Age is mind over matter. If you don’t mind then it don’t matter – Satchel Paige

Click bait title, I know. But read on!

Is Retirement is A “Number” We Make Up?

So I recently listened to one of my fave podcasts “Exponential thinking”. http://podcast.diamandis.com

Hosts Dan and Peter  talk about how all of us have a “number” in our head that we (un)consciously think we’ll die at. 

I’m paraphrasing the process Dan Sullivan uses to unlock 10+ extra years:

• First:
• • ask yourself “What age do you think you’re going to die? “
  • • Answer for yourself. Let’s say the answer is 80 years old. 
• Second
• • Ask yourself “How do you expect to feel that year? How productive do you want to be?  How healthy / present do you want to be?”
  • • Answer for your yourself. Generally people say “healthy, connected to people, I’ll be active in community etc.”
• Last question:
• • “Well, if you are healthy, engaged, connected in that last year, do you think you’ll die in the following year? “What’s your answer? Probably it’s going to be “Uh, I likely will not die”
• He then says Voilà! I’ve just added 10-20 years to your life! (paraphrase) So that’s super cool. Listen to the podcast if you can.

On Mindset and Your Concept of Age & Aging

Where he’s getting at is that mindset shapes everything we do. Nay, what is possible. We often think that the world has limitations and that we are subject to it. But in many ways we control the limitations. #MindBlown?

On “old age”, we have come to associate old age with “retirement”.

The other thing is that retirement was “invented”. It’s not a “real” thing. It was invented like 100 years ago. The age of “65” is artificial. And just happened to be more or less the life expectancy of 100 years ago

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/how-retirement-was-invented/381802/

Here is a quick distinction I would make between fact and the stories we invent.

• Facts: Aging is a thing. Bones get older etc. And there are ways to slow aging, yet as of now, everyone ages.
• Stories: At 65, we wind down. We stop working. We are no longer productive. It’s downhill from there. 

One Last Story – The Legend of the 105 Year-Old Grandmother

I also have one more personal story that really hits this point home for me. My Grandma is 105, and she has defied all logic. She lived alone in an apartment till she was 104. For 20 years, people told her to go to a home. But what I’ve observed is that her sheer will power to stay active, stay alert and her desire to keep living and to be independent meant that she was able to do this. In other words, her mindset of “I am not old. I am not frail. I can live independently” meant that she could do it. And she took actions to make that happen. She is one of my biggest inspirations. I’ve learned so much from her, and regardless of how many more decades she will continue to live, those lessons will be passed on.

For me, this leaves us with an interesting question:

“If retirement isn’t a real thing? And if we change the way we view aging, what opens up? “

For me, the short answer is “endless possibilities”. A bit of a longer funnier answer is that I would love to live until 2201, because being born in the 20th century, I can blow the minds of children of the 22nd century by telling them stories of 2 centuries ago, kids be like “WHAT? YOU LIVED IN THE 20TH CENTURY…??? YOU’RE SO OLD AND EPIC!”

Hey, if retirement and aging aren’t that big of a thing… why not? 

Over to you

What about you? What opens up for you? I would LOVE to hear your answers. Post in the comments below! Or message me!

Special thanks to Katie Low (edits) and Jesse Robichaud (quote)