We spend time planning where we want to go, but how often do we examine our ability to navigate getting there? GPS has made navigation easier since 1995. Now, to go from point A to point B – enter the addresses and go. However, navigation skills are more demanding when it comes to different events in our lives on a daily basis.
Below is a list of possible events that could be from your past, present, or future. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being poor to 5 being excellent, for each event, record your own rating of your navigation skill. I also believe navigation skills can improve as we go through life. Unfortunately, there is no GPS for life events.
- Career, whether employed or owning a business
- Life in general
- Family
- Faith
- Community
- Neighbors
- Education—yours and/or others
- Providing for your family over the long-term, if necessary
- Kids’ future
- Your future
- Retirement—yours, your spouse’s, or a beneficiary’s
- What’s next—career, family
- House/personal residence—changing needs as you age or as your family changes; secondary residence if applicable
- Technology’s impact on career, family, children’s entertainment; increasing expansion and complexity
- Interpersonal relationships—work, family, neighbors, church
- Diet and healthy eating—you and your family
- Professional network
- Health—yours and your family’s
- Benefits from your employer
- Transportation requirements—yours, spouse’s, children’s
- Spending—daily expenses, vacations, savings, and other needs
- Holiday travel—visits and increased stress
- Day-to-day demands—getting up before sunrise, preparing for work, commuting, getting kids to school, working at home or in the office, returning home, family responsibilities, children’s events and transportation, dinner, and repeating the routine
- Job loss
- Time
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Friends and friendships
- Aging
- Death
- Economic disruption
- Emergencies