I listened a few days ago to an interview with an 83-year-old self-described geezer (aka “sage”) in the world of leadership development, Warren Bennis. He is currently Professor and founding chair of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California, and the author of 29 books. He brought up a subject I’ve thought about for at least thirty years: What can I do now that will lead to my growing into an optimistic, generous and vigorous geezer?
No one gets to his/her eighties without weathering a few difficult, life-defining events. So what makes some geezers hopeful, optimistic, challenged (and challenging) and “open to the unbidden?”
Just as important, what habits can pre-geezers build into our lives now so that our eyebrows are still up when we begin our eighth or ninth decade of life?
Acknowledging that he was “no longer on the varsity”, he talked about how he continues to contribute via “what life has pulled out of me.” I picked out four suggestions to pass along to you:
1. Use your creativity to inspire and your mind to invent; keeping asking, “What is possible?”
2. Make yourself not alone,
3. Be a first-class noticer and responder; practice just being aware,
4. Start now to diminish drivenness.
My own personal action point? To let my life keep growing, knowing that if I have to let go of something I used to be great at, I’ll be making room for some new adventure to take its place.
Eyebrows up!
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Thanks for your newsletter Patty, always inspiring and thoughtworthy. I felt myself returning to the fourth point, “Diminish drivenness”, I’m not sure I quite get that one. The geezer himself seems a very driven person if I look at things like that he’s written 29 books, and even the term vigorous seems to associate a certain measure of drivenness, or? Would love to hear a few more of your thoughts on that point..
Ooooh. Great “wondering” Flip. When I see vigorous accomplishing in someone but without a hint of involuntary obsessiveness, it looks like life to me. When I see drivenness, I usually see fear, shallow breathing, a lot of unawareness . . . I’ll post this on the blog as a comment–see what others think. Thanks for making ME think!
I see “drivenness” coming when a person. feels they are not enough as they are…it is striving for completeness in my mind….which may or may not benefit their life experience in the long run. Drivenness is forward motion with little or no intent…I agree that it is primarily a fear based response.
The word “vigorous” implies wholehearted engagement in whatever activity you chose to focus your energies on for the shear love and curiosity of it. I imagine that Warren Bennis feels “vigorous” about his writing…so he keeps thinking and writing. He does it because it feeds his soul…not because he must write another book to keep tenure. The later is an example of drivennes…the former is an example of “vigorous engagement.”
Why wait to start being “vigorous”…jump in now and give it a try….especially in the current fear based climate we are surrounded by…it could be the best antidote.