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management careers. There will be
foremen on the job sites and there
will be office personnel and laborers.
The crisis is far more likely to
arise if you demand a higher
responsibility than the one in whích
you can make the greatest contri–
bution . Maybe you have read or
heard of the humorous but oh-so–
true management principie ob–
served by Dr. Lawrence Peter. He
calls his "law" the Peter Principie,
which, simply stated, is, "In a híer–
archy every employee tends to rise
to his leve! of incompetence."
Wise is the man who achieves his
maximum and has the good sense
lo know if he rises one step further
he will not succeed.
Thus he can spend his latter
years of productivity drawing on
the weaJth of his experience. There
is no need to suffer the crisis of not
achieving the presidency he never
should have had anyway.
That leads us to the next way to
combat mid-life crisis. Realize that
at age 40 or 50, you still have a quar–
ter century or more of extremely
productive years ahead. You are not
ready to be put out to pasture just
because you have reached sorne pre–
determined age that is more than
halfway through life.
There is no need to worry about
the brilliant young executive who is
rapidly rising past you. Maybe he is
truly brilliant. Maybe bis contribu–
tion to the job or company may be
greater than yours. So what?
You have your wife, your grown
children, your elderJy parents who
all !ove you. You have many years
of productive service remaining.
lt's time to be a "young" grand–
father. Bounce those grandkids on
your knee. Take them fishi ng, hik–
ing, skiing.
Then you can join in the discus–
sions about mid-life crisis with:
"Crisis? What crisis? Who has a
mid-life crisis?"
Always Looking Ahead
Another common element to the
mid-life crisis I found was that so
many people a]ways look back on
where they have been-on what
they accomplished, or more, what
they did not accomplish.
The crisis results from realizing
that one will not achieve sorne goal
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that may have included reaching a
position, having status, earning a
large salary. Realizing these un–
realistic goals will likely not be met
can cause sorrow and despair.
Life is too short to look back.
Don't always dwell on what you
wished you would have done.
Instead, why not take a reaJistic
look at tomorrow. Set some goals
you can reach-short-term goals
AND
long-term goals.
The best example I can cite in
this regard is
Plain Truth
editor in
chief, Herbert W. Armstrong.
Fifty years ago last month Mr.
Armstrong handcranked the first
issue of
The Plain Truth
off an old
mimeograph machine. He was then
41 years old. Anyone who has seen
that issue might chuckJe a little at
even calling it a magazine. Today
The Plain Truth
is one of the high–
est quality and largest mass-circu–
lation magazines in the world.
Mr. Armstrong constantly looks
ahead. "The only reason to look
back," he states, "is to learn from
the mistakes one makes. The first
law of success is to establish the
right goal." (By the way, you might
like to write for bis free booklet
The Seven Laws of Success
if you
haven't al ready read it.)
Not long ago, Mr. Armstrong
with a group of department heads
in Pasadena was reviewing the past
50 years. He said, "You know,
men, l think I have more work yet
to accomplish than all that has been
done the past 50 years."
Of itself, that may not surprise
you. But Mr. Armstrong is 91 years
old. And he looks forward to what
yet must be done even more than to
what has been done in the past.
Is there nota message in that?
Mr. Armstrong has worked hard,
hasn't worried about what others
accomplished, learned to build his
life on the standards of God's laws,
and looks for what must be done
tomorrow.
Face it. You will reach middle
age. You wi ll have ups and downs.
You may even have a crisis or two.
But middle age is not a disease.
You don't die from it. You simply
live through it. Like you lived
through teenage. Or your 30s.
When you reach those years–
enjoy them, don't endure them.
Don't let life pass you by! o
The PLAIN TRUTH