Creating a Life Plan

Schedule the Life You Want

Without focus and direction, it’s easy to get lost. Imagine we are sailors looking for a remote island to retire on. We could sail aimlessly in the open waters for 40 days before finally finding something we like. But if we plan and pick a destination beforehand, then we can arrive there much sooner. Most people work 40 years before retiring. But what if they planned ahead? The famous psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson argues that “planning is unbelievably useful. You need to figure what it is you’re aiming towards, and why.” His calendar is fully booked, often weeks in advance. I’m a planner as well. I find it boosts my productivity by at least 2x and really puts my goals into perspective. 🙂

Millennials are the first generation in history who can anticipate reaching the age of 90 in large numbers. This means we will spend about one-third of our lives as what we now refer to as “old people” lol. Planning for how we want to spend those last decades is pretty important. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but having a rough schedule for the next 60 years of our lives would provide us with some direction that matches our goals and values. Most millennials don’t do this. And as a result, they will likely have the following life broken down into 3 stages.

But our bodies and minds won’t be the same when we’re older. So by the time most people retire in their 60s they are no longer able to fully take advantage of their leisure time. Jordan Peterson said he enjoys giving himself a limited time to finish complicated tasks. It’s fun to see if you can achieve something far more than you thought, in far less time. This is why I plan to retire by age 40 at the latest. Here is what my life will look like.

Most people go through life without much life planning. As a result they end up becoming a part of someone else’s plan before addressing their own future happiness. But by having a basic life plan in place, we can attain much more success, and save us a lot of time.

Science fiction writers believe that travelling to the past and changing something small can alter the present in a big way. If that’s true then maybe by changing something small right now, like setting a retirement age, we can dramatically change our future. Everyone’s life is different. Some young successful entrepreneur may retire at age 30. Others may work until they’re 70. What’s important is we choose the retirement path we really want and take steps to make it happen.

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Random Useless Fact:

The country Qatar has the lowest unemployment rate in the world at just 0.4%.