If you’ve had a chance to read A Brief Guide to Retirement Bliss, you know how important I think it is to decide what you really want out of life and to take those plans really seriously. If you don’t decide, then three things will likely happen:

  1. Other people will decide for you
  2. You’ll say “yes” to things that don’t get you any closer to the life you want
  3. You will default to the uninspiring and unproductive

If your days are designed by those three things, then each day will find you further and further from the life (and eventual retirement) that you want.

Which leads me to that important question I mentioned earlier. Before adding something to your to-do list or saying “yes” to another commitment, ask yourself:

“Will this get me closer to what I really want out of life?”

If the answer is “No” then don’t do it. What’s the point of busying yourself with a bunch of tasks that don’t get you any closer to a purposeful, satisfying life?

A little lifestyle experiment

With that in mind, I’d like to propose a little lifestyle experiment. There are 16 weeks left in 2014. What can you do in that time to rework and reshape your schedule so that 2015 and beyond is spent focused on things that actually get you closer to what you want your life to be about? What commitments can you wind down? What goals can you set? How can you better align your time with your priorities? Here are a few articles that might help:

 

Good luck!

Joe

Photo by Nick Kelly.
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