Continuing with the whole getting back into shape is like real estate investing for retirement. This is where I insert something about Purposeful Planning. If you need a quick refresher, you can search the blog for that phrase, or listen to either of the two podcasts on the subject. (They’re on the right column.)
So what’s the first thing the Plan calls for? Knowing where you are now. And if you’re gettin’ back into shape, what’s the first thing you do? (I mean before you eat the ginormous steak dinner, cuz you haven’t really started yet. 
) You weigh yourself, and take some measurements.
What’s that? You don’t wanna weigh, cuz it’s depressing? And since you wear those 36″ Levi’s, you already know that measurement, right? Come on, stud. 
We’ve both seen guys who haven’t seen their feet in a couple presidential elections who fit into jeans way smaller than their waist. They’ve learned to wear them below their waist so they’ll actually zip up. They’re the guys suffering from the well known ailment, Dunlop Disease. Come on, don’t pretend you don’t know what that is.
Dunlop Disease is the likely diagnosis when your belly ‘done lops over your belt’.
You have to weigh and measure yourself to find out your current physical status. It gives you a clear idea of what needs to be done, and for how long. Same goes with your retirement plan. What’s your retirement gonna look like if you keep on doin’ what you’ve been doin’?
If in both cases you’re smiling ear to ear, then there’s no reason to change. If not…
Isn’t it amazing how some of us have the built-in ability to ignore facts and/or reality? This often leads to ignoring the truth.
This isn’t at all funny because denial is negatively impacting our lives, but we won’t even acknowledge that (usually) self-evident fact. Given enough time, the consequences can be devastating not only to us, but to loved ones.
Don’t believe me?
Are kids impacted when their daddy has a stroke or heart attack? Are kids, and grandkids impacted when Mommy and Daddy can’t afford to visit them because their retirement budget just can’t make it happen?
How in the world are you better off by not admitting you’re eating for two? At 48 years old, with a home and $39,500 in your 401(k), who are you fooling about looking forward to a grand retirement?
Where, in 1949 Boise?
I’ll show you denial.
How ’bout a guy who is well short of six feet tall, weighs 212, and thinks pretty soon he’ll begin to look a little overweight? For Heaven’s sake, his waist was over 41″! He was squeezing himself into 38″ pants. Yeah, that’ll fool ‘em. Geez, how downright stupid can we make ourselves look? How can that guy look into a mirror and not see what’s staring back at him?
It took a photo. A simple, totally innocent photo, at a family gathering. Wow — talk about reality hitting you like a ton of bricks.
I was that guy. The denial was so efficient I was literally shocked at what I saw. Until that moment, I thought I was just a few workouts and a reasonable diet away from my old lean, svelte self.
Change that photo to a snapshot of your retirement — many years from now. You might be equally shocked. There’s a difference though.
When we’re fat and woefully out of shape, we usually have time to change things, and reap the benefits. When we’re in our 60′s and finally stop lying to ourselves about retirement, our options are usually limited to one — keep on working ’till we can’t any more.
If you’re in your 40′s to 50′s, are you willing to keep paddling up your personal River of Denial? Are you willing to sentence yourself to working years and years past your retirement date? Just how how far are you willing to go with yourself down a path you know is fictional? And all because you’re proactively avoiding what you know in your heart is true.
Think about all the times in your life you’ve realized something you’d feared wasn’t nearly as hard as you’d imagined. Relaxing with the idea of dealing head-on with reality is key to moving forward.
The fat guy’s version of that is having a heart attack at 51. Oh, maybe he should’ve paid attention to the extra 95 pounds he put on over the last 20 years. Ya think? You know the kind. They were always naturally healthy — “it was their genes.”
Otherwise brilliant people will look you right in the eye and say something that stupid.
The truth? Sometimes the only truth left, is that we don’t want to face up to it. Sometimes this is especially true if it forces us to see ourselves the way everyone else does. Or it ruthlessly and transparently illustrates what your retirement definitely isn’t gonna be — if you don’t change something, and change it now.
Those pains in your chest aren’t from indigestion. And that bank statement, savings account balance, and 401(k) update, aren’t fiction.
Look, we don’t want those pains to be warning signs of heart problems. Or to face the fact our retirement planning just isn’t cuttin’ it. 
But while you’re still above ground, action and inaction have consequences. It’s the way life works. Life is nothing if it’s not reality on parade.
Maybe today is the day you see what’s really there instead of what your lyin’ eyes have been seeing for too long. How fast are you running from reality? Are you running towards truth? Or are you barely moving out of denial, while lying to yourself?
And speaking of reality — for some it will be too late. That’s life.
Denial is so often not only the cause of early death, but of living out a life sentence instead of a magnificently abundant retirement.
We must stop pretending and ignoring the truth. It’s not just our lives but our loved ones who will suffer from the folly of denial.
So why don’t you make a pact with yourself? You’ll ensure your retirement by making use of Purposeful Planning, and you’ll enter retirement in the best health possible.
That’s a Win-Win if ever there was one — and you’re the winner both times.
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