My most important fitness goal is to compete in the Olympics when I’m in my 90s.
Or some version of it.
The point isn’t the exact stage — it’s the standard I’m training toward. Pain-free. Full range of motion. Mobility intact. In my 90s and all the way there. That goal tells me exactly what training to say yes to and what to walk away from.
A friend asked me recently what my ideal life would look like, viewed backwards from my 90s. I realized that I didn’t have a clear answer, and that I need to sit down and paint the specifics over the weekend — then backcast them into today’s actions.
The things that matter most in our live take the longest to build.
Quality relationships. Specific achievements. Impact, service, legacy. These don’t happen in a quarter or a year. They compound over decades. If you show up for them over decades.
Writing a bestselling book. Making the Thinkers 50 (coaching edition). Becoming a millionaire. These are available to far more people than actually get there. Not because they’re untalented or have limitations they can’t overcome. Because most people won’t stay in the game long enough. Nor do they plan for decades.
Most successful people I know eventually arrive at the same conclusion: anything you really want is possible — just on a longer time horizon than you thought.
Bill Gates said it really well:
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
And yet. Almost nobody builds decade-long plans.
The ones who do? They get there — more often than not.
But it’s a small club. Most people talk about the long game and play the short one every day instead, hoping to get to their long-term plans once life gets less busy, which ends up being never or too late to do anything meaningful.
I made myself a rule a few years back: never chase anything that feels like it has to happen now or never. That urgency is almost always a signal — that you’ll be just fine with never. So skip the hassle and save time for what matters in a decade just as much.
Do you have a goal you’re willing to work on for a decade?
If yes — work on that. That kind of commitment is a signal. It tells you what actually matters to you.
Do you have a clear, precise ten-year goal? And are you putting time into it today?