Plan – Dave Glardon

What Else You Got Planned?

January 6, 2023 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope your day is starting off well.

The first week of 2023 is just about behind us, and I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Getting back to work is always a challenge, especially if you had time off over the holidays. I gave serious thought to early retirement. My wife said no. She won.

But I just turned 65, and that day is out there. Like most people, my body, mind, and bank account are not in complete agreement on when it should happen. After 50 years in the work force, I’m thinking my body may win. It certainly won’t be my brain.

I know my retirement will involve some kind of ongoing income. Social Security will buy gas, and my 401k will cover one health emergency. If the “emergency” is a flu shot. Beyond that, I need a little extra. Anyone know how much Walmart greeters make?

And I’m not alone in this. Most of us will need that extra boost to keep from moving in with the kids. Sure, I know people who think they’ve got it under control. In other words, they’re delusional. And I’ve met others who think retirement planning means putting their own numbers on the lottery ticket.

None of us knows when retirement will begin or end. We can plan, and we may even hit our target date. But life can change in an instant, and all those plans go right out the window. Accidents happen. Companies fail. And that Nigerian prince may have no intention of coughing up the cash. Just sayin’.

Those of you who have been with me for a while have heard these words – dig the well before you get thirsty. The time to come up with an alternate plan is not while you’re laid up in the hospital or just got your severance notice. That’s the time to fall back on Plan B, not invent it.

The reality is most of us will make it to retirement without any catastrophic life-altering event. So what? Have you ever heard anybody complain that they have too much money? If so, send them my way. I can make that problem go away in an instant. So can fate.

Our future is what we make of it. Expand your options today, and you can enjoy the ride tomorrow. Opportunity is out there, just waiting for you to make the next move. You can pick the one you want today, or let fate choose it for you. I know my preference. What’s yours?

That’s all for now. Enjoy your day and have an awesome weekend!

Dreams Don’t Always Get Better With Time

March 26, 2021March 26, 2021 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope your day is off to a nice start.

When people visit places they’ve never been, there’s usually some unique attraction, something in particular they really want to see or experience. In San Antonio, I wanted to see the Alamo. In New Orleans, it was the river. Okay, and Bourbon Street. You have to do that once, and once was enough. Now that we’re in Arizona, my wife’s greatest ambition is to see a roadrunner.

Yes, we could have done that in just about any zoo, not to mention Saturday morning cartoons. But there’s something about seeing one trotting alongside the road without a care in the world, not even the coyote. Yes, I watched way too much TV as a kid.

I’ve seen roadrunners on previous visits. They’re not like the cartoon. If that’s your only exposure, you’d expect something as big as ostrich and faster than Superman. They’re more like an anorexic chicken with abnormally long legs. Still, fun to watch as a dust devil approaches across the desert. I’ve seen them, too. Just not Taz.

I remember on the drive out here, as we were heading through barren mountains and desert, my wife commented that she didn’t know any place like that really existed. She’s seen mountains before, but they were covered with trees. She’s seen sand, but it was on a beach. And I’m not sure she’s ever seen a real cactus before. Not unless somebody planted it.

Sometimes it’s the simple pleasures that mean the most. I remember driving through Yellowstone National Park, and an RV passed in the opposite direction. In the windshield, there were three kids sitting on the dash (yes, no seatbelts), their eyes alight with amazement. Right then, I decided I want to do that with my own grandkids someday.

Dreams begin at the most unexpected times. We see or hear something, and it sparks a flame. The more we focus on that experience, the stronger the flame grows. Do it enough, and it becomes a roaring fire. But like a fire, it has to be fed. We can’t just dream of something once and expect it to thrive. We have to keep adding fuel to the fire.

Part of that fuel is easy – imagination and pictures. Put those two together and the dream begins to take on a life of its own. Feed the fire, and it begins to feel real. It’s no longer just something you want to do, but something you can actually see yourself doing. Reach that point, and you’re one plan away from making it happen. All that stands in your way is action.

The problem then becomes, when? You know what you want to accomplish. You can see yourself doing it. You have a plan. You know what needs to be done. But when? A goal is a dream with a plan and an expiration date. Okay, a deadline. If you miss a deadline, you can always try again. Expiration dates are a little more permanent. Especially with yogurt.

And here’s the thing. Expiration dates aren’t always what’s printed on the packaging. Sometimes it comes a lot sooner than it was supposed to. Maybe you left it sitting out too long, or maybe the package wasn’t completely sealed. Next thing you know, you’re hugging the commode. Especially with yogurt.

It’s pretty much the same with our dreams. We always think there’s time, and it’s always after some life-changing event. “After I get a good job.” “After I pay off these student loans.” “After we start a family.” “After the kids are in school.” “After the kids are grown.” “After we pay off the house.” “After I retire.” Have I missed any?

Well, if we’re lucky, we get to make those choices. But life sometimes has plans of its own. One day you’re driving to work with that dream in the back of your mind, and next thing you know a dump truck takes your spot in the road. Or the doctor calls with unwelcome news, or your body just says, “That’s it – we’re old. Fake it all you want, I’m done playing.”

Some plans should be put on hold, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make them possible now. Besides age or time or whatever life-changing event you’re waiting on, what else needs to be in place to make your dream come true? Odds are money is part of it. And you can get started on that today. They have these things they call banks, and money has no shelf life.

And if there’s no reason for putting your plans on hold other than some sense of honorable self-deprivation, then make it happen. If you’ll enjoy something when you’re 65, you’ll enjoy it that much more now. You already have the dream. All that stands in your way is action. And unlike time or life’s twists and turns, that’s the one thing you really can control.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

What’s Stopping You Now?

