The Four Decades Where Earning Happens
Defining the Decade Calendar – Part 2
“Learn, earn, return—these are the three phases of life.” – Jack Balousek [1]
As I mentioned previously, John Maxwell gave me three phases for life. In this segment, I want to speak to the earning phase of life. Picking up where we left off, Booma, just like it says this is the time period for earning a living. There are four decades that a person normally spends earning money. While I’m here, let me say this about “normal.” Since the decade calendar reveals the normal patterns to life, we can use this to upset those normal patterns. In other words, just because it’s the normal flow of life doesn’t mean it has to be the normal flow to your life. We’ll get back to that later, I need to tell you about these next four decades.
The Earning Decades
The earning decades are decades 4-7, this mainly represents people who are 30-69 years of age. I know what you’re thinking before you ask. What about decade-2, don’t people begin working in decade-2? Yes, Booma, they do, but the primary focus of decade-2 is on learning and gaining the skills one needs for one’s life. It shouldn’t be consumed with working but rather learning. Allow me to illustrate what happens in the earning decades by bringing the Huxtable’s back into our conversation. For this lesson, we have to use Cliff and Claire.
- Decade 4 (Age 30-39) – When we were first introduced to the Huxtable’s, we could imagine Claire and Cliff who were in their late 30’s, decade-4. They were parents with jobs who were busy raising kids. They spent most of their time running off to work and back. In decade-4 life is very busy. This is what it looks like for individuals who are in this decade:
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- They are establishing their careers; Claire is an attorney and Cliff is a doctor.
- They are raising children who are in decade-1 & 2; Rudy is in elementary, Vanessa is in middle school, Theo in junior high, and Denise is in high school.
- They are involved in meaningful events and activities with parents who are in decade-7+; Russell and Anna are grandparents who are visiting often.
- They are now officially adults in every sense of the word.
Decade-4 has too much going on in one’s life to still be trying to finish school. It’s a turning point for many. At this time of life, a person gets very serious about where he or she wishes to head. She or he will begin making adjustments to whatever’s necessary to get their life on the tracks they want their life to be. By the way, it probably needs to happen around this time because if it happens any later in the calendar, it’s harder to recover and creates other complications.
- Decade 5 (Age 40-49) – Booma, as we continued watching the Cosby’s through the years, we noticed that Cliff and Claire gained wisdom. You see in decade-5, individuals are busy and with this busyness comes a little uncertainty. A person is trying to make all the pieces work and figure out life while juggling all those pieces. We were able to see Claire and Cliff navigate their family through these years and life challenges. Denise and Sondra are graduating from college and so on. At this stage, one will begin to see their plans for life take the shape they desire. In decade-5, you’ll see people who have become very established in their careers, in society, and in their lifestyles. Can you picture it?
Keep in mind, there are people who in decade-5 will make some drastic changes. When this occurs, what you’re seeing is a person who didn’t work out their plans appropriately in the preceding decades. That means they are making changes that will disrupt everything that was formed up until decade-5. A drastic change in decade-5, will impact one’s entire family, one’s career, who one is in society, and the lifestyle one has built. Make sense? This is why we’re taking the time to think through our decades for we only have 10 at best and at this point 4 of the 10 are behind us. - Decade 6 (Age 50-59) – In later episodes of the Cosby show, Sondra is introduced as an adult herself. When this occurs it advances Claire and Cliff by one decade. If Sondra is nearing decade-4, then Clair and Cliff must be in decade-6, at least. Think about a decade-6 person. Cliff is a grandfather and Claire is a grandmother. That makes Anna and Russell great-grandparents. In decade-6, you see Claire and Cliff become experts in their fields and life. They are shaping and investing in other professionals. While this is occurring, life is becoming more comfortable as they have more of the earning years behind them. Their children who remain at home have what seems like an unlimited resource in their parents.
If the preceding decades didn’t fare well, then decade-6 can be very rough. In fact, you know people in decade-6, who still look to their parents to bail them out of financial jams or worse, waiting for a parent to pass in order to benefit from parents who did the decades well. Think about how many people you know in decade-6 who don’t live like Claire and Cliff to some degree. That would represent people who somehow never considered the impacts of neglecting decades or what I call this decade-calendar. - Decade 7 (Age 60-69) – For this decade, I wish to go back to the earlier episodes of the Cosby Show and pick up with Russel and Anna. Booma, do you remember the episode when Russell was getting together with his friends to play his trombone in a special tribute at a nightclub? He was roughly in decade-7, his sixties. While he was more than likely still employed as most sixty-year-olds are, work was no longer the centerpiece of living. During this decade, it’s about solidifying relationships. One begins working to secure the next phases of life for the relationships they offer. In this phase of life, one isn’t making major life changes, but rather enjoying the life that one has built. At this stage, you are more than likely working a job that you love or work to love. Regardless, your focus is shifting to what matters most and you’re using your earnings to secure just that.
Take a lesson from the Huxtable’s if for nothing more than as a gauge or barometer to measure where you are on the decade calendar. Figure out if you’re on track or off track. As Jim Rohn said, “everything impacts everything.” Whatever you do in one decade directly impacts the one that comes behind it.
Question: what can you implement in the decade you’re in to set yourself up for a better next decade?
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Reference1: Maxwell, John. Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work. Hachette Book Group. 2003.
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.
