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White Papers from the Gold Coast Institute Fellows |
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Plan
your whole life now? Why? by Gordon
Burgett You should begin
serious future planning the moment you get a significant job, start a
family, and escape the whirlwind of college, courting, and initial
nest-building. Gordon Burgett, author of How to Plan a Great
Second Life: Why not live fully every day of your extra 30 years?,
suggests five reasons why. (1) Having a plan is a
stress-breaker. Every disappointment, every slowdown in advancement,
every slight gets magnified because it lacks perspective. Planning makes
those activities part of a long-range vision that sees jobs, positions,
and challenges as transitional and experience-building for a continually
rewarding second life later, with the latter focus on new growth,
capstone fun, and lasting purpose. The broader perspective diminishes
today’s daily anxiety. How do you know where
you’ll want to live or what you’ll want to do years from now? Sit
down with your partner and co-dream, then plan. That makes today’s
life bi-directional: working your very best now (and fully enjoying the
present) while making those future dreams and plans come true. (2) Life plans put more
value in every action. Rather
than being ends in themselves, today’s actions assume far more worth
when they are part of a life plan. Every job becomes an opportunity to
learn and master more skills, to build from in future jobs. That leads
to a freer future. Every social skill gained and network connection
achieved augments present and future successes. Second life dreams
provide the power and purpose to achieve everyday excellence now. Every
new challenge leads to a new accomplishment, which multiplies the
likelihood that future dreams can become unlimited realities. Even
temporary set-backs become obstacles to overcome quickly, with new
conviction. (3) Life plans create
greater family unity. As important as the number of children desired,
when to start a family, and where to live is what each of the parents
wants to do with their days. By what standards and achievements will
each measure “a well spent, successful life?” Two lives joined are
best served, individually and in tandem, when both of their dreams are
fully realized together. Which takes planning. First to discover their
individual dreams and goals, then to create a path that leads to their
collective realization. “How much easier it
is to create the map together, and purposely travel individual paths
heading to the same destination, than to later try to find a common
objective for two disparate life paths—or to try to restructure some
purpose from two lives lived without any grander design,” Burgett
says. “Once those life paths are clearly defined and synchronized,
then jobs, positions, and challenges along the way simply become
stepping stones to be taken, discussed, and mastered.” (4.) With a life plan
you’re always in control. From the day the planning takes place, you
can measure time, direction, and choice by purpose. It gives a grander
reason for making decisions: does the action match your life plan? Where you live, for how
long, and the kind of residence becomes part of a longer time
perspective. As do jobs. Lousy jobs that nonetheless teach wanted skills
or bring high income become temporarily endurable because they lead to
realizing higher over-all goals. Learning too attains a
reason beyond its own value. What you read in the off hours; the kinds
of hobbies and friends you seek; the roles you play in politics,
religion, or volunteerism; how you comport yourself; the model you show
your family and friends—all gain further depth when pursued in concert
with future dreams. (5) A life plan gives
you more choices. The earlier you plan, the more chances you have to
take the building steps at the right time. Want to teach at college
later? Get the degree now. Want to write novels in Brazil? Start
writing—and learn Portuguese! So what if you must janitor or care for
kids in between. Another choice is that
of changing your life plans as you age and learn. But if you have no
plans to begin with, what do you change? What do most people do?
They bop along without any specific purpose or destination, other than
survival, food, shelter, and obeying as many of the social norms as they
feel they must. With plans, your
actions are part of a framework. They give you purpose. They make your
dreams come true. Only humans can dream and only humans can make dreams
come true. But to do that you have to dream, then plan. Burgett sums it up,
“Planning is the best way to live fully every day of your life. It’s
not a sin to die, but it may be not to fully live.” Gordon Burgett is the author of 1700+ printed articles and 27 books, including five selected as top choices by the Writer’s Digest Book Club: Sell & Resell Your Magazine Articles, Travel Writer’s Guide, Publishing to Niche Markets, How to Sell 75% of Your Freelance Writing, and Query Letters/Cover Letters: How They Sell Your Writing. Gordon has offered 2000+ keynote or workshop presentations, and currently speaks most about his latest book, How to Plan a Great Second Life: What are you going to do with your extra 30 years? He can be reached at (800) 563-1454 or at Gordon@super-second-life.com.
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