Inflection Points
Are you young or old? What makes the difference? In this episode, we have a look at our attitudes and our decision making with respect to how they make us feel over the course of our lives.
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Inflection Points
As I do this episode, I've turned 61 years of age. I used to think of people who reached such a lofty number as old. Society, in general, thinks the same thing. When we enter our 60s, we're bombarded with marketing from AARP and other senior-oriented products and services. That stuff begins in your 50s. I received my first senior discount when I was 55. For those who have children, it's common to be a grandparent by this time of our lives.
The option to collect Social Security with the implication that our earning years are coming to a close looms ahead. Many people in their 60s face serious health challenges and physical limitations. Under those conditions, the end of our days in this world comes squarely into view. That is not what I see. The day I turned 60, I considered it the halfway point of my life. That might sound crazy, but here's my thinking. I'm young. I'm young physically, and I'm young at heart.
What do I mean by that? I still enjoy the process of discovery, finding out about topics and people, going to new places, having new experiences, and strengthening my skills and gaining new ones. I retain a sense of wonder. That's one of the things that all children have, and many lose as they get older. I've seen and done a lot compared to many people, but compared to all that interests me, I've barely begun.
Maybe I'm a late bloomer. I feel like my career in helping people with their personal and professional development is getting going, even though it's been several years of doing it full-time, but I'm now getting to the point where I feel like I'm getting a handle on what that is all about. I have big aspirations, both professionally and personally. I want my lifestyle to be such that I can work from anywhere in the world. This way, my wife and I can be wherever we wish, whenever we wish. We're getting close to that goal, especially with the advent of video conferencing as a common business tool and the proliferation of online learning.
I want to build a large community around the Eye of Power model, one where members help each other break through the self-imposed barriers that keep them from making and sustaining the positive changes they desire. I want to be a successful and widely read author. I only have one novel out, Sudden Onset book, one of a three-part series. I want to continue to make music with people I love to make music with. I want to continue to improve as a husband, father, teacher, writer, speaker, drummer, and singer. Though I've been doing all of that for a long time, my goal is to continue to grow, not for the next few years, but for decades to come.
Sudden Onset
Does that sound like a pipe dream? Here's why I believe it's not. Physically, I'm strong. I can walk further, lift more, and power through busy days easier than I have been able to do in twenty years. My energy levels are high. I don't tire easily. It seems to me that I have more energy now than I did many years ago. At 6’1” and 195 five pounds, I'm not far from my ideal weight.
Since a ski accident in 1992, I have had back problems that caused me pain whenever I would stand for more than ten minutes. Beginning this year, that is no longer the case. How do I count for all of this? Genetics has something to do with it. My perception is it's all a function of choices. Some choices increase our personal power, our agency. Some do the opposite.
One of the best choices I made in my life was who I decided to marry. We are different people. I'm energized while we're around lots of people while you can hear the air deflating from Kathleen, but we're aligned in our values and in the idea that when we got married, that was it. Failure was not an option. Consequently, we worked through the inevitable issues that befall couples in this world, and our partnership is stronger now than ever. We both believe it will only get better from here. The reason we believe that is that we're aligned on the other big decisions that account for our improving levels of energy.
We're active together. We're mindful of our health together. We envision our future together. We stop and smell the roses along the way together. The reason I don't have the same level of difficulty with my back is we do yoga together almost every day. Thanks to some help from my friends, Burke and Joanna Roberts, and their therapist Christine, who recommended I try yoga with Adrian on YouTube. It's easy and effective. I do recommend it highly.
Kathleen and I walk together nearly every day. We're disciplined in what we eat together nearly every day. You have to live life too. The common ingredient in those things is discipline. Discipline is a learned skill. I've always had it in some ways, and I've lacked it in others. It's one of the main abilities we work on in the Eye of Power
Discipline is a learned skill.
For all works in progress, we can all improve in our discipline and other strengths of character that build our personal power. While I don't possess all of my personal power, my agency, I've successfully garnered much more of it than ever before. My business hasn't grown like it might have otherwise because of my lack of discipline. In large part due to the Eye of Power, it's growing in new ways. Thanks in no small part to my increased levels of discipline.
The same can be said for my dietary choices and my respect for my time. Respect for time naturally increases as we perceive our share of a dwindling. I spoke about our perceptions of time in Episode 15, and I won't repeat myself here. I want to share a little bit more about our attitude as we think about the larger course of our lives.
I say I consider myself halfway through my life because I know I'm at an inflection point. Inflection points mark a difference in polarity, in the arc, and in the character of what's happening in a process. We throw a ball in the air. It goes up until gravity cancels its upward force, and it comes down. We are mortal, and that mortality is analogous to the force of gravity in our lives. How does the flight down differ from the flight up?
Inflection points mark a difference in polarity, in the arc, and in the character of what's happening in a process
n my mind, as I pass my halfway point in this world, I'm better positioned to be of service to others than ever before. That excites me. There are new things coming, things that none of us have ever experienced before, and that excites me, too. I don't wish to live just to stay alive, perhaps from a fear of death. Once we're dead, our troubles are over. No, I'm excited to live. I know no matter how healthy I eat, how successfully I handle stress, and how well I keep my body in physical condition, it's not up to me when my time comes. It is something that gets us all, but if you ask me, that's about decades from now for me.
To review, the five keys I've found that help us to feel young as we accumulate life experience are 1) Retain an attitude of curiosity. 2) Remain ambitious. 3) Take good care of ourselves so that our bodies don't break down. 4) Make good decisions about the people with whom we spend our time, starting with the most critical one, our primary life partner. 5) Be the kind of person someone of quality wants to spend their life with. That means we need integrity, honesty, courage, and generosity. Those five, no problem. I get it. It's work. That's why the Eye of Power exists to help us all do the work together.
As long as I feel like I'm learning, growing, and contributing, I'll want to stick around. I plan to expand my command over my thoughts, feelings, and actions. That means my power will only continue to increase. I'll be more valuable to the people around me, not less. I know that illness or injury can always strike, and nobody is immune. I'm speaking strictly of intention, and it's my intention to take care of myself, continue to learn, grow, and love, and position myself to take advantage of the many medical breakthroughs on the horizon.
There are mind-boggling technological possibilities coming. Some will come to pass, and some won't. Some will come that we can't even imagine at the moment. There are convergences of technologies that will exponentially increase innovation in all fields. Futurist, computer scientist, entrepreneur, and Google Exec, Ray Kurzweil, calls this the singularity in his 2005 book, The Singularity is Nearer.
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
As one of the features of the singularity, he claimed that if you could stay alive for another few decades, you'd likely be able to choose how long you wish to live. He puts his money where his mouth is. He does everything he can to remain healthy and has made arrangements should he not make it to that point. Extraordinary procedures are to be taken to preserve his body to possibly take advantage of future medical technology.
I'm not thinking in those terms at the present for myself, but I do respect his insights. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, nanotechnology, superconductivity, genetic engineering, and other technologies will combine for breakthroughs we can't imagine now. I mean that literally. That will extend intelligence itself along with physical capacity.
I don't know where it all leads. I'm looking forward to seeing some of it, as much of it as I can, before my time of learning, growing, and loving is complete. I'm ready to take advantage of those things because they will open up more experience and our amazing potential. We'll be able to do more and live lives that are more distinctly expressed in this world. Are you ready? Me too. Let's go.
Important Links
Episode 15 – Past Episode