You may have heard the analogy that states “Life is like a football game—with four quarters.” I actually heard the analogy for the first time the other day when our Brigade DCO was speaking to the newest Soldiers to the Brigade during a Welcome Brief. He described these four quarters this way:
“For the most part we all live about 80 years—sometimes more, sometimes less. If you go longer, you are in bonus time! But our bodies are really only designed to live for about 80 years. If you divide these 80 years into four quarters you have about 20 years per quarter.”
The audience he was addressing was largely made up of first term Soldiers, where many were 18-19 years old—still in the first quarter. I’m in the early part of the third.
As I thought about it, the analogy became more meaningful to me.
For the first twenty years, we spend most of our time in education. Whether it be public school or home school, after school events, clubs, or at the playground, we spend our time learning.
For the second twenty years, we spend that time building our career and our family. This is also a critical quarter because many life changing decisions are made during this time. We typically decide what our career is to be during this time. We decide how much to save. We decide who we will marry—how many kids we will have, how much time we will invest in our family, what priority we will put on our religious beliefs, and on and on.
For the third quarter, we build World Class Leadership. Depending on where we spent our time in the second quarter—here is where we can position ourselves as a world class leader and mentor of the next generation. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hour rule in order to become world class. If we spent the second quarter well, we would have completed those 10,000 hours by the third quarter. Using a 40 hour work week—we would hit 10,000 hours five years into a job—if we put all our energy into those 40 hours. This expertise sets us up for World Class Leadership during these third twenty years.
For the fourth quarter, if we have played the game well, this is when we can bring it home. This is when, we can have maximum influence on those whom we are mentoring. This is the time we can influence our family. This is the time we can reap some of the rewards that have building through all of the years.
Throughout these four quarters, there will be many decisions that will be made. At times, we will have ample time to make a decision. Other times, we will have to make quick audible decisions at the line of scrimmage. The most important decision we will make along the way, however, will be whether or not we will follow Christ. The Bible says that (Jesus) “came that ((we) may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b ESV) If we miss this one decision, we have already thrown an interception…into the arms of evil. This is not simply salvation that we are losing—which is eternity; but it we are losing the guide to make the right decisions along the way, the values that develop a life of influence, and a sense of security of never doubting whether it will turn out OK. The most important ingredient to having a successful four quarters is to follow Christ.
The rest, given the ongoing counsel and peace that comes from following Christ daily, can be planned out and executed along a life plan—looking at the game of life as it is played in four quarters.
(Photo: Unsplash.com)