KW Team Leader Dustin Wright illustrates why if you aren’t setting goals with your 90-year old self in mind, you may fall short where it really matters. For in the end, your wealth and possessions fall second to your meaningful relationships.
After reading the book, Living Forward by Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy, I followed the prompts and I wrote my own eulogy, illustrating what I want to be remembered for. But in doing this, something didn’t click with me. I asked myself, “Will people even believe what I say?” I craved something more tangible; Something proven. That’s when I went back in time to my childhood and recalled a conversation I had with my grandpa, the man I so highly respected and wanted to be like when I got to his age.
My grandpa, a man who had it all; wealth, respect, love and honor, told me that by the time you get to be his age all that will matter is your relationships. Nothing else. This one sentence changed everything for me.
Being such a driven person, there have been many times when I achieved a goal only to look upon it and realize I wasn’t as satisfied as I thought I’d be. I wasn’t focusing on anything other than the day-to-day accomplishes and I knew I was so much more than that. I was approaching my 40th birthday when my focus and goal setting strategy shifted, and I created the 90 Year Test. The test begins with a letter.
Write a Letter to Your 90-Year-Old Self
Wake up tomorrow morning and imagine it’s your 90th birthday. Journal every aspect of your life and who is in it.
- Who will be there to see you on this momentous birthday?
- Who are you most excited to see?
- What’s your relationship with all the important people in your life?
- How is your legacy living on through others?
When you finish this, back track every 10 years from 90. What does 80 look like? 70? And so on. This gives you clear focus on what you need to do to be the person you want to be on your 90th birthday. It’s like the BOLD Law, Be. Do. Achieve. We often set goals around the “do” and sometimes lose sight of the “be.”
How the 90 Year Test Will Change You
When you look at what will be your accomplishments and relationships on your 90th birthday, you realize you are not defined by money or possessions and your accomplishments become a leveraging tool to have enriched relationships with people you care about. People will change in different ways.
We often set goals around the “do” and sometimes lose sight of the “be.”
What changed drastically for me was:
- I calmed down. Having a clear vision of who I want to be at 90 years old and charting the path to 90 helped me see I have time. Not everything has to happen right now.
- I gave myself the gift of financial freedom. The gift I will give myself on my 50th birthday is that I will continue to work because I want to not because I have to.
Dealing with Life as a Whole
The clarity and calm I’ve gained hasn’t come overnight. I certainly wasn’t born with it. For me, it has been centered on my relationship with God. When I spend time with God and elevate my thoughts, I can move beyond circumstance. The relationship also fills me with gratitude. No matter what our beliefs are, we can all focus on gratitude daily. I believe that being grateful and teachable will lead us all to success.
We set goals and we measure them in increments. All these pieces of time add up to one whole – your one life.
What are you doing with your one life?
Who will you be on your 90th birthday?