The future has arrived. Stop preparing for it and start living it.
I’m writing this on my 67th birthday, and something is very clear to me: my 60s are shaping up to be the best decade of my life.
It’s not that the earlier decades weren’t good — they were really good. But they were also really hard. So much of my energy in those years was devoted, at any given moment, to doing things that would pay off at some point in the future. I was always preparing for the future, constantly sacrificing the present for the future.
This future-focus started in my 20s and accelerated through my 30s, 40s, and 50s. It even carried past my 60th birthday. But shortly after I turned 60 it struck me that, after all this time mortgaging the present for the future, the future had finally arrived. I wanted to start taking dividends on all those investments. I wanted to start living the life I had created for myself.
This realization happened at a dinner party.
A few months after my 60th birthday, my wife Arna and I were invited to dinner at the home of our friends David and Galit. At some point during the meal, David posed a question to the ten of us: “What is the key story of your life?”
There was silence, then people started sharing fascinating stories — pivotal decisions, formative role models, core beliefs. As I listened and thought about what I would say, I felt like a curtain was opening. A sudden illumination of something that had been right in front of me for decades.
“In eighth grade,” I told the table, “I took pre-algebra so I could do well in algebra the next year. So I could build my high school record, get into a good college, get a good first job — preparation for the next promotion, which would get me to the next job, and so on. Everything in my life was just a stepping stone to the next stepping stone. I’ve constantly sacrificed the present for the sake of the future.”
The table was quiet. I kept going.
“I’ve been climbing a stairway to heaven, where heaven keeps getting redefined as some point in an ever-more-distant future. I just turned 60, and even now, I’m still prepping for the future. What am I waiting for? The future has arrived! I don’t want to just be sixty. I want to Do Sixty.”
Doing Sixty.
Doing Sixty is about shedding the anxieties that we’ve carried with us for decades as we’ve been building our adult lives. We’ve worked hard. We’ve strived. We’ve achieved. We have sown the seeds, and now it’s time to harvest.
We don’t need to be anything different. We are all fine with who we are. We just need to live the lives we’ve created for ourselves. Doing Sixty is a verb.
Here in our sixties, we can live life just for the sake of living it, not just to get some future benefit out of it. Let’s get out of our own way and give ourselves permission, the permission to live our lives fully.
In earlier generations, most people entering their 60s felt they were entering their twilight years. Fortunately, life expectancy is much longer now. Don’t think of those extra years as being tacked on at the end of your life. They’re inserted right here, right now. Your 60s are your bonus years. We are so fortunate to have been gifted with something remarkable — extra years – and the opportunity to live them well.
You’ve created a good life. Now live it. Are you ready to live these bonus years the way you really want to live them, unconstrained by your past habits and perspectives? Are you ready to Do Sixty?
Are you ready to live these bonus years the way you really want to live them?
Learning to Do Sixty wasn’t like flipping a switch for me. I had to shed habits and mindsets I’d been carrying for decades, and it took real work. But I did it, and it has transformed the way I experience every day. I’d love to share what I learned, so you can make the most of these bonus years. Start here, where you can read other articles about Doing Sixty, and please share your comments and experiences with me.
-Steve
Steve Yastrow is an MEA alum and Chicagoan who is fully living his sixties — playing jazz gigs, enjoying friends and family, and always learning something new. He is the author of three books and a speaker and advisor who helps companies build stronger relationships with their customers. Follow his journey at doing60.substack.com.