People in their 40s need long-term goals. Instead of goals for this year, I tried thinking about goals for the next 10 years

Hello, this is Hagiwara.
It is quite a bit past the time to call this a New Year's greeting, but since I tried thinking about goals for the next 10 years instead of "goals for this year" at the start of the year, I would like to talk about that.

The reason I decided to think about long-term goals again

1.
When I looked back, I realized that I had come reasonably close to the goals I set in my early to mid-30s.
I feel like I was able to get this far because I set goals, but I also felt that because I set goals that would lead me here, I only got this far.

By the way, looking back while writing this, I feel like I mostly achieved what I was thinking about in my mid-20s by the time I was in my mid-30s.

Thinking about it that way, setting long-term goals is important after all.

2.
Once you reach your mid-40s, you face what is known as a mid-life crisis, and you feel various things you didn't feel when you were young, or conversely, you become unable to think about things you could think about naturally when you were young.

Actually, for the past two or three years, I have been making excuses to myself like
"There is no point in thinking about long-term things. It is important to work 200% on the work right in front of you!"
and I had been leaving it alone while vaguely realizing that I could no longer see my long-term goals.

I feel like that has been having a slow, body-blow effect on me, so I thought it would be really bad if I didn't organize things here once.

Living on inertia means a few years can pass by easily in the blink of an eye—that is the scary thing about being an old guy.

By the way, according to Wikipedia-sensei, the "psychological crisis" that appears in middle age includes the following.

Hmm.
Some of these do not apply at all, but I have a strong sense of some of them.
I repeat, some of these do not apply at all.
How about you all?

Unexpected discovery

Since this was a task I had left alone for several years because it seemed difficult, it was indeed challenging and did not progress easily, but after spending several days writing things down, I finally began to see some keywords.
Well, I thought about and refined these many times in my 30s, so I guess this is about right.

By the way, I had an unexpected discovery during this process.

Actually, I realized that I had completely lost the obsessionsand philosophies that shaped me when I was young.
No, to be precise, I hadn't even realized that I had such obsessionsor that those obsessionswere what shaped me in the first place.
That is because, at the time, they were just too natural for me.

It seems that as I got older, my environment changed and my position in the organization changed, so there were fewer scenes where I could push forward the points of obsession that were natural to me. As I repeated that, it seems my way of thinking changed as well.

Having your own personal standards is a source of ideas and inspiration, as well as a motivation for action. I think the reason middle-aged men stop having ideas or lose their drive is that these standards fade away.

How to set long-term goals

Even if I don't write about this, a quick search will reveal that the world is overflowing with various methods.
If you search for "how to set long-term goals," Google will return 5.85 million results.
You can try various things and choose what suits you, and I don't think you need to pick just one; you can combine the ones that seem good.

In my case, I mix and match a wide variety of inputs from sources I can no longer even identify, so it's hard to explain. But rather than reading half-baked internet columns, I think it's better to return to this book, which is probably already gathering dust on your bookshelves.

Wow, re-reading that is a lot of work... for those who feel that way, I think this one is fine too.

Now, while the method of setting goals is important, I realized something unexpectedly significant while trying to think about long-term goals in my mid-40s, so it seems more valuable to record it (for my future self as well).

The key points when setting long-term goals should naturally differ depending on your age.
Methods you previously thought didn't suit you might be worth trying again a few years later.

For example, in your 20s, there are many things you can't do, but there is also a lot of room for growth. So, it's easy to think in terms of skills—like what kind of person you want to become—or to think about role models, such as wanting to earn a certain amount or wanting to be like someone else.
I think it's perfectly fine to be worldly or materialistic, and I also feel it's better to be greedy and want everything rather than narrowing things down poorly.

By your 30s, you start to understand your own strengths and weaknesses to some extent, and you have more stakeholders other than yourself (partners, children, subordinates, etc.), so prioritizing and deciding what to compromise on—like working hard in this area but being moderate in that area—becomes important. Also, an abstract level where you express things with adjectives rather than specific nouns is just right. For example, instead of saying "I want to do X" or "I want to be X," it's more like "living in an XXX way" or "working in an XXX state."

The image is not to draw your destination or goal as a single point, but to set a rough direction, like facing toward this side.. As for role models, it's like highlighting only the parts of that person you are attracted to or want to emulate, such as "the way Mr./Ms. X does this."

Actually, when I thought about my career and life in my mid-30s, I couldn't set goals well and struggled immensely. I was quite lost, so I tried many things.

Among those, here are a few things that were good:
As mentioned above, I expressed specifically what it was that attracted me to my role models. I listed about 10 of these and evaluated myself on each one with a circle, triangle, or cross.

Also, when I was digging through old notes, it seems I was using this article as a reference in my 30s (I don't know who the author is).

And then, naturally, I did things like StrengthsFinder. This really brought out my characteristics in a scary way, lol.

Now, in your 40s, you finally become able to recognize your own shortcomings and weaknesses directly.
Wait, is that too late?
No, when you're young, don't you tend to think, "I'm going to overcome this weakness!"?
At least, that's how I was.

Once you can accept your shortcomings, weaknesses, and things you aren't good at, you naturally start to prioritize the perspective of how to live in a way that feels comfortable for you from now on. And when I tried to set aside the various entanglements that had increased with age and status, I was finally able to remember the
personal standards that are important to me.

At the same time, you shouldn't forget the spirit of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and since there are many constraints in terms of physical strength and time, you end up thinking very carefully about where to create your challenge points.
I'm sure the advice to think about what to stop doing has the same intent.

What's interesting is that it becomes a bit more concrete than in your 30s.
I think people feel anxious in their 30s, but it's actually a time when possibilities are still expanding, so I think it's better to leave some ambiguity.
However, by the time you reach your 40s, you realize that no matter how hard you try, some things just aren't possible, so I feel it's easier to move forward if you don't spread yourself too thin and instead focus on certain areas.
This by no means implies that it's useless to take on challenges in your 40s. It just means that while it's hard to turn weaknesses into strengths, it's more meaningful to think concretely about how to make the most of your existing strengths.

By the way, there's a common belief that once you hit your 40s, mental well-being becomes more important than money or material things, but frankly, you face more financial struggles in your 40s. When it comes to things like sending two children to private school, it's incredibly tough (speaking from personal experience).
That's exactly why it's super important to gain proper knowledge of personal finance and put it into practice while you're young.

Summary of things to keep in mind

・If you're just drifting through life as a middle-aged person, a few years will pass in the blink of an eye. No, seriously.
・You might have forgotten the particularities that were second nature when you were young. If they are particularities that are important for living your life in a way that is authentic and comfortable for you, then make sure to keep holding onto them.
・The key points for setting long-term goals differ significantly depending on your age, so it's natural that the way you set them should also differ. If you try setting long-term goals in a different way than you used to, you might succeed this time.

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