2022 December 13 Why are we setting goals anyway

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website by, for, and about Baby Boomers. Thanks for joining me tonight to talk about why we even talk about setting goals, especially if we're older. So let's get started. If you like what you hear tonight, please leave a Like and tell your friends, drop me a comment. We want you to be involved also because this is a show that's driven by you and the things that you are interested in hearing. 

So tonight is going to be a little bit different. We're going to take a quick break from developing our goal setting and envisionment plan, which we've been talking about the last couple of episodes. This was prompted by - Monday, I was reading the paper, the Wall Street Journal, and there was a story in there that really made me step back and think about many things. 

Obviously, if you pay any attention at all to what I talk about, you know the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a big topic on my mind, but that's just a sample of what really matters to me because there's really no reason why anyone in the entire planet should be going to bed hungry, or forced to live in a dictatorial regime, or not have access to reasonably priced medical care, food, essential items to live a comfortable life. 

I'm not talking about socialism. There's plenty of money to go around, but instead what we see is this widening of the wealth, where fewer people control more of the wealth, and more people exist in deplorable conditions. I'm not just talking about the 1% in the US or anything like that. This is a worldwide phenomena where more and more people are living in really bad conditions. The overall wealth and standard of living in the world has risen, but it has risen unevenly. 

Even more disturbing is the widening division between people who, by every right they should be working together for a common cause. Instead they're at each other's throats over often fairly small differences in opinion.  It's grossly obvious here in the US where the bipartisan fascism, for lack of a better term, seems to be the current vogue, but it really has become prevalent throughout the world. If you look at the world news of Europe, look at the world news in Asia, basically anywhere - what you see is this binary division between people and there's very little cooperation going on.

What does all that have to do with setting your own goals for the next 90 days? It has everything to do with it. You can shake your head and say, Wow, the world's gone crazy. Well, you can work to change it even if just one teeny little bit, because the best place to start making a change happen in the world is within yourself.

It's very difficult sometimes to envision how making a little change in yourself can really change the whole world. That's what we're trying to talk about and teach you how to do, to see how when you can make a change in your own life,  that empowers you then to teach others how to do it and really make a change in the whole world.

But what about that story I was talking about? It was entitled, Homelessness Worsens in Older Populations,Wall Street Journal. Monday, December 12th, first section, page A3.

The first thing that disturbed me - the homelessness, older populations they were talking about - some of the people in the story were quite elderly,  which is certainly sad, but kind of understandable. I mean, maybe he lived longer than he expected his retirement to last.

One of the other people who was highlighted was 62 years old, a retired social worker. Her husband died of Covid in 2020, and she lives in Boise, Idaho, which has become a real hotspot place to live. According to Zillow, in the past three years, rents in Boise have gone up roughly 46% from $1,213 a month to $1,778 a month for your average apartment.

You can’t sustain that sort of cost of living increase without being prepared, even if it's just being prepared to make some significant changes in your life, perhaps by moving. But I'm reading that story, and thinking that could be a lot of people I know. They lived a simple life and had some savings, they got some social security, and the world around them just exploded. Now here they are, facing - well, in this case, at 62, this particular person probably has at least 15-20 years of life, with no idea how they're going to support themselves. That's why I'm so devoted to people of all ages, but especially older people, because a lot of us are told by society that we can no longer contribute and to just step aside.

I disagree with that. You still have a choice in your destiny and in creating your own future. I know I have a lot of younger listeners, and that is doubly so for you - if you're in your twenties, in your thirties, in your forties, even in your fifties, you still have a lot of time where you can make choices. Little choices when you're younger can be really influential as you get older. Even when you're older, you can still make choices that  can influence you for the next 10, 20, even 30 years of your life. That's a long time. You can make a big difference in the world.

I work with somebody, who, after the big Powerball, she started playing the lottery like twice or three times a week. Playing the lottery is neither a plan nor a strategy, and neither is hoping that something will happen. There's no one in the world who should be more interested in your own welfare than you. Once you get yourself on a trajectory you're satisfied with, and your future's going a little better than you expected it would before you got a little more proactive on yourself, hopefully you'll then decide to help others improve their own lives as well.

There's too much potential good in this world, and in every single one of us, to not let that wonderfulness be discovered and put to good use. I see many older workers who clearly are working because they have no choice. I don't want anyone in my community (or the world in general) to be in that situation.

Instead of reading about that unfortunate person in this story in the Wall Street Journal, I'd much rather read something like Retired Single Moms Start School for Young Single Moms to Learn How to Get a High School Diploma While Raising a Family Alone or any of thousands of other proactive changes we could all do ourselves to make and to improve the world, not only for ourselves, but for everyone. 

We all have that potential within us. Directing your own future, setting your own goals, envisioning these goals so our brain naturally makes decisions aligned with our goals. That's the reason for envisioning a new and better future for yourself and for those you care for.

We've talked about some very practical things, things like smart goals. If you don't know what they are, look two episodes ago. Smart goals. They're important, along with really sifting through all our thoughts and our ideas to find the ones that are real gems, personally important goals, and being bold and making goals that will really move us to a better place in our lives. Not making little teeny goals, but thinking of great big goals, real stretch goals. Those are all important things we've covered so far, and we'll talk more about it next week. 

I really thought it was important to remind everyone of the why behind that action. It isn't just something to do, or a way to pass the time. It's a very definite and positive action to take control of our own lives, and to the best of our ability, make our lives and the lives of those around us the best they can be. 

I know I have a lot of younger listeners. If you're in the mindset of Well, I think my own life's pretty good, think about all the things you can teach your kids or the people in your family. This applies across all ages. Because of the demographic I'm in and the people that I'm noticing, those are the people I really want to help and focus on and help them remember that they still have something they can do to improve their own lives. But if you're in middle age, early middle age, you're in your twentie - now is the time to start making changes. Envision your goals. Really envision them. Select them carefully. Work towards them. You can make a humongous, almost limitless change in your own life and the lives of those you love.

We'll be talking a lot more about this. Remember, the course is coming. See Your Future Transformed. I hope to have that out in January. It covers the whole process in a lot more detail. Plus we go through it at a first level in this whole series of webinars that we're doing now in the Facebook Lives. I hope you keep watching that. 

That's it for the evening. It helps sometimes remember why we do things. It's great to have a process, but if you're kind of in the middle and say, Oh, why am I spending all this time? It's because you want to make your own life and everybody's life a lot better and you have the ability to do it.

Remember the war in Ukraine. UKR7.com. That's a list of links, including the link to the World Central Kitchen. They're still very active in Ukraine, putting out meals. It's cold in Ukraine as well. They're in an active war zone. The entire country's being targeted. Please take a look at some of those links or look at WCK.org.

Remember, the best way to care for yourself is to care for others. If you can and you're able, please, now is the time. Make some donations at the end of the year, help these people get through the winter, and then hopefully eventually get the war to end, and get the world back on a little more stable footing.

Thank you for stopping by. If you found something interesting or useful, please pass it along and please hit that Like button. If not, please drop me a comment as to what you'd like to hear. 

Have a great week, and remember to live the life that you dream of, because that’s the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com. Thank you so much.