What will you do with your “longevity bonus”?

So, I’m at my 9 year-old desktop computer staring into dual monitors doing my bus dev search thing on Linked In looking for key points-of-contact in companies in my targeted recruiting niche.  Recruiting remains a part of my “portfolio work life” because of a couple of things: (1) I married a woman who likes to sleep inside and eat warm food and (2) the outsize mortgage that comes with fulfilling that marital commitment.

My keyword search turned up a Director of Human Resources for a company I am targeting because she had “Director, Human Resources” in her Linked In headline.  But it was what she had below her headline that really caught my eye.  It said:

Traveling and Living Life

My curiosity was naturally piqued because (1) HR Directors are normally pretty office bound, often chained to their chairs, spread thin, understaffed and overworked and (2) “living life” is not the demeanor that I usually associate with how HR Managers view their work life.  It’s a grinder job.

A further peek into the profile reveals that this particular HR Director had retired after 33 years in her field and is now “traveling and living life.”  Apparently this new life didn’t leave time for her to update her Linked In profile.  I probably wouldn’t bother either if I were that excited about finally “living life.”

From her profile, I could estimate her age between 55 and 60, so she’s one of that diminishing number of folks who are choosing to retire early.

But here’s what struck me as odd.  If she started “living life” on January 2017, which is apparently her retirement/matriculation date, what was she doing with her life for the previous 33+ years?  Dying?

Well, technically, yes.  Because we all start dying the minute we are born. But isn’t there an interesting perspective and message in that innocent phrase?  It would seem to say very loudly that my “years-to-date” have been less than thrilling and gratifying and that I needed to get out to finally live life.

My kudos to her for fooling her employer for those three decades.

The linear-life-cycle model

I guess none of us should be surprised by that. At her age, like most “boomers”, she was born into a culture built around a three-stage, age-graded model – the linear life model.  I call it the 20-40-20 plan: 20 years for education, 40 years of work (typically for “the man” and building “the man’s” dream) to be followed by the coveted 20 years of retirement bliss, doing what you really wanted to do all along during those first 60 or so years.

What they failed to tell us, back in the day, was that, if you followed this traditional retirement model, that third part – the 20 at the end – usually didn’t end up being the full 20.  IBM did a study a generation ago and found that their average retiree didn’t make it past their 24th pension check.  Shell Oil did a study of early retirees and found that embarking on the retirement path at age 55 doubled the risk for death before reaching 65.

I haven’t checked.  Can frequent flyer miles be used to pay funeral expenses?

What’s our protagonist going to do – just travel until she dies?  I know travel is a big deal for retirees.  And there are certainly some awesome places to visit and see on this mudball.  But at some point does living a life tied to travel start to become a bit of a wobbly stool? After all, how many pictures can you store and have time to reminisce over?  Plus, last I heard reminiscence is not a great profit producer or life extender.

Longevity bonus

Here’s the other possible glitch in all this.  There’s an increasing chance today that said HR Director may live 15, 20, 30 years longer than she thinks she will.  That’s more time than most frequent flyer accumulations will last or, for that matter, more time than needed to see all the places in the world worthy of photographing.

Our “lucky” former HR Manager may be faced with what a huge swath of boomers are, or will be, facing:   extended life spans that outlast their resources.

So, I guess reality sets in at some point for Ms “traveling and living life”.   And that reality may mean finding a way to replenish the coffers spent seeing the world. Egads!  Not back to work!  Back to not-living-life?

Work extends lives

It might have to happen.  It’s happening for a growing number of us – working longer.  But we’re also learning that extending our work lives actually increases our vitality and energy and, ironically, adds to our longevity. Work, in fact, has been determined to be the number one contributor to healthy extended living.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be for money.  Maybe you are one of the fortunate few today who planned well enough to be well-heeled through your second half.  It can be volunteer, or a “play-check” as suggested by Mitch Anthony, author of the fabulous book “The New Retirementality.”

It a mixed bag of ironies.  We work hard to be able to get away from work only to find out that what we strove to get away from is what ultimately enables us to live healthier, longer.

I know this message flies right by the 33% of retirees who have no intention of ever going back to work.  But for those of us in the 67%, it can be an exciting time of second growth.  A time when we can continue to work doing more of what we REALLY want to do and thus make aging work for us instead of against us.

That’s why I really love working with 50+’ers to help them get creative about how they can finish out having left a footprint. It’s exciting to see creativity and enthusiasm resurrected.

