Live the Sage Advice Now
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
From time to time throughout my life, I see stories or videos of older people sharing their advice with younger people. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an older person give bad advice in these types of forums. They don’t tell young people to sell their lives away and work all hours of the day. They don’t encourage youth to only strive for perfection and kick themselves when they don’t live up to high standards. They don’t encourage us to buy more and more stuff. No! They tell us to worry less, be courageous, trust ourselves, forget what people think about us, spend time with those we love, invest in our relationships, and love ourselves.
The people in our society that live to older ages have so much time and experience in this world that they often have very good advice. And when I was younger and I would hear their words of wisdom and reflect, graciously my brain would think thoughts like, “Well, they’ve been alive a long time, they probably know what they’re talking about from experience, what they’re saying makes sense to me on a deep level, so this is now what I’m going to try to live in my own life starting now.”
Now, some people prefer the crash and burn method of learning lessons. They love to try the not wise ways of life and win their lessons through trial and error and suffering. And you know what, there are some deep and beautiful lessons to be learned from wading through suffering and coming out the other side. But we don’t have to suffer all the time to learn lessons. Sometimes we can just see the truth in the advice we receive from someone more experienced and follow that advice.
For example, when I worked in the financial industry in New York City in my early and late 20’s, there was definitely a culture around me that heavily hinted that I should spend a good deal of my day every day at the office. There was a heavy bias that people don’t get ahead if they aren’t at their desk and responsive at all hours of the day. But then I’d picture those older people giving advice and hear them say things like, “No one ever wished they had worked more on their deathbed.” And their advice gave me permission in my own life as a 20-year-old living in New York to set boundaries at work. People around me knew that I would be in the office from 8am to 5pm, and after 5pm I would be out living my life, exploring, and spending time with the people I loved. And every single one of the NYC financial advisors that I worked with completely respected my boundaries. I worked efficiently and well for the hours they did have me, and they respected the time that I had for myself. I didn’t have to work all hours in my twenties and thirties thinking that once I hit my forties I would finally be able to control my time. I decided as a young person that I would start living the sage advice now. The amount of time I have saved from regret because I chose to live my life authentically and by my own rules is astounding.
We don’t have to walk through fire before we start living our lives the way we want to. We can just decide now, even in our youth, to design our lives around our values and hold boundaries. When you’re in difficult situations, imagine your 80-year-old self. What would your 80-year-old self advise you to do in that difficult situation? Personally, my older self is much more patient and loving than my current self is at times, so she tends to have the much better advice. And when I follow her advice, it’s pretty much always exactly right.
If you or your team would like to sign up for our 2 hour Balance and Productivity training to instantly double your meaningful output and find the feeling of lasting flow and optimized work life balance, please click here and say hello!
Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team