How to Create a Life Well Lived
Whatever your age, in this book I will challenge you to re-evaluate your life for the better. To ask yourself deeper more powerful questions about how you spend your time on earth. To think clearly about how you prioritize the things in life that are most important to you. To make changes and take actions that will enhance your experience, friendships and general enjoyment of life. To live with a passion, you might have forgotten is even there…
Four of My Close Friends Never Saw Their 50th Birthday's
I was lucky in a strange sort of way in that one of my best friends died when I was in my early 30’s. He was a world-class athlete and only 42 years old. It quickly brought home to me how fickle life can be at an age when few people think of death. Most of us pretty much take our lives and our health for granted until we get ill or someone close to us dies. Since Dave’s death 30 years ago three more of my good friends one man and two ladies have also died of various forms of cancer before, they were 50. Randy, Trish and Donna all had a whole lot of life still in them. Only Randy smoked, the rest had a healthy lifestyle and just got a bad draw in the gene pool. There is not much you can do about that except get constant check-ups and try and nip it in the bud.
Even when the prognosis was fatal none of them expected to die. Two were convinced their faith in God would save them, the other that natural healing could do the job. All were making big plans for their future “when they got better.” The future never came. Donna never got to see Hawaii, although we practically begged her to go, even offering frequent flyer miles and hotels to make it easy.
Too many great people die with the life still in them. While there is little, we can do with the winds of fate we can make sure we get more joy, experience and adventure in our lives. As Jon Bon Jovi so eloquently said, “I don’t want to live forever I just want to live while I’m alive!”
WHAT GOES INTO
A life well lived?
Obviously, the answers to this important question vary tremendously. There is no right or wrong answer, but many people settle for a full life experience far less than they are capable of attaining. I am not trying to say that my way is a better way what I aim to do is get you thinking about the possibilities again. To ask better questions, take better actions and add more meaning, experience and color to your life!
“When the sun rises it rises for everyone” - Cuban Proverb
Our lives are a large collection of hours, days, weeks and months one right after the other. The sun rises, the sun sets, and it rises again. For most people the days simply came and went, perhaps with them longing for the weekend, their next vacation or retirement. Thinking that over time they might be happier, fitter, financially successful or lucky enough to get a big break. Essentially most people are sleepwalking through life as if they don’t have all that much say in the matter. The fact is the lives we chose to live will be determined by how we choose to spend each day. The same day comprised of 24 hours for everyone regardless of creed, color, geography or talent.
How I spend those days is a question I ask myself more and more frequently now that I’m on the flipside of 55 years old. The older you get the more likely you are to look back on your life and examine it. You start asking yourself if you made the best use of your time on earth, but it is never too early to start considering what it means to live a good life. The younger you are when you start focusing on making sure you have a well-lived life the more time you will have to make decisions that will leave you feeling like you succeeded.
Life has a way of speeding up as your 30’s give way to your 40’s and 50’s. Your 50‘s has a way of freeing you up and tying you down, a home, kids, college, your job, aging parents. The carefree winging it of your early years gives way to far more careful planning, caution and hesitation before you can embark on any new adventure, or does it? For me it was just the opposite. I threw caution to the wind and am having the best time of my life. With the right questions, the right motivation and a few simple changes in the way you look at life maybe you can too? The sooner we accept we are all masters of our own destiny and start to live consciously the life we want to live the happier we will be.
The main idea of this book is to get you to think. I’m not trying to change you to my point of view, just to challenge you to reevaluate what you have done, where you are at and where you are going. My only goal is to help you maximize your time on earth. To experience all the thrills and adventures possible before you, like every one of us draws your last breath. To do this, the best place to start is not at the beginning but the end.
ONE THING I PROMISE
By the end of this book you will not look at your life the same way again...
While the book is packed with stimulating ideas, it’s an easy read with no chapter longer than 3 pages. To back up my point of view, I have dug deep into the biographies of some very accomplished people and quote them at the start of each chapter. I have added their pictures as well to give additional meaning to them and provide additional stimulation to you.
About The Author, Andrew Wood
Born in Oxford, England and growing up in the midland county of Shropshire, Andrew Wood immigrated to America in 1980 to pursue a career as a professional golfer. Unfortunately, lack of talent held him back and he accidentally found himself running a small karate school in Southern California. After struggling to survive for 18 months as a small business owner he decided to focus all his attention on marketing. This focus soon paid off and he increased his income to six figures while still in his twenties. His initial interest in marketing turned into a passion and he quickly turned the single school into a national franchise of over 400 units.
After selling out of the karate business in the late 90’s he moved to Florida where he founded Legendary Marketing, a business designed to combine his passion for golf and travel with his marketing expertise.
Legendary quickly built a name for itself in the golf industry with innovative websites, social media, and online campaigns. Over the last decade, Wood has worked with over 1500 golf clubs, resorts and developments, in over twenty countries. His clients include properties in the USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Russia, the Caribbean, and Morocco to name just a few.
Author of over 40 books including; Million Dollar Laptop, Cowboy Wisdom, Cunningly Clever Marketing, Cunningly Clever Selling, Cunningly Clever Entrepreneur, The Golf Marketing Bible, The Hotel Marketing Bible, Confessions of a Golf Pro and many more. He is considered the world’s leading expert in golf, resort and real estate marketing and spoken to thousands of audiences worldwide on this and other topics from his books.
A pioneer in internet marketing his creative talent, out of the box ideas and copywriting skills are at the core of his expertise. Regarded as one of the top marketing minds in the world his ability to generate leads and increase income! In his spare time he travels the world, plays golf & tennis, writes books and occasionally races cars!
