How Long Will You Live?
While none of us know that answer, what we do know is that in general people are living much longer, and with good health.

Fred Hale, Sr. is the oldest man in America at 113.

He lived independently until he was 107. Until then, he walked a mile each day, mowed his lawn, tended a vegetable garden and fruit trees, and kept honey bees. Even now he is living in an assisted living community.

Here is some statistical information on lifespan that you may find surprising.

1. If a husband and wife are both 65, there is a 45% likelihood that one will still be living at 90.

2. The average life expectancy of American men today is 74, and the average life expectancy of American women is nearly 80. The chance that you will live longer is 50%.

3. There are about 4 million Americans today age 85 or older. By 2040, there will be 14 million.

4. Over 100,000 Americans have lived to be 100, and 60,000 are alive today. While not all are enjoying Hale's health and vigor, many are. Most seniors remain independent and active right up to the last few years.

How prepared are you to live to 100? What dreams and goals do you have? Who and what could you become in your second half?

Age 65 was chosen by Bismark as the retirement age in the 1880's when only 1.5% of the population lived past that age. Today we still use 65 as a target retirement age although the average person lives over 30 years longer than when that age was originally selected.

Our paradigm about retirement is changing, and changing rapidly.

A recent AARP survey indicates that 69% of people 45-74 plan to continue working into retirement. A study conducted by Cornell University found that the primary reason people plan to continue working is to stay active, involved, and productive.

A similar finding is that that 59% of Baby Boomers (39 - 58 year olds) plan to work or participate in community or charity work after retirement.

What do you plan to do?

Now's a great time to begin dreaming, planning, and preparing! The Retirement Success Profile, which covers all aspects of living, is a great place to begin.


Creating New Behaviors
New Year's Day and the urge to make resolutions is just around the corner.

Most people fail to keep their resolutions. One reason for the failure is that we try to do too much all at once. Another has to do with how we go about making the change.

Here are four principles to help you create new behaviors.

1. Only attempt to change one behavior at a time.

2. Launch the new behavior as strongly as possible by announcing your plans and asking for help in keeping you on the straight and narrow.

3. Seize the first opportunity to act on the behavior.

4. Never let an exception occur until the new behavior is firmly rooted (3-4 weeks).

Here are a few new behaviors that may be on your list along with approaches that may be helpful.

1. Launch an exercise program by announcing your plans, creating a workout schedule, and asking others to help you stick with it.

2. Make an announcement to your family that you will no longer go ballistic at examples of incompetence by other dirivers. The very next time a driver offends you, ignore the offense, laugh at the offense, turn on the radio instead, but remain calm.

3. Walk regularly with a friend. It's a great way to maintain relationships and get exercise at the same time.

4. Keep a list of fun activities and be sure to do at least one a month.

These ideas come from a helpful book by Odette Pollar on simplifying your life.

Most of us have allowed our lives to become stressful. A surprising amount of our stress results from things that we feel are important, but that we're not doing. Stress from not being able to accomplish what we believe is important takes a big toll.

Coaching is about helping you take action and succeed at those things you believe are important.


Why We Fail to Follow Proven Strategies
Why is it that we often fail to adopt strategies that have been proven to work?

We don’t have to look far in almost any endeavor to find strategies that have worked well for others. Often, detailed explanations of how to implement the strategies are published as well. Yet we’ll look at the facts and still choose not to use the strategy.

For example, there are many strategies that can be used for a job search. There is even research that shows the effectiveness of each strategy. Using Internet Job Sites has been found to be the least effective strategy, with a success rate of about 4%. A strategy called the “Life Change Job Search” is the most effective, with a success rate of 86%.

Yet when I visit with groups of job seekers, I find that everyone is using the Internet Job Sites, and virtually no one is using the Life Change Job Search strategy. Why are they making that choice?

It generally has to do with fear of failure and fear of rejection.

Using an Internet site carries little personal risk of rejection, and since these sites are known to be generally ineffective, failure to produce a job can’t be considered personal.

Conversely, the Life Change Job Search strategy requires that you find people in target companies where you’d like to work, get face-to-face appointments with them, and explain to them why they should hire you. Following that strategy seems to have lots of opportunities for rejection and failure.

As a result, I frequently hear reasons like the following for not adopting the most effective strategy.

1. I don’t want to do that.
2. I don’t believe I could do that.
3. I don’t really believe that will work.
4. What if I try it and fail? I just couldn’t stand that.
5. I’m afraid it would be painful and embarrassing.
6. That’s just not for me.
7. There’s got to be an easier way!
8. The reason it has such as high success rate is that not many people will do that!

So, we let perceived fears of personal risk keep us from taking the actions that are proven to work and provide us the success we really want.

Overcoming fears of rejection and failure, whether the goal is finding a job or achieving some other goal, is difficult. But it can be done. Here are some ways to get started.

1. Research strategies for accomplishing your goal, and select those that are most effective.
2. Focus on accomplishing the goal and on the benefits you will receive.
3. Acknowledge your fears, and then put them aside. As they resurface, dismiss them. Refuse to dwell on them, instead thinking about your success.
4. Find people who will support and encourage you as you step outside your comfort zone.
5. Just do it. Start taking steps and don’t stop until you’ve finished.

Let me know if you would like reference material on job search methods or would like to discuss how coaching can help you move out of your comfort zone to accomplish your goals.


About Mapmaker Coaching
Mapmaker Coaching is a resource for the crossroads in your life.

What I do is help people take action to achieve their dreams.

These dreams usually involve their careers, their businesses, their ministries, or their retirements.

I help people achieve their dreams through coaching, a series of weekly conversations in which we together develop plans, review progress, and chart next steps. It's effective, it's enjoyable, and it's affordable.

I offer a free session so that you can learn more about coaching and how it can help you achieve your dream.


Three Free Upcoming Teleclasses
I'm offering three free one-hour teleclasses to anyone who wants to call in during the next few weeks.

1. "Goal Setting that Works!" Just in time for the new year, this class will provide you with a method for setting, planning, and achieving your goal(s). Thursday, December 18, 2003, 7:00 - 8:00 pm CST.

2. "15 Keys to a Successful Retirement." When someone says "preparing for retirement," we all think of financial planning. But there are 14 other keys that are equally essential. We'll talk about each of them during this class. Thursday, January 11, 2004, 7:00 - 8:00 pm CST.

3. "What Should I Do With the Second Half of My Life?" God has given our generation an extra 30 years of life. What are you going to do with it? This class will provide information on the rapidly changing perspective on retirement and talk about how you might get started on planning to live your dream. Thursday, January 18, 2004, 7:00 - 8:00 pm CST.

You may participate in any or all of these teleclasses I will be leading by just calling into the conference bridge. The bridge is a long distance call, so actually it will cost you a few dollars (if you don't have a cheap long distance rate, pick up one of the phone cards that allows you to make calls for 3-4 cents/min). No reservations are necessary, and the bridge can handle up to 50 participants.

The number to call is (620) 584-8200. Once you're connected, you will be asked to punch in an access code, which is 687564 followed by the pound sign (#).

There will be opportunity for questions and discussion, or you can just drop by and listen.

Feel free to share information about these classes with others you think might be interested.

2003 Hughes Christmas Letter
This has been an evenful and blessed year for the Hughes famly! This year's Christmas letter with some family pictures is online. Just click on the link below to view it.

Jim