Life is a GPS

Anyone who owns a recent model car with a GPS system is familiar with the turn by turn instructions it provides. When you remain on course it simply tells you how many miles until your next turn and whether it will be a right or a left. If you are off course, however, it will either tell you to recalculate or make a legal U turn ahead.
Life is like that GPS system. We go along on one course until circumstances dictate a change in direction. Many people are now recalculating their career path due to the economic conditions. When you honestly review exactly where you are at the moment, how does that match your goal projections? Are you on target to achieve your goals? When you think about your day, do you get excited and happy to go to work? Do you dread Monday mornings?
Your immediate feeling when you wake up and think about starting your day indicates your feelings about what you are doing for a living. If you are excited and grateful for the opportunity, wonderful. I suspect that is not the case or you would not be researching opportunities for home based businesses. What you do for a living does not have to be drudgery. When you are your own boss and you have total control of your future, it is exciting, challenging and rewarding.
If your work feel like being a salve to someone else’s dictates and desires, maybe it is time to have the GPS of your life recalculate your future and change directions. Life is too short to be miserable. Miserable and under paid really deserves recalculating.
In order to reset the GPS to a new direction, we need to define exactly what destination might be best for you. There are several questions to ask yourself.
What are you doing when you are the most happy?
What are you doing when you feel the most productive?
What are you doing when you feel the most challenged and liking it?
What are you doing when you feel the most profitable?
What are you doing when you are learning something new and liking it?
The answers to these questions give you a clue as to the new direction you would like for your life and career path to follow. It really is possible to earn an ideal living, enjoy what you are doing and know you are giving real value to people at the same time.
The ideal situation is to get out of bed every morning like a child on Christmas morning. I have heard Dr. Srikumar Rao, legendary professor at the Columbia School of Business and the London School of Business, says you should feel so grateful for what you are doing for your career that you want to get down on your knees in gratitude.
If this level of excitement and gratitude does not resemble your feelings about what you do for a living, it is time to explore the idea of recalculating the GPS for your life.

Always Be Grateful – Proud of Your Age

Whatever your age, be proud of the experience you have gained and the opportunity to continue to learn and grow. If you are in your 20s or 30s, great, you have plenty of time to create anything your heart desires. If you are more mature, great. You have the advantage of so many years of wisdom and experience. Saying you are too young or too old to learn something new is just an excuse you give yourself for putting off taking any action.

If you are 50 or more, you do not have decades to play around waiting to figure out what you want to be and do when you grow up. It does not mean that you can’t learn new skills, you absolutely can. I have known people in their 30s who were old and people in their 60s and 70s who were young. It is honestly a state of mind. It is not your chronological years, but your mindset which makes the difference. Diets, lotions, potions, pills, and even surgery will not keep you young if your mind has stopped growing.

If your thoughts are old and you expect to feel old, you will be old. How dare I say such a thing? Hmmm. I’ve experienced 3 major back fusions and a few other major and minor surgeries to my shoulder and knees. Have those surgeries and the metal inserted in my back stopped me? Absolutely not. I started a totally new industry to me after I turned 60. I have learned so much. It not only brought new experiences and new skills to me, but also new associates who are young at heart and forward thinking.

It is said that your income will be the average of your 5 closest associates. Why not associate with forward thinking, progressive people of all ages. Every age has a beauty and a value to give if we are open minded to embrace it.

Many people actually fear old age. That is totally unconceivable to me. It is common knowledge that many people who have worked a job all of their life simply give up when they retire and pass away a short time later. Why on earth would you work all of those years and let yourself stop thinking and growing when you retire? Take up a new hobby, start a new career, or learn a new language. Do something with your mind and spirit and you will find renewed vigor for life.

My “get it done list” and “I plan to do it list” are so long that I would require several decades to accomplish it all. If anyone says rocking chair to me, they had better be handing me an infant who needs to be rocked to sleep. I have no other interest in a rocking chair.

Be proud of your age and experience and keep adding to it. Young people deserve your wisdom and you deserve to be exposed to their enthusiasm and new knowledge. Together both spectrums of the age spam can benefit. You are only old if you choose to be old.

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