What’s the key to having an extraordinary 100thbirthday? Exercise!
Wait… Don’t stop reading and break out the sweats and sneakers, it’s a “mental” exercise. Also don’t get sweaty palms over this, it’s not mind numbing, it’s not a test and you can probably put as little as 15 minutes into it; much more if your loving it. It’s interesting and kind of fun and could help to evaluate and even recalibrate your life. I’m even updating mine again. So, get a pad and paper or your computer and please do refer back to it on occasion.
In the first segment you get to enjoy remembering your past wins and in the second be creative as you like. If constructed well, you may end up sounding like the World’s Most Interesting Man or Woman. (my favorite Most Interesting Man line: “If he were to pat you on the back, you would list it on your resume”)
The objective is to imagine that it’s your 100thbirthday and you’re being honored with a big party. Friends and relatives are there and whoever else you may want, it’s your party. Hey, maybe invite Keith Richards or Cher, they will probably still be around. You are being recognized for not only reaching 100 years old, but because of the extraordinary life you lived. You are brought to a nice big comfortable chair in the front of the room and the speaker at the podium starts to talk about your fantastic life. Okay freeze that scene for a bit. Now, take a little time and write that wonderful speech that’s being given about you. Don’t be modest, this is your life!
To create the first part of this speech review highlights and events from childhood, teenage years, your 20’s… and up to your current age today. Detail all the feel good moments, accomplishments and milestones that chronicle your amazing life so far. Skills you learned or mastered, events you’ve participated in, career moves, awards won, times you needed to push through fear and prevailed, any and all your positive memories count. You will no doubt remember a lot of great moments you probably haven’t thought about for a while.
Second part gets more interesting. Write about the things you haven’t done yet. List the visions, goals and wants you expect to accomplish between now and 100 and build this into the speech as if they were already done. Maybe things like snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, living for a year in Asia, owning a Porsche 911, you started a charity that helps kids do X, you wrote a NY Times best seller, gave a TEDx talk, mentor people that are interested in the line of work you used to be in, helped place rescue dogs into good homes, raised 22 kids, had a cooking show, became a scout leader, owned a restaurant, traveled all 50 states, became mayor of your town, started a fund that raised $1MM for the homeless, when you reached normal retirement age you started a business that was hugely successful, etc… List whatever you would like to accomplish before reaching the century mark. Again, write it as if it already happened and the speaker is just recapping your amazing life.
This whole exercise can be just a few paragraphs, or go deep and write yourself a nice 10 minute speech. Heck, you’re 100, do whatever you want.
The first part of this “Ode to You” is a great way to remember all the good, great, memorable, fun, exciting, charitable things accomplished in your life so far. Listing these can also cause you to remember feelings of pride, a sense of accomplishment, happiness, the relief felt overcoming fears, and your mindset when these events happened. If you go no further with this exercise, reading this list on occasion will remind you of all the positive things you’ve already done in your life and make you feel good.
The second part of this glowing speech might cause some work depending on if you plan to use it. Good work though, not like the 9 to 5 “Oh my God is it Friday yet” kind of work. All these new potential goals you listed to be completed by your 100th birthday are out of your head and documented and that starts to give them some life and credibility. I’ll bet some are calling out for attention right now.
You may decide to act and chase down some of these new ambitions. If your speech has dozens of amazing accomplishments not yet realized, you may want to prioritize them in order of importance to you. Perhaps in thinking through these you may see how some might even lead to the completion of others. I wouldn’t take any off the list though, because you never know. If any of them really light you up and tug at you, I would definitely start there.
I suggest as you write your speech, don’t think about “how would I ever accomplish that” if something seems too far out of reach (now), just write it all down. I recently found a quote that said, “If you can connect all the dots between what you see today and where you want to go, then it’s probably not ambitious enough or aspirational enough”. So swing for the fences on some of these visions for the future.
Once finished you now have a catalog of your many positive life shaping experiences that can and should be reviewed from time to time. You also have created an exciting potential road map for your future, if you choose to act on it. Action of course is up to you, but as mentioned before you should at least reread this every few weeks just to remind yourself how good life has been.
Remember, “Regardless of age or status, if you’re not satisfied with the path you’re on, it’s time to rewrite the future. Your Life should be a story that you are excited to tell”.
Happy 100thBirthday!
