Hindsight is 2020
My wisdom could be put on the back of a postage stamp... with room to spare, so I’m going to try to live by some of the wise words from others which resonated with me down the years
q Running is great for the mind – it’s mind medication
Bill Gates said: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years”. Sometimes you have to run the long race.
If you have a big goal, keep checking that whatever job or task you’re doing is working towards it. If not, and if you can, dump it.
I hosted a conference where a motivational speaker asked the audience to be brutally honest and put up their hands if they were working to their full capacity. Only a couple did. It’s helpful to check whether or not you’ve allowed yourself to shift from ambition and drive to simply freewheeling.
When you’re very young you don’t care what the world thinks of you; as you get older you worry about what the world thinks of you; but when you reach my age you realise the world isn’t thinking of you at all.
I’m writing this having had far too much wine and good food over the festive season and am feeling like a blob. However, I am going to drag my blob
With sweeping
landscapes, dramatic scenery and some of the most beautiful green spaces in the world, there is no better place to connect with nature than right here on our doorstep. And although the weather might not be ideal, Jackie says everyone should put on their raincoat and get outside, enjoying more of
Scotland’s wonderful surroundings. She said: “I love feeling fit. I love being active. And I love being outdoors. That’s something I want to spend more time doing in 2020. I’d like to find some more time to explore Scotland’s outdoors this year. I definitely want to do the West Highland Way – if I can with my sticks and torn hamstrings. Even on a dreadful day, I just love to be out on the beaches and islands. We’re so lucky
to have all of that.” to the gym to do what I can. A fitness trainer told me a long time ago that the only bad workout is the one you didn’t do. It’s one of those trite sayings that are so irritating because they are so true.
This year I will again pledge to walk the West Highland Way and learn to play golf. It wouldn’t be January without these aims which for years I have religiously promised to achieve but then failed to carry through.
When you look at someone like Sting, right, who is 68, he is still trendy, edgy, talented and motivated. I think he’s a very inspiring person. He’s never stopped and his output has become better over the years. He always diversifies, adapts and changes. That’s the key.
We can all take advantage of change at any stage in life. There are so many men and women out there starting new careers and businesses in middle age, and it’s no longer just a case of going quietly into retirement. For me, it’s all about reinvention.
And remember, whatever you do, you’re a long time deid.