We are running a marathon all the time yet unaware of it.  In a marathon, runners have to learn how to fuel their body correctly, understand there is room at the finish line for everyone, carry as little as possible, enjoy the silence of tuning into one’s body, and let other’s pass you by.  Not everyone is a finish-first marathon runner.  A runner has to train physically and mentally, set goals and over come difficulties.  Some runners even have to recover as their bodies are just not of the marathon type.  Life is similar.  We have to learn how to fuel our bodies, minds, spirits and pocket books in manners consistent with our own goals and aspirations.  We have to learn what’s appropriate to carry into the future and what to let go.  Tuning into our bodies helps us to understand what we are capable of and what we have to let go of as far as seeing others succeed emotionally, physically and financially.  As a marathon runner manages their bodies, minds and races, we have to manage our business to achieve what we set out to do.

I recently had the opportunity to see some retirement properties with some family we would like to retire with.  As my brother-in-law Jason indicated, preparing for retirement is similar to a marathon.  “You don’t want to get to the start of the race and realize you didn’t not do the training required!’  This applies to both laying out our road map for what we want to do in retirement as well as developing the resources to make it through the marathon of retirement when there are limited resources.  “There are some ways to manage the resources when they are no longer coming in.  We have to find what is right for our particular situation!”

During the race to retirement,

“We all have to tweak our approach as we go along to ensure we make it and create what we have ultimately envisioned.  On the final approach to retirement it should be clear what adjustments are needed to make it to the finish line of our careers and the starting line of retirement.  We can work a bit longer or shorter or adjust what retirement looks like to match our available resources.”  

I couldn’t have said it better.  Managing the biz of you is about looking forward to what we want and creating the resources enabling us to bring it about.  This applies to creating the career we want in our lives or our retirement to see us to the end of our days.  It also applies to our more tactical situations like finishing high school, college, getting promotions or switching careers.  Managing the biz of you is critical to create the lives we will be happy with.