I was at lunch with a friend the other day, and we were talking about what's going on in our lives. He's got something he's kicked up - a nonprofit. I let him know what I'm working on with Second Half Success Plan and how I've gotten this off the ground. I let them know what I'm focusing on, who my target audience is and which way that I want to help them and the process I take them through.
And as I was describing it, I made a mention that obviously one of the things that hits when you get around midlife is you look ahead and you see that you have less runway in front of you than you have behind you. And you notice and you observe that one of the things that you've got to contend with is that there is a life expectancy.
You do have an expiration date and the number of years between where you are now, and that expiration date is fast approaching. Probably faster than you think it is. And it's important to be aware of that. And you want to make the most of the remaining years that you have. And let's assume the life expectancy is around the 80. (It may vary. I didn't look at what the statistics are for black men. Chances are, it's probably lower as the statistics for us are lower in a number of different categories. At least not in our favor.) Let's assume 80 for now. If you're past the age of 40, and you're closer to 50, even further than that, then the number of years between where you are now and that date, there's way more runway behind you than there is in front of you.
And so one of the things that struck me as I was describing this to him, it's like, you've got years in front of you, but what's important is that it's not necessarily even the numerical number of years between now and your expiration date, for lack of a better term, but more importantly, it's the number of years that are actually viable. And by viable, I mean the number of years where you can actually do and accomplish certain things. Where you're in a position physically to make changes and actually implement some of the success that you want to experience in the second half.
So what's going to be bedrock for actually making sure that you can make the most of the remaining years that you have is your health. Okay? How healthy do you plan on being in order to pursue these big goals that God has for you? Because if you are not healthy, and this is with regard to any area of your life, where you want to experience some second half success... it can be with your career. It could be if you're starting up some sort of venture. It can be improving relationships with your family. It could be improving your personal network. It could be with regard to your finances.
All these things that you want to see some growth and improvement in, they're going to require some dedication of time. They're going to require some expenditure of energy. They're going to require some creativity, some persistence, some determination. And in order for any of those things to bear fruit, you're going to have to be pretty healthy physically and mentally to do that.
For example, let's say one of the areas where you want to see some growth and some improvement is that your family and friend relationships grow blossom be better than they are now. That's going to require an investment in time. Let's say your health declines to where you're hospitalized a lot. And maybe these diseases or health issues that arise are born of the inability to make certain lifestyle changes.
Maybe you're eating poorly now and you continue to eat poorly, or maybe you're not doing anything fitness-wise and you continue to not do anything fitness-wise and maybe some of the things that might come upon you later on in life, they could have been prevented, or at least the severity of them could have been lessened if you made certain changes now. And how great would your family relations be if, when they see you and encounter you, you're in the hospital or not able to physically do certain things or engage in certain events and go certain places with them because you physically can't do it.
So that's just an example of how your health should be foundational to everything else that you plan on doing in terms of your second half success. So decide right now to make your health and your fitness a priority. Make sure you are making the changes necessary. If you need to see your physician to understand where you are, health-wise regarding certain numbers and blood pressure and a bunch of other things that are the markers that are indicators of where you are health wise, make sure you're aware of what those things are and take steps to make whatever changes are necessary to improve that situation. Because you're going to need to be healthy, as healthy as you can be in order to pursue the big goals that God has for you.
This is a race, it's a journey. And again, we have the numerical dates ahead of us in terms of when we're expected to expire. The question is what percentage of that are you going to be viable? Yeah, you might make it there. But do you want those years to be wrought with illness, wrought with pain, wrought the inability to be as engaging as you want to be. Do you want those years to be wrought with exhaustion and fatigue, or do you want those years to be full of energy, full of vitality, full of ideas, full of creativity, full of the ability to apply effort, the ability to accomplish certain things. All this is going to be on a foundation of having really good health.
So make that a priority. Make the changes that you need in order to make your health a priority. And if you need to, seek professional assistance, doctors, health coaches, dieticians... whatever that is. This may require an investment of time. This may require an investment of money. It certainly will require an investment in a behavior change. But I trust and believe that if you make this behavior change, then the investment will be well worth the reward as you're then able to put yourself in position to truly implement and experience the success that you want to experience in the second half.
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