REJECTING THE MYTHS OF AGING - PT.VI

I read this book for my own benefit, since I was holding on to some deeply ingrained beliefs about aging that, according to the author, are no longer valid.


I've decided to share some highlights from each chapter. My hope is that all adults will consider the ideas as we move into what could be the most productive season of our lives. Today we look at "Focusing on Functional Age".

"If you didn't know your age, how old would you be? The important thing is the age we act, perform, execute, move, think, feel, the "age at which we function". When I pose this to many of my clients who have been genuinely frozen in their thinking about their future career direction, its amazing to me how rapidly they can name what they would do and be! 

Without realizing it, our chronological age can unconsciously block our thinking about our future. We grow old, not by living a certain number of chronological years, but by becoming idle in mind body and purpose. We decline and decay by abandoning our flexibility, our ideals, our talents, our life's mission, and our involvement in our community. We grow old and retire by buying into society's story that we can be discarded. 

Here is a 10 step formula for successful aging and working

1. Age functionality, not chronologically.
2. Stop your aging chronological clock at whatever age you are now.
3. Take control of your second mid life, your extra 20 years of good health.
4. Insert this 20 years now at your mid-life, don't add them to your old age
5. Subtract these 20 years from your current chronological age for your possible functional age.
6. Visualize what you would do if you were that age, knowing what you know now.
7. Design a strategic action plan to accomplish this.
8. Go and do it, or some close version of it!
9. Grow and become a person of age, wisdom, creativity, power, purpose, passion and pursuit.
10. Live long. Die fast! Be "old-old" a shorter time."

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Here are links to my previous posts in this series.

To view Part I of this book review click HERE.  

To view Part II of this book review click HERE. 

To view Part III of this book review click HERE.  

To view Part IV of this book review click HERE.  

To view Part V of this book review click HERE.