I’ve reached an age that my adolescent self thought of as pretty old: 34. I remember as a pre-teen thinking that celebrities in their 30s were washed up. Why is she still making music (or movies, or whatever)? Doesn’t she know she’s not cool anymore? Ah, youth.
“Instead of saying ‘I don’t have time’ try saying ‘its not a priority.’ Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we don’t like how we’re spending an hour, we can choose differently.”
—Laura Vanderkam
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
—Jane Goodall
“The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are.”
—Thomas Dreier
I’ve written a lot of posts about steps I’ve taken to improve my day-to-day life and overall wellness, like reading books, meditating, language-learning, and exercising. I’ve even described myself as a bit of a self-improvement junkie. I am constantly consuming media about the latest health-related studies and how to become more efficient and effective in my professional and personal life.
I believe this continual learning and experimenting adds value to my life, but it’s easy to let these habit-related, day-to-day pursuits distract me from long-term planning. Setting big goals and grand-scale intentions is something that I haven’t done very often in my life, though I know it’s important. I’m talking about envisioning my life decades from now and asking myself what I want it to look like. What contributions will I have made to the world? What kind of lifestyle will I be living? If I could call myself an expert at something, what would it be? Read more