 

I’d love to hear your comments on all this.  What are your views on work in this second half?  How are you going to plan for the possibilities of an extended life?  What’s been working for you as you begin to move into this “second growth” period?

Three Reasons You Should Try to Live to 100

I suspect you didn’t get up this morning thinking about how exciting it would be to live to 100.  A thought like that may be way down the list of important things that will drive your day.   In fact, I’m guessing that the very thought created a visual in your mind that was, well –  repulsive?

I’ve tested this idea of living to 100 on nearly all my friends, on all of my immediate and most of my extended family – even built and presented a 20-minute speech around it at my Toastmasters club.

The reaction has been universal –  gag me with a spoon!!!  Gary has slipped a gear – again!

Although largely disowned by family and muzzled at dinner parties, I remain undeterred.  I’ve decided to live to 100, have gone public with it and will continue to beat that drum with anyone who is willing to listen.

This isn’t some hair-brained thought.  If genetics ruled – which they don’t –the average life spans of previous generations in my family would say that I should have been gone some time ago.  But genetics, for the most part, don’t determine our lifespan.  But lifestyle habits do.  So I figured if I know what those lifestyle habits are, and if I get serious about them, then surely I could beat the odds and get to 100 or beyond – even if I started late, which I did.

I’m a proud septuagenarian (for you Pittsburgh Steeler fans, that means I’m in my seventies) and feeling better physically, emotionally and spiritually than any other time of my life.  Turns out those lifestyle habits are pretty simple – not to be confused with easy.  I’m trying to get better at them every day.

I also wrestle with something deep inside that keeps  whispering “you ain’t done yet so get off the average lifespan mantra and do something significant with the time that is left, whatever that may be.”

 

 

Here are my three thoughts on why we should try to live to 100:

 

Reason #1 – We  Can.   As I mentioned in my last blog post, we know the human body can last 122 years, 164 days because Mlle Jeanne Calment of Paris did it – confirmed.   There were 50,454 U.S. centenarians in the year 2000, according to the U.S. Census.  It’s predicted that this number will grow to over 600,000 by mid-century.  Centenarians are the fastest growing age group, percentage-wise, in our country and globally.

So, who’s to say you can’t?  I know, like most, you’ve got a mental list the length of your arm of why YOU can’t or don’t want to.  I get it – it’s where our mind goes on this topic.

Reason #2 – We Must.  Us boomers and pre-boomers need to be thumbing our nose at the youth movement in business and politics.  And at the myths of automatic senescence in later years.  What better way to prove to the world that we never lost what we have to offer from our life experiences, mistakes, victories, disappointments, and triumphs.

An African proverb says:   “When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground,”

We have much to teach about life but we have to stay alive and fight for the venues through which our wisdom and still-present value can be shared.

Reason #3 – We Just Might.   Hey, life doesn’t come with any promises.  Lightning does strike; diseases and accidents happen; genetics come into play on a limited scale.  Frankly, you have less than a 5% chance you will make it to 100.  But if you thought you could, do you think maybe some different decisions would show up in your life?

Do you think there might be an attitude shift?

Do you think you might rethink and reject the myths that you’ve bought into about aging?

Do you think that if you only made it to 92 or 95 or 98 but more fulfilled, impactful and having left a legacy that the 100-year target made sense?

I read today about 88-year old retired Vail, CO orthodontist, Dr. Fred Distelhorst, who recently scaled Kilimanjaro with his granddaughter.  He is the oldest person on record to have climbed the 19,361 free-standing mountain.   His comment?  “It wasn’t such a big deal.  I was surprised it wasn’t harder.”  Dr. Fred also bikes regularly and still skis 100 days a year.  I like his chances of getting to 100 – or more.

 

We’re taught to fear aging

For a while, I was baffled by the near-universal negative reaction I got to the idea of living to 100.  But I understand – it’s a scary thought because of our conditioning.

Here’s a YouTube video that, in one minute, says it better than my pontification.  Watch this and see which situation your thoughts go to – the person on the left or the one on the right.  If you relate to the one on the left, come join the conversation.  We have a good but tough message to convey.

What are your thoughts on the idea of striving to live to 100?  Leave a comment below.

Time to Decide – Take-off? Or landing?

“Life is a fatal disease. Once contracted, there is no known cure”

Dr. Walter Bortz, retired Stanford geriatric physician, made that statement in his 1984 book “Dare To Be 100”. It forms a backdrop for his message about our potential to live longer, healthier and more meaningful lives.

