012 plans.