Navigating Your Peak Performances Decades
Using the Decade-Calendar View – Part 3
Remember from our first installment of “Using the Decade-Calendar” that we’ve broken the decades down into three different segments:
1 – Decades 1-2: The Out-of-My-Control Decades
2 – Decades 3-8: The Peak Performance Decades
3 – Decades 9-10: The Finish-line Decades
In this installment we will discuss decades 3-8 (age 20-79), the peak performance decades.
Decade-3 (age 20-29).
Starting with decade-3, this decade is what we call the hardest, most difficult and complicated decade of all the decades given. Here’s why:
1 – You begin the decade still under your parents direction.
2 – Many are either in college or just a couple years out of high school.
3 – Most people begin a career in this decade be it the workforce or armed forces.
4 – Most get married.
5 – Most start a family.
6 – Most change locations or places where they live.
7 – Most buy a house.
8 – Most buy a car.
All of this occurs when you have the least amount of resources on your own and this is where the normal life financial wows originate. Need I continue?
Since we know this, I need to compel two individuals to do something different: 1) the parents of a decade-3 individual, and 2) the decade-3 individual himself or herself.
For the parents, your decade-3 child has no idea or forethought into all the above coming at them. Therefore it’s your responsibility to help them prepare. These activities are coming and many of us know what it is like to have little to no help navigating these challenging life events.
For the decade-3 individual, “knowing is half the battle – GI Joe.” Simply knowing what’s to come is helpful. It’s like being in high school and the school preparing you for college. At least you know it’s coming and it doesn’t blindside you. Be proactive and begin planning out what’s most relevant for you. Life truly is about planning and it’s the person who has no plan for decade-3 activities that fail at them.
That’s a nice segue into derailing decade-3. Let’s walk through this for a moment solely based on the experiences I mentioned above. What would be the outcome of one’s life if these activities were pushed off into decade-4? What does life look like if you don’t leave your parents’ home until you’re 30+? Finish college at 30+? Get married beyond 30? Start a family beyond 30? Move for the first time after 30? Buy your first home after 30? Buy your 1st car after 30? Well, societal norms are planning on you taking these steps in decade-2, so if you prolong them to decade-3 that decade isn’t set up to handle it well.
Let’s take getting married for example. Most of the folks around you will be married by 30 which will leave you misplaced amongst your friends who are married. We see this occur every day, single friends and married friends trying to make it work when they are operating in two different spaces, two different dimensions, two different decade experiences. While this can be managed, these out of sync decades create problems and stressful situations that you should be aware of. Let’s not forget about the financial implications of putting these activities off until future decades. Those could inevitably force you to extend the peak performance years beyond your physical ability to perform at such a pace.
Decade-4 (age 30-39).
Decade-4 is life changing. There is something that happens to your thinking when you enter decade-4, turn 30. One begins to get more serious about your life. It all has to do with time plus experience. Think of all you’ve experienced in decade-3 that’s gotten you to decade-4. By the time you’ve accomplished these decade-3 activities, you’re ready to get serious. You will throw playing with your life out the door. In this decade, you’ll change jobs, even a spouse if necessary. You’re beginning to make the shift to getting out of debt and losing some bad habits. You will also change friend groups to better suit where you desire to be in life. You might even move across the country or to another country. Regardless, you will make some crucial life changes. If this is true and we know it is. Then why not have a plan in place to begin the process to minimize the damages that occurred when it’s not planned. You see, when you do this without a plan, you lose. You lose money, time, resources, and relationships. Let’s stop and think this through and workout a plan that best suits one’s life in decade-4.
Decade-5 (age 40-49).
Decade-5 is when you will not allow anyone to stop you from being you or getting what you desire. Sometimes we call this person, the person who’s lost their mind. We most often see the extreme side of it in what we also call a “midlife’s crisis.” A midlife’s crisis occurs when the decades are out of sync and something that should have occurred for you did not. Maybe this person put off their dreams for a spouse, a family, or even a career. In decade-5, which represents a huge amount of time lived, a person can’t afford (literally) to wait any long to do what they’ve intended to do with one’s life. When a person finds her or himself in this position, there’s nothing and no one that can stop them. In decade-5, a person is determined to become himself or herself.
Decade-6 (age 50-59).
Decade-6 is similar to decade-5, but different in a way. One will begin to stop putting off any desire at the expense of other needs as you would in decade-5. Let me say it in a different way. In decade-6, you’ll spend the nest egg if necessary to get where you dream of being. It’s different in decade-5 where one is just turning the corner and changing directions to accommodate a focus on one’s dreams. You’re in your fifties and there are just two productive decades to follow with three of the six productive decades behind you. A decade-6 person can’t waste time and will use whatever resources necessary to get there before it’s too late.
In fact, this decade is probably the one where you try to bring any out of sync decade activities back in sync. If you waited to get that degree, you’ll go back and get it because you are no longer in the time wasting business. You probably know of people who’ve adopted children at this stage. You certainly know people who work most of their life in one career then change or even start a business. This is what we call decade-6 type of activities. So make your plans around such changes.
I hope this has you thinking.
Decade-7 (age 60-69).
Decade-7 is where true living begins. This is the one where working takes a back burner to the things in life that matter to you most. I don’t know any other way to see it. It’s sad but true, most people wait until decade-7 to truly live. They have 60 years behind them and have not lived. At this stage, they begin to buy what we call the toys. They begin to vacation, for real. They begin to enjoy the things that should be enjoyed throughout life. While I understand the why, I’d like to help you think beyond this. Don’t wait until decade-7 to enjoy the life the good Lord has given you. While I’d give you ten decades, He might not see fit. You see if you align your decades properly you can enjoy them all. All it takes is a plan. Put these items on your calendar and make the best of the life you have. “How tall can a tree grow? As tall as it can.” This should inspire you to live by your best laid out plans.
Decade-8 (age 70-79).
You have to be careful with decade-8, this decade could be most fulfilling or it has an equal (or greater) opportunity to bring one regret. If one’s decades remain out of sync, decade-8 could be pretty frustrating. There are no easy corrections that can occur at this time of your life. In the only way I can say it, what’s done is done. If you haven’t lived by a plan, then this is the time you’re reaping the harvest of a poorly planned life. Wow! When we think about life in decades, we think with only ten objectives. How can we make these ten decades our best life ever. In decade-8, you don’t even feel like doing all the work of any of the preceding decades over again. This is why you want to get each respective decade right and course correct as you go along. That’s what planning allows us to do. Look at where we wish to be, see where we are headed, and make the adjustments necessary.
Decade-8 can be equivalent to what happened with the ship, the Titanic. The ship tried to course-correct when it was too late. Planning is our way of turning our life, like a big ship, with enough time to miss the obstacles that are ahead of us.
I hope going through these have inspired you to take notes, add to your journal, and begin making plans. This is your life and your life is your business. There is no one else going to make your life worthwhile or worth living but you.
Question: what one adjustment would you make now in order to turn your life away from the obstacles that lie ahead?
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