Random Observation/Comment #830: I should live my 2nd act of life like my 3rd.
Why this List?
If we assume we live to 90, then the three acts of our life cover 1-30, 30-60, and 60-90. Understanding life’s journey through the lens of these acts offers a unique perspective on growth and achievement. Each act presents its own set of opportunities and challenges. This list aims to highlight 30 essential objectives, 10 for each act, offering guidance and insight into what one might strive to achieve at various points in life. The main focus and desired outcome to start the next phase has helped me define my personal goals and put life and time into perspective.
Act 1: Ages 1-30 – Foundation
Self-Discovery – Embrace your unique identity and passions. The Trial and error phase is critical. What you don’t like to do is just as important as what you do.
Education – Pursue formal and informal learning opportunities.
Career Foundation – Establish a solid start in your chosen field. There’s no cookie cutter career, but there are starting points that provide you with higher salaries and expose you to basic etiquette skills as a professional.
Financial Independence – Achieve self-sufficiency in financial planning and starting point for gaining the larger goals.
Relationship Building – Cultivate meaningful personal and professional relationships. This is a huge part of the first act. We are shaped by our relationships and it leads to more opportunities for deeper connections (and good times).
Health Awareness – Develop healthy habits for long-term well-being. I think the systems we put into place early will help with the more attentive upkeep. It only gets harder to maintain weight and body mass. That being said, I spent my first act eating garbage and drinking like a fish (and I wouldn’t trade it for anything).
Risk-Taking – Embrace challenges and opportunities to grow. The biggest thing my Dad told me that stuck throughout my life is “If you internalize your education then you can always start from 0. Education is something that cannot be taken away.” For me, it meant that I have a supportive net to fallback on, but also a push to be slightly more aggressive.
Global Exposure – Experience diverse cultures and global perspectives through traveling. I definitely caught the travel bug and I hope Evie does the same. It’s such a beautiful part of my Act 1 that has lead me to embracing my curiosity.
Personal Values – Define and live by your core beliefs and ethics. The biggest foundation is knowing who you are and why you are doing it. For me, it’s a self purpose of being kind and generous.
Building Grit/Character – You don’t need more time, you need more focus. The systems and confidence you built in yourself and your ability to execute/deliver is such a big part of my foundation.
Act 2: Ages 30-60 – Purpose
Career Advancement – Strive for excellence and leadership in your industry. Not everyone needs to be a thought leader, but definitely think deeply about where you’re spending your time. You may also consider a career pivot leveraging your same skillset.
Family Life – Explore the dynamics of starting or nurturing a family. Don’t feel pressured to pop out kiddos. It’s way more financial, time, and relationship pressure than anyone expects.
Financial Stability – Build and manage long-term wealth and investments. This is the time where you get paid the most money in your professional career and also have the most to spend.
Community Involvement – Engage in social, civic, or volunteer activities. Part of growth involves levels of finding meaning and belonging. This doesn’t need to be full volunteer, but communities are formed around good causes.
Personal Development – Continue learning and self-improvement. This needs to be stated as a priority because we don’t just stop changing. Smarter every day.
Health Maintenance – Prioritize physical and mental health. The days of reaching pique physical condition might not be over yet as you find your groove and establish your healthy habits. 35 was probably the hardest year on my metabolism and it only gets harder.
Legacy Building – Start creating something that will outlast your lifetime. Some people write books. Others build companies. It’s the beginning of a journey. Perhaps I’ll just leave Clembot with perpetual infrastructure costs attached to my Trust’s treasury. I wonder if there are lifetime++ subscriptions.
Adaptation – Adapt to life’s changes and challenges with resilience. At some point life will have suffering and pain. We’ll lose jobs or loved ones.
Mentorship – Guide others by sharing your knowledge and experience. It’s rewarding to give back and enable the future to do the things you didn’t focus on.
Life Philosophies – Evaluate and appreciate your journey thus far. I may wind up being a metaverse gamer in my late 50s.
Act 3: Ages 60-90 – Legacy
Life Enjoyment – Embrace leisure and activities you love. You should probably enjoy your life at every point in time, but perhaps the amount of time you have has increased with the higher amount of funds to spend. Hopefully your health management is such that you’re still feeling young.
Wisdom Sharing – Pass on wisdom to younger generations. There’s consistency with wisdom sharing and mentorship. It might be the same. I’ll probably get paid on being on a few boards or be an advisor that only works once a week.
Financial Security (Estate Planning) – Ensure financial matters are in order for you and your heirs. There’s benefit in doing this earlier (just in case). If you haven’t done so already, this is a good reminder that you’ve procrastinated for 30 years.
Health Management – Focus on maintaining and managing health with age. This could be doing low impact sports like table tennis. I started table tennis at 20, so perhaps I’ll transcend into super Saiyan mode by 60.
Social Connection – Maintain strong social networks and relationships. Adult loneliness is probably still an epidemic. Maybe the older generation is just obsessed with social media.
Different Hobby Pursuits – Engage deeply in hobbies or interests. You were probably doing this earlier in your life, but you didn’t figure out how to get paid for it.
Life Reflection – Reflect on and integrate your life experiences. I’ll hopefully still be doing my drawing journal and be able to sketch random people on the back of a napkin. Just an old guy doing charcoal sketches.
Grandparenting – This is where I spoil my grandchild and get yelled at by my daughter for it. I can’t wait.
Spiritual Depth – Explore and deepen your spiritual or philosophical beliefs. I don’t know what Act 3 will be, but maybe I’ll get bored of infinity.
Legacy Preservation – Ensure your legacy is preserved and communicated. To be honest, I do want to die with zero. There was this video game designer that created a special weapon with limited uses that’s super rare. Never used it. Thought I’d save it for something at some other time. Never happened. Ended up losing interest in the game all together with all these unused resources. Life is weird.
~See Lemons Live Act 2
Originally on seelemons.com
