Living Your Life in Full: Means & Methods
Chris E. Stout Center for Global Initiatives
This my first LIR talk So first things first, who is in the audience today? Folks who are “retired” full-time? Folks who are “retired” part-time? Folks who are working? Folks who are volunteering? Folks who just like to raise their hand?
I am not a fan of the word “retire.” Instead, I believe that most able-bodied, smart people wake-up most days and say: “I want to do good work today. I want to put my brain to work, put my muscles to work, and be productive in society.”
We have done a lot – We made it through school, We raised families, We created careers, We helped others, We’re living a life in full.
We can take a well-earned victory lap, but we’re not done yet! This talk has three parts, with a uniting theme of being of service to others: Part 1: Background & Context Part 2: Living your life in full Part 3: Inspiration and ideas
This presentation will be a sampler, a tool kit, a how-to, idea packed, and offer a few attempts at humor.
What is the age range of The Golden Girls? 76+? 66 - 75? 56 - 65? or
46 - 55?
Here’s a hint: It’s close to Actually, Carrie and her pals are older in their reboot, at 54 – 55, the youngest Golden Girls cast member was 47.
Lenny 58 Robert 35
Mamie 56 Jill 71
Did you notice? Aging has changed! And so should “retirement.”
Getting older used to be thought of as
But, today, it’s more like
Stanford University https://longevity.stanford.edu/the-new-map-of-life-full-report/
As we all live longer lives, we will want, and need, to work longer in either our first career or rewire for an entirely new second career at 50 or 60. It is projected that the 75+-year-olds in the labor force will grow by 96% over the next decade.
By 2030, all of the boomers will be at least 65, and they and the older cohorts will represent 9.5% of the workforce—the highest percentage in history. If you are going to live to be over 90, staying engaged in a new kind of work-life will be the key to a dynamic life.
For me, it’s not just about having fun, and doing good work, it’s also making a difference in the lives of others, and living a life of no regrets, or as I like to say, living a life in full
My experience: Joy comes from contribution My bias, belief, and POV throughout this talk is being of help to others.
I’d like to tell you a little of my story and work.
Books, Books, Books….
Volunteering
Halong Bay, Vietnam
The basic idea is that doing good work and helping others shouldn’t be so hard…
We developed a podcast to highlight interesting people that all have a humanitarian aspect to their lives or work.
Speaking of Living a Life in Full…
Goddard’s List
1972 issue of Life Magazine
…A Life of No Regrets…
So, of course, I wanted to make my own list…
And it grew…
But, enough about my List, let’s talk about yours!
Your List There’s a magic or alchemy of writing things down that turns abstract ideas into – Concrete – Actionable – Tangible possibilities
So, get your pens out…
Tools and Techniques… Inventory your dreams Estimate when to achieve them/timeline them Pick the 5 most important for the year
Be realistic…
Tools and Techniques… Don’t set yourself up for failure, think about what may prevent you from reaching your goal, and ways to deal with that Don’t give up when you have a set back
Make each step fun Add external rewards if intrinsic aren’t enough
Put goals together to support each other (stacking).
Need some ideas? Learn Something New
Build Creative Muscle Do a (Wild) Fitness Challenge Rev Your Brain.
Think about a Roadmap How do you get to where you want? Detours / scenic routes / dead-ends / speed bumps… Sometimes it’s the destination Sometimes it’s the journey Sometimes it’s both.
Making Your Roadmap Choose the goals you want to work towards in the next year or so. I like to choose goals in different categories. If your roadmap is based strictly around work, your categories might be the names of specific projects.
If your roadmap combines work and non-work, you might have categories like Relationships and Wellness.
Your roadmap seeks to answer three questions:
Where are you now? Where are you going? What might you do along the way?
Roadmap Model
1. Identify & rank priorities 2. Evaluate how your priorities align with your time
3. What roadblocks may exist?
Roadmap Model
1. WHY (drive)
2. WHAT (actions) 3. HOW (tactics) 4. WHEN (dates)
Ikigai Model
Tools and Techniques… It’s hard to not do something Instead of “Lose weight” Think about Gaining strength Becoming more flexible Being healthy Having more energy…
Tools and Techniques… Successive Approximations/Shaping Behavior
Expectations You will be sore You may get hungry every now and then ► You
always do
You may have cravings ► So
get a set of healthy substitutes (“Eat this, not that”)
You may plateau It’s OK.
Tools and Techniques… Experiment, experiment, experiment Figure out what works for you Make it a synthetic part of your life - being fit is who you are
Get help Get a buddy/partner
Tools and Techniques… A Partner can: Support your decision to change behavior/life Help you identify and prioritize behavior change opportunities Identify and assist you in problem solving re: obstacles Encourage small initial steps (don’t get spooked) Encourage identification of social supports.
Be SMART Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Timeline
“But I don’t like setting goals, there are too many unexpected variables.” Yes, things do change – both good and bad
Having a plan is designed to give you a road map, not a strict schedule you have to live by Goal-setting and Annual Reviews are about changing things yourself instead of waiting for change to suddenly show up one day, or “avoiding the Pox.”
Annual Review The kind of goal-setting I practice and advocate is vastly different from: Vague or non-measurable Goals NOT “Be Happier,” “Make More Money” This process requires that each goal be measurable and specific A rigid plan you have to live with if you hate You can always change it You’re the one making it, you shouldn’t hate it Resolutions are broken after January 10. Make a plan of action instead.
Remaining Days The very first edition of This American Life, Kevin Kelly described the experience of what he did when he acted like had six months to live. Used actuarial data to estimate his longevity and then did the math to calculate how many days, months, years he has left, and converted that into the specific date. Kevin notes that Stewart Brand has…
…been arranging his life in blocks of 5 years. Five years is what he says any project worth doing will take. From moment of inception to the last good-riddance, a book, a campaign, a new job, a start-up - will take 5 years to play through. So, he asks himself, how many 5 years do I have left? He can count them on one hand even if he is lucky. So this clarifies his choices. If he has less than 5 big things he can do, what will they be?
Need some inspiration?
Geek Corps Ethan Zuckerman
REcovered Medical Equipment Developing Y
(world) William Rosenblatt, MD
Marie Charles, MD
What I learned from these inspirational folks, is that a common thread uniting them across their various fields and disciplines, is that they observed a problem and came up with a creative way to solve it
That’s something all of us can do.
Mother Theresa once said:
“If you cannot feed one-hundred, then feed just one.”
Sometimes you can at least solve part of the problem….
“73 Cents a Life” • Huruma Designated Hospital and Kibosho Hospital • Treated over 4,100 people with malaria • When calculating the cost, it averaged out to...
• 73 cents a life.
Wanna know what I think is even cooler…?
Just over a month later, John Landy Aus shaved almost two seconds off Bannister’s time. And you know what?
Over the course of the following few years, 19 others ran sub-4 minute miles. 19..!
Why do you think it took so long?
My theory is limiting beliefs Sometimes from others Sometimes from ourselves Sometimes co-occurs with…
Avoiding future-forward regrets
Advice is hard.
Minimalists say success has a simple equation: Happiness + Constant Improvement + Contribution = Success
There is no fixed set of rules, no set path, that you have to follow.
https://issuu.com/dr.chrisstout/stacks https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisStout/videos
It is my hope that using what we covered today, you might create the best year of your life – and perhaps others’ as well.
THANKS
For Having Me
KEEP IN TOUCH
DrChrisStout@gmail.com
GO DO
Great Things…!
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