We recently passed the halfway mark for the year.  Six months to go before breaking out the bubbly and Auld Lang Syne.  How are you doing with your plans for the year? Are you making progress toward your retirement goals?

Ray Bradbury, the vaunted science fiction writer (Fahrenheit 451), died a few weeks ago.  Many of his stories and books involved envisioning or even predicting the future.  In real life, though, he seemed to prefer a less futuristic way of forecasting what was to come.

Listening to an interview that was being rebroadcast after his death, I thought he had a great insight on how he “predicted” the future in his own life and how you and I can do the same thing—no time machine necessary.  He said:

“I’ve learned that by doing things, things get done.  I’m not an optimist; I’m an optimal behaviorist.  We ensure the future by doing it.”

When I heard him say that, I thought of Babe Ruth pointing to the center field bleachers in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series and then hitting a homerun to those bleachers on the very next pitch.   Oftentimes, when we think about the future, we frame it in terms of our “hopes and dreams.”  Bradbury (and Ruth) seemed to have little patience for that because it was passive and outside his control.  Rather than optimism, he favored optimal behaviors.  “What do I need to do to achieve the outcome that I want?”  That’s a good question to ask yourself as you enter the second half of the year.   What do you really want out of life and retirement?  What do you need to do to make that a reality?

Hope you’re having a great week.  Don’t be a stranger.  Touch base with me if I can ever help.

Joe