He reached behind himself, pulled a tape measure off his desk, and held it up in front of me.

“Dave, your life is like this tape measure.”

The tape measure was a typical 25’ contractor-style measuring tape.  Nothing special about the tape measure itself.  I didn’t know where he was going with this, but then the lesson began…

“Let’s say every year of your life is one inch.  If you live to an average age, you could live to 85 years old.  Let’s assume for this exercise that you do just that.”

He then went on to look at how many active, productive years I really have left.  I’m now 54, turning 55 this year, so I have 30 inches left on the tape measure.  We can also assume that the pace and health of my life will gradually slow down and decrease over the last 10 years of my life – including my desire to do any extraordinary endeavours.

That left me with 20 inches, or 24% of my active life left.

We all know that health issues increase as we age.  Little things occur that we hadn’t even considered – “They happen to other people, not me.”   I’ve had an issue develop in the last year with my left knee cartilage that made walking difficult, squatting or kneeling painful, and skiing completely out of the question.  I have never had any issues with my left knee, then for no apparent reason, this develops.

We all have stories of people we know who have experienced heart attacks, cancer, strokes, tumors, cysts, kidney stones, and accidents of all sorts – you just never know what the future holds.

OK, stay with me here, this is not meant to scare or discourage anyone – this is all part of my friend’s lesson.  By the way, the one giving me this lesson was my accountant during our post year end annual meeting.

He told me his clientele tends to be business owners or very successful executives, and he has noticed something that many of them have in common.  He has noticed that they die with too much money.  They have labored throughout their lives to accomplish and accumulate, but have not necessarily taken the time to slow down, simplify and enjoy life.

Sadly what can often happen is a health crisis that forces you to slow down and simplify instead of being planned, proactive and intentional about slowing down and simplifying your life.  The commitment to accumulate overrides our commitment to acclimate to a new season of life.

Or as another 50-something entrepreneurial friend said to me, “When we’re staring at the backside of the mountain.”

This friend also shared with me a story of a friend of his, who at 53 had a heart attack.  Not one to be effusive in communicating his emotions, he realized he needed to tell this friend how much he meant to him.  “So I told him I loved him.” he shared.

The reality is, entering our 50’s is like entering into a new season of life.  Sure, we can keep our foot on the pedal driving forward at break neck speed, or we can be intentional about recognizing the new season we are in and begin to lead ourselves differently.  We can lead ourselves into a gradual transition into a slower pace, simpler structure, a more focussed social life, increased volunteering or philanthropy, increased recreational time, or innumerable other decisions about priorities that enable us to finish well.

The lesson that my accountant/friend had for me was simple: make sure you take time to live – you don’t need as much as you think.

I was on a call with a group of leaders from across Canada today.  One of my fellow leaders asked a simple, yet profound question worth investing time to answer:

“How will you measure success in 2017?”

Keeping in mind what’s left of your 85 inches – if you are blessed to live that long – and keeping in mind what you want people to say about you at the end of your days (your legacy), how would you answer that question?

How do you define success?  How do your loved ones define it for you?

What will you do with this inch?