What Do You Want To Be?

89 year old man What do you want to be when you grow up?

Why is it that we ask this of children, but once they have completed their education, we stop asking and they stop wondering. There are tremendous benefits to maintaining that child-like sense of wonder as an adult.

Over the holidays I met a man who never lost his sense of wonder. He is the model for what I would like to be when I grow up. At 89 years old, he is the only full time resident in a 5 star hotel at the base of Vail Mountain. He skis 100 days a year and is the most popular person in the area. For what he is paying he could certainly live in a large house almost anywhere on the planet. He chooses to be where he is because it’s simple, provides all the amenities he desires, and gives him no aggravation. He jokes and says it’s cheaper than an old age home and much more fun.

The point is that it’s never too late to decide what you want to be. Once you decide, get yourself on a path that is leading you towards it.

This is the time when people think of what they want to do in the year ahead, then make their News Year’s resolutions. While the idea of a resolution is a good one, 88% of the people that make them fail. Think of all the new people that show up in the gym in early January. Most of them are gone by mid-February. The idea of the New Year’s resolution has become a bit of a joke. Most resolutions are short-term goals: losing weight, getting the promotion etc. This man reminded me that if we are looking for a lifestyle down the road, we need to stop making resolutions and start making commitments. Commitments that are long term in nature. Commitments that align with what we want to do when we “grow up”.

Life is short. Feed your childlike sense of wonder, decide what you want to be, and get after it.