Practical Wisdom from the Entrepreneurs Creative Edge by William Reed

An old Japanese proverb has it that, “Life lasts only 50 years.” (Jinsei wa wazuka goj nen). Now everyone is living longer, and wondering whether Life begins or ends at 50.

Some are even saying that 50 is only half way, 12 noon on a 24 hour day! It is certainly possible to live to be 100. There are estimated to be around 450,000 centenarians living in the world today, and a UN Demographic Survey predicts that by the year 2050, the world will have over 2.2 million centenarians.

Of course the value of a life is not measured merely in the number of years between birth and death, but rather in how we spend the dash in between, an idea immortalized by Linda Ellis in her now world famous poem and song by Kirk Dearman, The Dash. http://www.thedashsong.com/

But if you are going to make the dash to 100, you want it to be a multi-decade marathon filled with happiness and abundance, not misery and pain. The great Jazz composer and pianist Eubie Blake (1887~1983) said, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” There is wisdom in that humor.

Longevity is not a goal, but a process. When you focus too hard on end results, you set yourself up for a major disappointment. Not that you won’t achieve the goal, but that in your single minded pursuit of the goal, you forgot to experience the journey along the way.

Lao Tzu said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This is often taken to mean that you need to get started and keep going if you want to reach your goal. But Lao Tzu and the Tao are all about the journey, not about the destination. And the journey is about process, how you live your life.

And if you want a boost in gaining the energy and attitude to live your 100 Year Life Span in a healthy, passionate, and prosperous way, read Dr. Eric Plasker’s The 100 Year Lifestyle, and The 100 Year Lifestyle Workout. Ultimately it is our lifestyle, the choices we make and the processes that we pursue every day which makes everything come out in the end.

A process is any ritual, routine, or repeated behavior which is used to get into the zone of peak performance, as many sports professionals, musicians, speakers, and professionals can tell you.

What is less known is that all forms of repeated behavior act in a similar manner to produce some result over time, though it may be unconscious, unintended, and even detrimental, as in smoking cigarettes, over eating, or leading a sedentary lifestyle.

It is taking that first step that seems to be the hardest, breaking the destructive pattern and replacing it with one which serves you instead of slays you. Psychological and Physiological research has demonstrated that it takes about 21 days to break an old habit, or to make a new one.

There are also lots of traps, pitfalls, and distractions along the way which can thwart your best laid plans, which is why there are so many people who keep company with bad habits for years, even though they know it is self-destructive. Common sense is not common practice.

There is an excellent article which can help you break bad patterns and form good ones, The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior, at http://budurl.com/dksp

Benjamin Franklin said that, Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. That is as good a reason as any to live as if you have a 100 year life span.

People who create a high net worth to the world then leave a legacy which lives far beyond a hundred years.

William Reed

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