1,044 Weeks

Well, it's happened, it's here: today I am 40 years old. And I have to admit, it feels good to make it to this next level of life. It's surprising at this relatively young age, how many people I have known either personally or through mutual friends who have died; some older, many younger than myself. We all grieve differently and that grief is not unrelated to how close a friend or family member was whom we have lost. But today is my birthday, and thank God I'm still here. At any rate, I have been doing much thinking about where my life is headed and how / when / if I plan to retire someday.

You may ask, "Why are you thinking about retirement, you're still a young man!" Well, thank you - but I'm not that young anymore and retirement should be a concern at least going into your 4th decade of life. And here's why: I've done the math, and unless I plan on being a working stiff past the age of 60, I have exactly 1,044 weeks left of a professional life (should I be blessed enough to make it to that age). You may say, "Sixty is too young to retire, if anything the notion these days is to work well into your 70s: seventy-five is the new sixty-five." If that's how you feel then I admire your confidence and ambition. But for me it's not that simple. For me, if I am still working at a job (versus self-employed as a well-compensated professional writer) at the age of 60, then I truly have not made it.

I should clarify: even if I'm not a well-paid writer by the time I am sixty, anything I find myself doing at that age should be a passionate concern of mine that I would do even for free. This will be my gauge for measuring success in the next two decades.

I do not write to disparage anyone who may read this and is 60 or more and still finds themselves working hard at their day job. If this is the case for you, then keep up the good work and God be with you! However I find that there's something liberating in putting an 'expiration date' on the shelf life of a working person. It makes you reason, truly think. "Wow, I've got about a thousand weeks of productivity left in me... what's my exit strategy? Where and with whom is my time best invested? What am I doing with the money God is blessing me with now? Am I saving any of it, am I investing towards future returns, am I needlessly squandering it? How will I retire? Where will I live? What type of lifestyle do I envision for myself? How about my health? To what am I devoting the last years of youth and vitality left in my body? Am I spending time with my family? Are we doing the things we want to do? Are we going to the places we have always wanted to go? Now I have about 800 weeks left, now 600, now 400, now 200..." I believe you get the picture.

The first step to knowing where you want to go is identifying where you are today.

So today I am forty and I have just over a thousand weeks left of true productivity. Instead of reminiscing about my past and all the blessings that have brought me to this day, I wish to look forward twenty years down the road. There is a shelf life to the output of this earthly body, another 7,305 days to make my dreams come true. Have you done the math? If you read this in your twenties and do the same exercise... forget about it, you'll be all set. If you do this in your thirties (and take it seriously), you too will be set. In your forties? You've still got time but it is running short, you need to prioritize and take immediate action. In your fifties? It's the ninth inning of the ball game, you will need a few 'Hail Mary' plays to get the score right. And if you are already sixty or beyond: I pray that your dreams and visions have been or are currently being fulfilled. If not? Then I pray the Lord gives you strength to face your day to day, and rest secure knowing that paradise awaits you when all this is over.

1,044 weeks to sixty. What's your number?