2,000 Weeks

4,000 weeks... For those of us blessed with a average life expectancy that is about 77 years. The first thousand weeks we start out as babies and go thorough our childhood. Many of us are lucky to have someone taking care of us and people for the most part directing our paths.  

During the last 1,000 weeks we hopefully have moved through the primes of our lives building skills, hobbies, families, businesses and memories. We are then winding things down. In the end again if we are lucky having someone taking care of us again, just as when we were young.

This gives those lucky enough to live a full term life 2,000 weeks to live in a state where we should be at our mental and physical peak. Full of the vigor, energy and opportunity necessary to be able to make the biggest difference to both ourselves and each other. 

That's it, 2,000 weeks. Sound like a lot?? It isn't.... Think about how fast a week goes by. I'm writing this on a Sunday afternoon having just come in from taking the garbage cans out to the curb for pickup.  Oddly, that is how i measure a week and each time I am walking down the driveway to take them cans out it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the week has gone by.  Some better, more productive or fulfilling than others but all gone by much too quickly regardless. 

SNAP YOUR FINGERS ONCE PER SECOND. YOU WILL BE AT 2,000 SNAPS IN JUST OVER A HALF HOUR. THAT IS HOW FAST THE PRIME OF LIFE GOES BY. HOW ARE YOU SPENDING IT??

After spending the first 15 years of my career climbing the corporate ladder. Moving to 6 different states in 10 years and having pretty much the sole focus of my life be climbing rungs on a ladder I found myself relatively young in my mid 30's as a Sr Executive for a Billion dollar business. Having come from humble means I was proud of my perceived worldly success and the wealth and privilege that it brought me.  

At the same time I was slowly but surely losing my health, my good habits, my family, and my moral compass. Traveling over 20 days a month staring at a different hotel room ceiling every few days it dawned on me.....  2,000 weeks, that's it and I am already nearly halfway through them. WHAT AM I DOING????

Shortly thereafter personal and professional circumstances came to the point where that life was simply no longer sustainable. I exited my executive role and while I did not know what exactly my next chapter in life was going to look like, I knew it was going to be drastically different from the last one.  I set out on a path looking to help and serve others while at the same time becoming a principal of a local company in a similar industry that allows me to both give back and also pursue my traditional professional interests.

Over the last 5 years I've told the above story countless times either during speaking engagements, networking events, fundraisers or business meetings.  In these settings i'm regularly asked how did I end up where I am at doing what I am doing and my invariable response is a longer, more detailed version of the above story.

The purpose of this site is to share lessons learned (many the hard way) that have allowed me to get pretty good at doing what we all strive for: striking a work/life balance, having a strong relationship with your partner and family, becoming financially independent and secure, and most importantly truly learning to become not just "happy" but "content" (they are WAY different and we will explore that in coming weeks and months. We can ALL have it ALL, we just have to make sure we always keep in mind that if we are lucky life is about 4,000 weeks and our prime is 2,000. That is the 4k/2k mentaility.

I am not here to sell you anything, sign you up for anything or ask you for anything.  I obtain a great degree of satisfaction and reward by helping others grow and prosper. Also from receiving letters and messages from people sharing the huge changes in their lives. I hope you will join us here and not only will I hear from you in the future but I am sure to learn and grow myself as a result of our journey and I thank you in advance!

Robert John