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Death usually causes us to reflect if the death is of someone close.

As many may already know my Father in Law passed away last week and we held his funeral on Tuesday. Hence no posts for a couple of days. I did try but there were so many things to do and people to look after, I started about 4 or 5 posts but just couldn’t finish them. Apologies.

But Dad’s passing has caused me to reflect on his life and what I am doing with mine. He was 84. I am 44. I have 40 years to go.

Forty years is, in fact, a lifetime to achieve some considerable things. Even if I am staring from zero (which I’m not). My business life only started effectively at 18, so based on that I have only lived (business-wise) 26 years. Miles away from the 40 that are left.

Dad was born in Pianella, Italy in 1923.

• He wasn’t educated the way we know education.
• He didn’t blog
• He didn’t surf the web
• He didn’t drive a car in his latter years and;
• He didn’t own a mobile phone.

Yet, in all of that, he was a very wise man. He knew how to pay off his house, live debt free, develop very close friends who always dropped by and had good conversations. He was a man who knew how to have fun without spending thousands or having new toys. He grew his own vegetables, made his own sausages, drank home made wine and kept his family close.

Somehow, the broader world wasn’t as important as those close to him. He lived a very simple but very full life. He visited Italy 9 times since he arrived here (Australia) in 1956 and always brought home Italian goods, while he left Australian goods with his family back in Italy. He was very generous for someone who, from appearances, didn’t have much. He was actually very rich in a currency that, perhaps, isn’t as common anymore.

So I’m reflecting on my last 26 years and my next 40. Brian Tracy has a great quote that goes something like: "Those who do not think about the future , cannot have one!" and that is the essence of our future. Every action begins with a thought. So, if we don’t have thoughts about our future - crystal clear thoughts - the future may turn out as what everyone else wants for us.

And I’m begiining to really understand that I create my future and, from this moment I am responsible for my very next experience. I control that and I control my response to the experience itself. It means that I can choose to experience something and then evaluate it. Did I like it and did I like it enough to experience it again? If so, good. If not, what am I going to do to change it, improve it? I have 40 years to create the life I want.

Now, to many reading this, what I’m saying isn’t a "light-bulb" moment, it’s more a "duh!" moment. But knowing and doing really are two different things.

I have 40 years left to develop the life I want very much on purpose. And, if I don’t, I’ll be doing that on purpose too. Quite empowering if you let it get inside you.

Reflect on the life of someone you admire, living or dead. Allow time for their skills, knowledge and attributes to get inside you. What do you admire about them? What would you like to copy, assimilate into your life?

Your chosen person may be a father, a business leader or colleague, someone who has overcome great obstacles.

But don’t just reflect on the outcomes of their life. Reflect on what what might have had to bear to get there. What pains, disciplines, setbacks they had to go through. No one is an overnight success - unless you count 20 years as "overnight".

And, sometimes we all need to remember that it’s not the new things that always help us progress, sometimes it’s the small, little, time forgotten things that cause us to stop, re-think and then re-invent.

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