Since my intentions to write an article everyday was way outta the galaxy of what is possible I thought I would be more informal and simply throw down thoughts and status rather than trying to make every post a literary masterpiece. With practice perhaps we’ll mature but for now, keeping it simple.

Big things are happening. We’ll be making “The Move” in about two months. Job on the other end? Maybe? We’ll see how that turns out. I’m not too concerned about what I am going to be doing when I get there. I’m more interested in getting into a shape more likely to be successful negotiating the trails and natural adventures that NM will have to offer.

I find that Crossing 50 is all about change. Life changes, body changes, priority changes, outlook changes. Looking back has no real meaning. Looking forward is full of promise. But more and more I find I am trying to make the most of today. Looking back, I idled a lot in my youth. Playing games rather than creating them. In fact, a quick check of the Steam dashboard shows that I have played, in my lifetime, over 1539 hours of Civilization alone. What?!?!? Yes, almost a full time job’s worth of a single game! Yikes!

Let’s take a look at the opportunity cost of this single series of choices. Say the average price for one of the 6 versions and expansion packs for Civ is $20 bucks. I think I bought 3 expansion packs so I spent $180 bucks over bout 20 years the game has been around. Now If I has taken that $180 and invested it in Apple Inc. in 2002, I’d be sitting on just shy of $20,000. Whoa!

But wait, it gets more interesting. If you take the 1539 hours and multiply it by say $50/hour as a rough estimate the opportunity cost of playing a game and earning $0 versus earning during that time is roughly $77,000. Double WHOA!

Now you say “but didn’t you enjoy playing the game and didn’t that bring you value?” Well sure, but in retrospect what do I have show for that time? Some of it was pure stress relief. And yes I learned a little world history I didn’t know before. But in the end, I have 8 CDs that are obsolete (version 6 was bought online). That’s about it. For an opportunity cost of about $100K. Triple WHOA!

Looking forward, I see all sorts of possibilities, adventures and new experiences I can jump in on. Different work, different cultures, grandparenting, volunteering, trails to hike, rivers to fish, places to go. So much, but in none of my future thoughts is there the thought of playing Civilization or any other game. I mean it sounds kinda weird to think “yes I look forward to sitting on my ass and playing a computer game” as my first choice anywhere in the future. Interesting isn’t it?

Recently Marianna and I did play Civ for nearly a whole day. We made a point of interspersing value activities around the house and we enjoyed each others company and competition. So it was time well spent for us. Besides, it was snowing like crazy and it was a good inside day. It was a conscience, value-based decision to spend time in the game with each other.

As I Cross 50, the value of my time and effort is becoming more and more important to me. I can’t regret the time spent staring at a computer in the past. And there will be unexpected snow days in the future. The only thing I can do is really control the value of today. How do I live today to the fullest? How do I master the day to make myself better, my family better and my friends and colleagues better — TODAY. How can I make today lead to the future vision I see? Creating value in other peoples’ lives as well as mine. That is where I am at Crossing 50. Definitely different from the younger me. Where playing was mainly idle time, $100K worth.

Where are you in your journey? Are you living in the past, letting it drive your today value decisions? Do you wake you regretting yesterday and promising you will do better tomorrow? Do you have a pan for your today?