Dr. Bortz knows a thing or two about growing old. What better source than someone who has 50+ years of observing life, death, and survival?

Well into his 80’s, he continues to set a very active pace taking a longevity message to audiences globally.

I discovered Dr. Bortz and “Dare to Be 100” in 2013. Dr. Bortz was saying three decades ago what we now realize is the truth about what it takes to age successfully.

His books (I believe there are seven of them) were a catalyst for me, providing a sensible “roadmap” to late-life health with facts and advice unencumbered by political or corporate influence.

I find that most of us are repulsed by his claim that there is no reason we shouldn’t live to 100 or beyond. I get it – I carry the same images of extreme, prolonged frailty that we associate with growing old. We don’t want to be like those images in our head.

It’s a deeply ingrained attitude – but it’s naïve. I’ll stake that claim on the fact that we choose not to understand our biology. And because we don’t understand it, we do things that result in us “living too short and dying too long” and robbing ourselves of our full life potential – really the core of Dr. Bortz message.

OMG! Another blog?

I would be delusional to think that you’ve been eagerly awaiting a blog on aging, what with only 100 million other blogs out there and the rather “uncomfortable” nature of the subject.

So why blog?

I’ve discovered a “passion” – a desire to help people who have passed the 50-year milestone to pivot their attitudes regarding aging and “Make Aging Work” by thinking and living bigger while slowing the aging process.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said “Many people die with their music still in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it time runs out.“

With boosts from the likes of Dr. Bortz and others that I’ve studied and followed, my hope is to help others live their whole life, sing all their song and to live longer, live better and finish out with vitality and a strong sense of purpose.

Been there – – – –

I passed the over-50 threshold some time ago – I’m a “pre-boomer” by four years, born in 1942. My life experiences and professional experiences as an executive recruiter and career and “reinvention” coach, coupled with two decades of intense reading and study on human development and the aging process, has led me to two conclusions about how we age in this country.

  1. We don’t live long enough to truly die of old age because we choose not to understand how our bodies and minds function and thus subject them to repeated, long-term abuse and disuse.
  2.  We allow myths, misconceptions, outdated models, dangerous cultural traditions, deceptive advertising, deplorable government policies, and just plain complacency guide us to a premature demise.

Gap analysis

A prominent Yale physician, Dr. David Katz, founder of the school’s Prevention Research Center, got my attention a few years ago when I heard him say:

“We know all that we need to know to reduce, by 80%, the five major killing diseases in our culture – heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and dementia. We don’t need more new fancy drugs or expensive new equipment and technology or more Nobel prizes. We already know what we need to know.”

I believe Dr. Katz’ position extends logically to aging: we know all we need to know to live healthier, longer and more productively.

We have a 42-year gap between our 80-year average life span and the length of time our bodies appear to be designed to last at this point – 122 years, 164 days. Ms. Jeanne Calment of Paris set that bar as the oldest human, fully documented and verified.

Why the gap between our potential and our average, between what we already know and what we do to stay healthy and live longer? Take #2 above and stir in ignorance (as in ignoring best practices), instant gratification, comparison, stress, lack of purpose. Feel free to add your own thoughts to this toxic brew.

Quixotic as it may seem, I’m choosing to join the voices of those who are working to dilute this brew and close this gap.

Make Aging Work

This journey may be a bit idealistic but I’m venturing forth nonetheless with my crusade-like mission, sharing what I hope will be valuable, meaningful information and resources.

I’m calling the home-base for this venture “Make Aging Work – Live Big, Age Little”. I believe we know what we need to know to do that.

Despite what our society would have us to believe, we can truly make our second-half of life work for us in a big way rather than against us.

Life to 100 and beyond with energy, enthusiasm, and purpose is now one of the fastest-growing realities of our age. Centenarians are growing at 8X the rate of any other population demographic in our country. We are learning what it takes to “live longer, die shorter” and finish out with purpose having left a footprint.

This site is intended to be a place to learn more about living a longer, healthier, more vigorous “second half” – and a place in which you build the value through your feedback and input. You are the key to helping our demographic make aging work for us instead of against us.

I invite you to join the conversation and the crusade. Please share your thoughts, insights, experiences – and pin my ears back if you disagree or if you feel I’ve slipped over into hyperbole.

I look forward to your feedback. Please leave a comment below.