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Confronting “Who will look out for me when I’m old” compelled me to learn everything I could about self-care and aging well. I logically thought through the hurdles of aging alone to make better choices and take responsibility for my future. I created a framework for aging well today and into the future and am sharing it with you.
Ten Focus Areas:
There are ten focus areas in my framework. Rate your satisfaction for each of these from 1-5 as they exist for your life today (1 being very dissatisfied to 5 extremely satisfied.)
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Focus area
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How satisfied are you with:
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Your rating (1-5)
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Health/Fitness
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Understanding your family health history, managing your own health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle with a good diet and exercise?
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Housing / Location
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Where do you live? Is it close to family / friends, healthcare, and airports? Is it affordable and in your ideal climate?
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Family / Friends / Connections
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Social life with connections to friends, family and community?
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Community Support
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Your support network where you help others and they help you?
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Life Purpose
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Your sense of life purpose and finding meaning in life?
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Faith / Spirituality
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Your faith and spirituality?
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Transportation / Mobility
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Your ability to get around by walking, driving or taking public transportation?
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Finances
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Your savings, budgeting and ability to live within your means?
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Legal Matters
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Your legal and financial affairs and how they are organized, documented, and shared with your proxies?
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Fun / engagement
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Your quality of living a fun, joyous and engaged life?
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Take action
Now, pick one thing to improve--ideally one of the areas which you are most dissatisfied with or concerned about. What does it look like? What is your prediction if nothing changes? What are the variables that influence your success? Describe what you want the issue to be or to look like in 6 months and in one year? List the action steps you’re willing to commit to in order to have it.
When addressing the plan approach it by:
Creating a Possibilities Mindset:
People are trained to focus on problems when making decisions. But ultimately planners need to see possibilities. Start by asking, “What’s the possibility that I see in this situation?” Visualize what you want. Remaining vigorous and healthy requires intention. Know that as you age, health is the most prized possession.
Leaning into your strengths
Having the self awareness of where you are strong and where you have areas of development will help your action plan. Lean into your strengths and find support where you have weaknesses.
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Your Strengths
- What do I do well?
- What’s unique about me?
- Where do I excel?
- Examples: Resourceful, adaptable, manage money well, self-directed, and resilient.
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Your Weaknesses
- What areas in life are underperforming and why?
- What could improve?
- What resources are needed?
- Examples: Low quality of life, unsatisfying friendships, poor budgeter, and unfulfilling relationships.
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Identify what you don’t want:
If you ask, “what will make me happy,” you’ll be confused.
Instead, think about what makes you unhappy, and then about how you can create a life that avoids as many of those dissatisfactions as possible.
Know Your Risks
Complete the full Life Plan Assessment.
Once the assessment is taken, you have a strong sense of the risks you face later on. This gives you a leg up on rectifying the challenges long before they cause real havoc in the future.
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