Be like a (smart) ultradistance runner

This is the time of year when we set goals (sport, work, relationships) and take stock. I have had the fortune of 5 career changes since 2000 (in 7-years; 3 drastic changes, 2 aligned changes). I thrive on change, although it can be stressful and disruptive. This afternoon I received a poignant piece on aging with a delightful perspective on age and work. Change, friends, is in the air.

A quote from the piece (I don't know the source) is as follows:

You get older faster than you think. Be ready for it when it happens.

I have a friend. Call him Dan.

When I first met Dan, he was a twenty-eight year old aspiring filmmaker, in a one-bedroom apartment down on New York's Lower East Side, who liked to spend too much time in bars.

The last time I saw him, he was a forty-one year old aspiring filmmaker, in a one-bedroom apartment down on New York's Lower East Side, who likes to spend too much time in bars.

There's a famous old quip: "A lot of people in business say they have twenty years experience, when in fact all the really have is one year's experience, repeated twenty times."

Rivers, and people, take the path of least resistance and it is only when a tree falls over to block the main current that the river's path changes. In ultradistance running I always advise people to "walk because you want to, not because you have to".

Be like an ultradistance runner and not like a river; take stock now and make changes before you end up repeating one year's experience twenty times. The time will be gone before you realise it has passed.