| This is my first day back in my home office since I left | | | | yourself, day in and day out? 'What effect will rain |
| on my Vancouver trip last week. In the meantime, | | | | have my plans?' you ask yourself, 'and how likely is it |
| something unpleasant happened to me: some kind of | | | | that it will rain?' |
| nasty, lingering stomach virus that has left me wanting | | | | Of course, every day that we live (and the passage |
| to do nothing more than just sleep. Getting sick is one | | | | through the midlife transition in particular) means that |
| of life's most unpleasant experiences; although, from | | | | the probability of some serious event's occurrence |
| time to time it happens to us all. Once we approach | | | | grows. Isn't it obvious that, every day you life is one |
| midlife, however, life's annoyances seem to take on a | | | | day closer to the day you'll die? You don't need any |
| much more sinister air: we can't help wondering if each | | | | actuarial tables to prove to you that the longer you |
| downturn may not be just another harbinger of worse | | | | avoid any problem, the higher the probability that you'll |
| things to come. | | | | have to face that problem. It's simply a fact of life. On |
| Don't you need to be concerned about such things? | | | | the other hand, should it be a cause for panic? Hardly. |
| Doesn't life get that much more difficult once you've | | | | It is what it is. On the other hand, it should indeed be a |
| begun that midlife transition? Aren't you headed 'over | | | | cause for concern if you've been avoiding taking life's |
| the hill'? Shouldn't you be out shopping for a nursing | | | | risks seriously and not only planning for them, but doing |
| home and a casket? The good news is that you only | | | | something about them. |
| need to be composing your eulogy if you get particular | | | | Slowing down at midlife isn't a tragedy; it's a predictable |
| enjoyment out of doing these things. There are, indeed, | | | | (and manageable) fact of life. You might even say that |
| many things that you could worry about: including | | | | your decline begins around age 15 when growth stops |
| health care, finances, retirement options, and so on; but | | | | and maturity begins. Should children be dreading hitting |
| these are things that you should have been concerned | | | | 16? Hardly. So why should you be dreading hitting 40, |
| with all along! Nothing has changed! | | | | or 50, or 60? It's very true that you won't be the same |
| First, let's consider planning at midlife. As soon as you | | | | then as you are now, but why should you expect to |
| start a new job, what should your first concern be? | | | | be? Life is all about change. Just because you're |
| Think about this for a few minutes before you read on. | | | | 'slowing down' and some eventualities are becoming |
| Take your time - don't look ahead. Are you ready for | | | | more probable than they once were doesn't mean |
| the answer? If you said, "Plan your exit strategy," you'd | | | | that your quality of life should therefore be decreasing. |
| be correct. In this universe, the only absolute is change, | | | | On the contrary, if you've been careful in your planning, |
| and the only response to change is to plan for it. | | | | and taken care with your lifetime risk assessments, |
| Whether any of your involvements will be your | | | | your general quality of life should continue increasing |
| ultimate one, only God can tell. In the meantime, you | | | | indefinitely. |
| would do best to look on each involvement as | | | | Could you lose all your savings? Yes. Could you get |
| temporary. Wouldn't you be reckless to take on any | | | | sick or have an accident and be incapacitated? |
| temporary position and not consider what was to | | | | Certainly. Could you die? Of course. But then, any one |
| come next? | | | | (or all) of these things could happen to you in the next |
| When you embark on any reasonable plan, one of the | | | | ten minutes. The point is, that it's all a matter of |
| most important elements involves a comprehensive | | | | probability. Just because things become more probable |
| risk assessment. A well-engineered risk assessment | | | | over time doesn't mean that they're any more certain |
| forms the cornerstone of any successful plan, and yet, | | | | to occur now as compared with fifty years from now. |
| this element is too often done superficially or even | | | | You never know. What I can assure you is that, as |
| neglected entirely. Yet, a risk assessment involves the | | | | you carefully and successfully navigate your own |
| estimation of only two factors: probability and severity. | | | | personal midlife transition, your capacity for achieving |
| That means that there are only two questions that | | | | success at a level you've only previously imagined (a |
| you need to ask about any eventuality: | | | | success that most likely bears little resemblance to |
| 1) 'How great an impact will this have on my plans?' | | | | how you first conceived it) grows exponentially. |
| (the severity) and | | | | There's no more reason to dread midlife than there is |
| 2) 'How likely is it that this event will actually occur in | | | | to fear tomorrow. In fact, you've every reason in the |
| the foreseeable future?' (the probability). | | | | world to look forward to it with anticipation. Midlife really |
| But, aren't these already the two questions you ask | | | | is just the beginning. |