November 25, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start.

I finally got some things accomplished this weekend that I’ve been wanting to do. Okay, I should say my grandson got something accomplished for me. I paid him, so it’s fair. I like having outdoor lights for Christmas, but I don’t like climbing a ladder fifty-two times to hang them. He’s still young enough to get on the roof. And, he’s still more likely to bounce if he falls. Voila! Problem solved.

I normally try to get the lights up a little earlier, when it’s still reasonably warm. I just don’t turn them on until the week of Thanksgiving. And I’ll turn them off at the start of the New Year. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be coming down. I’m the guy who leaves the lights up until Easter. Sorry, there’s something about ladders and ice on the ground that gives me the willies.

There are some jobs we can do before they actually need to be done. Hanging outdoor lights is one of them. Though I did read a news article about a family that received a citation from their homeowner’s association for putting out decorations a couple of weeks early. I think that one falls under the heading of “get a life.” If somebody else’s celebration bothers you that much, look the other way.

But most things happen in real time and we have to respond and adapt. Sure, we can plan our work week, at least in terms of when we have to be at work and when we hope to come home. Starting time is always pretty well set in stone, but the workday doesn’t always end at a set time. That’s just part of the job. Somehow, it never seems to work that way with lunch breaks. Go figure.

When you really think about it, there are very few things in life we actually plan. For most of us, if we even have a calendar, there’s not much in it other than birthdays, anniversaries, and vacations. My wife keeps everything in her phone calendar, which means I don’t have to. At least not for anything that involves both of us. But thank God the doctor’s office calls to remind me of my appointments.

I guess the point is, we pretty much live day to day. We take things as they come, and handle the immediate needs as they arise. The rest goes into a bucket that we dip into any time we have a few minutes on our hands and there’s nothing good on TV. Seems that happens a lot more these days. The Forrest Gump channel plays the same movie all week. All that changes are the commercials.

The problem with that approach is we never seem to dig deep enough in that bucket to find the things that will bring us closer to our dreams. Unless working until you’re 80 is part of your dream, and in that case, knock yourself out. But if there are other things you want, maybe a little earlier in life, at some point you’ll need to do something about it.

We handle the important things because we don’t have any other choice. Some things just won’t be ignored. It’s the things that can be ignored that keep us from enjoying the life we desire. “I’ll get to it tomorrow.” “Next week.” “After the holidays.” If any of this sounds familiar, welcome to the club. We all do it to some extent. And to the extent that we drag our feet, our dreams slip further away.

Only you can decide which of your dreams are important and how much you’re willing to do to achieve them. But they’ll always be just a passing thought or a picture on the refrigerator until you dig down into that bucket and get busy. And the sooner you do, the sooner you’ll be living those dreams. Focus on the goal and don’t let anything stand in your way. Least of all, yourself.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

The Best Plans Are the Ones That Result in Action

November 14, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start.

How many times during the day do you do something completely off the cuff, with no plan at all other than to get it done? You visualize the end product, and just dive in, figuring things out as you go. I used to do that with woodworking all the time. I never worked from a set of plans. I’d just imagine what I wanted to build, then head to the shop and start sawing boards. Okay, I measured first.

We have an Amish-style clock hanging by the front door, made of cherry that I bought with no concept of what I planned to do with it. I just liked the wood. It was about this time of year, and I came up with the idea of making my wife a clock for Christmas. Of all the things I ever built, that one is my favorite. I love the way cherry ages with time.

I can look at that clock and see every mistake I made along the way. There weren’t many, because I put my best effort into it. But there was a little sapwood on the top piece that never aged like the rest, and I always planned to put another top piece on it. When I told my wife, she dared me to touch anything. She loves it just the way it is, and I’m not sure she could find a single mistake if she looked for it. She only sees the beauty, and the love with which it was made.

So, take it down a notch. Instead of thinking of the great creations you can make that will leave other people in awe, think of the simple things you do every day that require nothing more than a solid effort on your part. You could plan every step from start to finish, but planning just fills up an otherwise clean sheet of paper. Nothing happens until you get up and get to work.

And most things are really that simple. Just get started, and the rest will flow until the job is complete. It’s that first step that always seems to get in the way. Maybe it’s procrastination, or maybe it’s other legitimately important priorities. But until we carve out the time and actually get started, it’ll be just a passing thought.

If you have to write anything on paper, let it be a checklist of things you plan to do. And as you write that list, do it with the commitment that you won’t go to bed until everything on the list is done. A speaker at our last conference referred to that as “earning your pillow.” And let me tell you, nothing feels better than snuggling up in bed at night knowing everything you planned to do is done.

It’s easy to do the easy things. Grab a sandwich on the way to work instead of making one at home. Send a few emails. Pick up the extra shoes by the front door and put them away. Wipe down the stove. Go to the drive-thru to pick up a prescription. We can find all kinds of time to fill our day. But do you find the same time to do the things that really matter?

Earn your pillow. Make a list and commit to it. Check things off instead of crossing them off. You’ll probably find more than enough time if you just get busy instead of thinking about it. Prioritize your list and tackle the big ones first. That way, when you run out of steam later in the day, all that’s left is to pick up those shoes and wipe down the stove.

Do that, and you’ll find yourself accomplishing much more than ever before and moving closer to your goals with each passing day. Procrastination will become a thing of the past, and success will become a natural part of life. Then all you have to do is dream a little bigger and see what you can accomplish next.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!