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- March 27, 2009
Thrive or Survive?
One Sunday in church my Pastor asked a question: “Do you want to survive or thrive?” It got me to thinking about my life and my business.
As a baby boomer woman in business, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s never too late to set goals. So what if you didn’t achieve your original goals when you were in your tween years. If you’re reading this, it means you’re not dead yet. It means you still have a purpose and a mission to be accomplished. Just because you may have reached the “grandma age” doesn’t mean you have to cancel out those things you didn’t get around to doing. You just didn’t get around to doing them YET. As long as you’re still breathing, you still have time.
As baby boomers and beyond, we’ve been given more opportunities to accomplish the goals and dreams we’ve set for ourselves. So why can’t we take advantage of them right now?
Here are some of my tips for setting and accomplishing your goals at midlife:
1) Make each goal something you really want, not something that just sounds good: The truth of the matter is, you’re not getting any younger so you want to make what you do, from here on, mean something. But don’t do it just because. Some people like to play “follow the leader.” Because Mary wrote a book and it was a best seller, you think you can too but maybe that’s not really your calling and maybe your book won’t sell as well. Concentrate on doing something you are passionate about. Trust me, you’ll do a much better job at reaching your goal!
2) Don’t let your goal conflict with other goals: Your goal may be to purchase a million dollar home but if your salary is only $50,000 what sense does that really make? You should first focus on how you can increase your income or come up with creative ways to do some million dollar improvements on your current home.
3) Develop goals for both personal and business: If you have big dreams for your business, why not have equally important goals for your personal life. All work and no play can create something called S-T-R-E-S-S and stress kills. Develop a plan to ensure that you will spend quality “me” time to give yourself an opportunity to be renewed in mind, body and spirit. That way you’ll have more energy to continue pursuing your business goals.
4) Set high goals: The higher the goal means you’ll work HARDER but the REWARD will be that much sweeter!
5) Create a Vision Board: How do you know where you’re going if you can’t SEE where you’re going? Habakkuk 2:2 in the Bible says: “And the Lord answered me and said, “Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets…” My vision board hangs in my bedroom. It is one of the first things I see every morning. It reminds me of the goals I’ve set and what I must do in order to achieve those goals. A vision board keeps you focused.
Even as a baby boomer, who’s also a wife and grandmother, I still believe in dreams and I’m a witness that dreams still can come true!










2 Responses to “Thrive or Survive?”
Why is it that so many people think that dreams dry up and disappear as you get older. Once a dreamer always a dreamer. We get wiser and bolder so our dreams just don’t sit on the shelf as we get older. We act on them.
As I write this my vision board sits in front of me and I look at it several times a day and know that reality is based on dreams.
Linda
By Linda Hampton RN, MSN on Apr 1, 2009
I’m a little bit past the baby boomer age.My quote to all is that my children get older while I get younger. We are as young as we want to be. Only age increases. My dreams and goals have never left me. Some of my goals have been accomplished and then some I am still working to have them become reality.
By Marge Carter on May 14, 2009