Question-Week ending Sunday 06/15/03:
Regardless of your current age, take a moment "if you can" to reflect back when you were between the ages of 40 to 49 years old. How well would you say you took advantage of the Personal Development Opportunities (PDO's) that were within your reach during those years? Please read our Poll Commentary before taking this poll.
Pre-Poll Commentary:
Life for most of us is still very busy and hectic during our forties. If married, our kids require a great deal of time and attention. In our careers, we may hold a position of leadership also requiring great time commitments. Our parents are aging and may need our assistance more than before. We have multiple roles and lots of responsibilities to live up to. Time is very precious, since we always seem to be running out of it.
However, if you learned to plan earlier in life, you might now reap the benefits of utilizing those planning skills. Opportunities to grow may not come knocking on your door, but they are out there for those seeking them. Let's take a look at some of them. If in fact these opportunities were available to you when you were 40 to 49 years old, how well did you take advantage of them? Keep in mind this is only a sampling. If you engaged in other similar activities, use them in place of this list when voting.
Educational Opportunities
- Did you continue to attend courses, classes, seminars and workshops to improve your career and personal skills?
- Did you read magazines that helped you gain knowledge and insights on successful methods and strategies?
- Did you attempt to learn along with your children by helping them with their homework?
- Did you travel to new areas of the US and the world and learn about the history and culture of these places?
- Did you keep a journal and learn more about yourself?
Career Opportunities
- Did you strive to become an expert in your field as opposed to a worker that collected a paycheck?
- Did you soak up knowledge on a daily basis and try to utilize your skills and abilities to improve your company?
- Did you seek out and then take advantage of advancement opportunities in your organization?
- Did you do give 100% effort each day and always do the best work you were capable of?
Financial Opportunities
- Did you have a financial blueprint for your future?
- Did you pay off the mortgage on your primary residence by age 39?
- Did you consider a second home as a vacation spot and long term investment?
- Did you make wise choices on what you purchased, addressing needs rather than whims?
Personal Relationship Opportunities
- Did you work diligently at your loving relationship with a spouse or significant other, to avoid becoming a divorce statistic?
- If you did divorce, did you learn from your first mistakes and make the second relationship extra special and long lasting?
- Did you practice balance in your life and always the make time to enjoy traveling and activities with your family.
Health and Well Being
- Did you avoid the middle age weight gain by making the time to exercise regularly.
- Did you practice more discipline in your diet to stay healthy?
- Did you have your body checked out and tuned up at regular intervals?
Every stage in life has its challenges. Being aware of the coming attractions is half the battle sometimes. I was fortunate to watch my older sister and her friends experience life before me. I usually knew what to expect and when. That's always been a great advantage in my life. Knowledge is power. Learn from others, learn from these polls, but LEARN, LEARN, LEARN!
Let us know in this week's poll, how well you took advantage of those Personal Development Opportunities (PDO's) presented to you when you were between the ages of 40 to 49 years old.
This poll will end on Sunday 06/15/03, when the results will be displayed.
Our polls and commentaries are enjoyed by hundreds of individuals weekly, with previous polls featured in the top ten of search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Results:
- 36% voted taking advantage of 40-49 PDO's Very Good=90%
- 29% voted taking advantage of 40-49 PDO's Good=85%
- 17% voted taking advantage of 40-49 PDO's Excellent=95%
- 14% voted taking advantage of 40-49 PDO's Fair=75%
- 05% voted taking advantage of 40-49 PDO's Poor=65%
Post-Poll Commentary:
Each poll in this series which has represented opportunities at different age levels, has produced slightly different results. It's reasonable to assume that as individuals, we don't take advantage of opportunities at all age levels consistently and methodically. Timing, circumstances, people we come in contact with and many other factors determine not only the opportunities presented to us but also how well we embrace them.
A day rarely passes by that someone doesn't make one of the following comments to me - "Time goes by too fast" or "I just don't know what happened to my time today". We all know how time can slip away from us, if we approach a day without a good plan for utilizing this precious asset. I believe that many people do not take advantage of PDO's because they just have no intention to do so. If they had a good enough reason to take advantage of opportunities and set out on a mission to do so, they would FIND the time to accomplish their mission.
Our poll results this past week represented respondents than were born prior to 1963. The results seem to be getting a little more positive than they were when we had the mix of a younger crowd added into the past poll results. In next week's poll we will be in the heart of the Baby Boomers who have been driving the U.S. economy for a couple of decades. The question is "Did Baby Boomers take better advantage of PDO's?"
Share the ideas presented in these polls with your kids and grandchildren. Discuss opportunities well in advance of their possible occurrence. Help and guide them to look forward to positive opportunities in their lives. Give them all the reasons to strive for a great future. Then, hopefully you can enjoy the satisfaction of playing a role in molding a wonderful life for a loved one.