I turn 60 this year. I am more aware of the number than I have been in the past. Not just because of the number itself, but because at some point you recognize there is more behind you than in front. People say that all the time. They say it because it’s true.
When you’ve been around long enough, you start to see that the lessons you carry didn’t show up all at once. They showed up over time, usually earned the hard way and often after you thought you already had things figured out.
If I had to map out the decades, these are the quotes that stayed with me. Not because they sound good, but because life proved them right.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” — Henry Ford
This plays out in real life more than people like to admit.
Belief shapes effort. If you decide something cannot be done, you quit earlier and justify it quickly. It becomes easy to protect yourself by deciding it was never possible. It is like buying a red car and suddenly noticing red cars everywhere. They were always there, but now your mind is primed to see them. The same thing happens when you convince yourself something cannot be done. Your brain starts collecting evidence to support the conclusion.
If you believe it can be done, failure becomes part of the process instead of the end. You adjust and keep going because the outcome still feels within reach.
I have always leaned toward a matter of fact way of looking at it. If someone else has done something, there is no reason I can’t. That is not arrogance. It’s simply deciding ahead of time that I am capable.
You may not succeed at everything, but deciding you cannot before you start guarantees the outcome.
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon
I used to think planning was the same as control. Map it out carefully enough and life would follow the route.
Then I walked into a gym one ordinary morning with nothing on my mind except the workout. I was not looking for anything and had no plan for what happened next. Twelve months later I was married to a woman I met between sets. The car I bought that same year, the one I had mapped out owning for the next decade, was totaled inside of twelve months. Neither outcome was in the plan.
Planning has value and you need direction and goals. But life has a way of ignoring your outline and writing its own version. The moments that end up mattering most, the ones you actually tell stories about, rarely show up on schedule. They show up on a random Tuesday when you were thinking about something else entirely.
The life you are working toward is not somewhere off in the distance. It is already happening, and the question is whether you are paying attention.
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Greene
I used to wait out storms. Staying dry and avoiding inconvenience seemed like the smart move.
Then a close friend of the family was diagnosed with an aggressive terminal cancer. Not long after, I was standing under an overhang watching it rain, doing what I always did, waiting for it to stop so I could get on with things.
I don’t know exactly what triggered it, but he came to mind. This man who had done everything right, who had plans and people who needed him, was now spending his days fighting for more time. Time to do ordinary things. Walk outside. Feel the weather change. Stand in the rain if he wanted to.
I stepped out from under that overhang and walked into it.
It sounds small. It was small. But something shifted in how I think about waiting for the right conditions. Discomfort is not always a signal to stop. Sometimes it is just rain. And the life you are putting off until conditions improve is the same life someone else is fighting to hold onto a little longer.
“A man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” — Muhammad Ali
At 20, you think you know who you are. You have values, opinions, and a strong sense of what is right and wrong. There is also a harder edge to it, a certainty that has not yet been tested.
What you don’t have yet is time under tension. You have not watched your beliefs get challenged over decades or had to adjust when life refuses to follow your expectations.
Time refines your perspective. Not your core principles, but how you apply them. You start to realize that most people are not simply wrong. They are dealing with their own version of life that you cannot fully see.
If your views have not evolved, then you have not really grown. You have just accumulated years.
“You could leave this life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” — Marcus Aurelius
I wear this one around my neck every day. It was a gift from my wife, and it serves as a constant reminder.
There is no guarantee of another chance to say something differently or to fix something later. When you take that seriously, it changes how you respond to people and situations. You become more deliberate and intentional. You think more carefully about what you say and how you say it. You pause before reacting and consider whether your response is something you would stand by.
The necklace has become somewhat of a fidget spinner to me. When I am focusing on a problem, I find myself mindlessly rubbing the charm through my shirt or moving it back and forth along the chain. As I think through what would be the right response and the right emotional level, I am preoccupied with a guide to the solution sitting literally right there in my fingers. The irony of that mindless action is not lost on me when I come back to reality.
“Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
This perspective came to me later than it should have.
It is easy to assume that other people are simply in your way or being difficult. A friend once gave me a different way to look at it. The person who cuts you off may be on the way to see a loved one for the last time. The person moving slowly may have just received bad news and is trying to figure out what to do next. You do not know what is going on in their life.
That does not mean you excuse everything, but it does mean you can approach people with more patience. I am not perfect at it, but I have learned to extend more grace than I used to. Most people are carrying something you cannot see.
These are not listed in order of importance, but in the order they became important in my life.
Looking back, these are not six separate ideas. They are a single way of moving through the world. It’s a reminder to keep evolving and to give things a fair shot instead of protecting myself with excuses. It’s about being present and intentional with the people I love and extending a little more grace to the strangers I meet. More than anything, it’s the realization that life is happening right now, whether the conditions are perfect or not.
These are simple ideas, but they take time to understand and more time to apply. I have had six decades to work on it. I hope you get the time to do the same.
Here’s to whatever comes next.
Cheers to 60!