Saturday was my dad’s 90th birthday. 90!!

I know I talk a lot about him, but this week he deserves it even more because he’s lived for nine full decades.

To honor the big milestone we all hope to reach one day, I spent the past few weeks putting together a tribute video.

It’s basically a compilation of short 1 or 2-minute videos from the various people in his life - his friends from our town in NJ, his colleagues at the hospital, his grandkids, anyone that might have a funny a story or memory to share.

I got a tribute video for my 50th birthday and it took me a few days to come up for air and stop crying (read: best gift ever. Why wait until you have a wedding or a funeral to hear from the ones who love you??)

So, as I gathered videos for my dad, I wanted to tell you this -

You should take a brief visit to your older self.

I know, the whole “you live one life” thing is cliché. And you likely already know you need to make the most of it.

But do you?

There’s something about a little time travel to your 90-year-old self that will jog you right into perspective on what really matters….and why there’s so much you can let go of and don’t need to worry about.

You can greet your older self by asking a few questions.

Questions like: “What are my most important memories?”

My guess is that you’ll say something along the lines of:

• “When I took that vacation with my family.”
• “When I launched my business.”
• “When I wrote my book.”
• “When my friend and I met for a long walk every Sunday.”
• “When I landed in name your country for the first time and felt transported.”

Your older self probably won’t say:

- “When I cleaned out my inbox!” (This still causes me stress for some reason).

And I can’t imagine you’ll hear:

- “When I got annoyed at my kids for not moving faster in the morning!” (I have let this particular stress go).

You can also ask your older self, “Who were the most important people in your life?”

Which should be followed by, “What matters in the long run?”

That second one will really help you let go of some negativity.

What I’m saying is that when you spend a lot of time with someone who is 90, you realize that we waaaaaay too often sweat the small stuff.

And we definitely don't play enough.

For some reason, it’s easy to let the mundane get in the way of spontaneity.

Maybe you choose to finish tasks rather than follow your Play Language and do more of that (in other words, if you’re a Thinker, do you read enough? If you’re a Mover, do you exercise enough? If you’re an Explorer, do you travel enough? And so on…)

This is all to say that I hope you make it to 90.

And I hope I can be one of the people convincing you that while 90 sounds old, it’s ironically short.

And in your short life, I want you to play more and make the most of it.

Your future video tribute will be filled with the stories.

Reminding you of what really matters.