Everyone wants long term success. But it is elusive for most.

Long term success is dependent on knowing where you are now and where you are headed. Then closing the gap. Frequently. Continuously.  Whether it’s your business, your career or your life at home., it’s easy to get off track, lose touch or get buried under. Without a true sense of where you are in the moment, it is impossible to realize your dreams or be a leader in your field.

Re-calibrate your profound knowledge

The only way we can take 100% responsibility for sustaining our success is to keep re-calibrating-in every aspect of our lives and organizations.

Key to successful recalibration is to acquire what my dear departed mentor, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, coined as Profound Knowledge. This umbrella phrase emphasizes understanding change and how to measure it, being aware of emerging trends and shifts, and learning how to apply this knowledge to leading and sustaining long term success.

Bottom line: If we don’t acquire Profound Knowledge we cannot know how to prepare for and leverage coming change, thus how to sustain our success long term.

Understanding change means understanding shifts in our personal world as well as tracking trends that capsize us, overtake us, or cause us to flounder.

Learning the Hard Way

Unfortunately one of my Gen X male clients learned this the hard way. A rising star in his field and recently married, he was planning far a great future for his kids, tons of time for fun and all the trappings of success. As if out of the blue, the rug got pulled out from under him. His “Happy Homemaker” wife fled, saying I’m out of here!

Somewhere along the way there was a breakdown or perhaps many small fissures below the surface. Had they been recalibrating an checking in with each other, communicating the truth of what was so for each of them…perhaps they could have saved their marriage…or at least ended it with love, grace, and forgiveness.

Even in the most secure relationships, unexpected change happens to ruffle our plans. A recently returned to work mother of teenage kids reported that her new career is now going gangbusters and she no longer worries about the empty-nest . But, the new ripple in her life is that her once very successful husband, in his late 40’s, now faces an unknown future. Surprised by the shifts in his industry, “suddenly” he and his business partner are facing the probability of closing their doors. What once appeared to be the sure path to their dreams, is no crumbling beneath them.

Change is inevitable. If you can learn what Profound Knowledge is and apply it you can avoid these same pitfalls and NOT LEARN THE HARD WAY!

What steps are you going to take to future cast your long term success?

Midlife crisis. It is a term bandied about, which can conjure images of sports car purchases, new gym memberships, flirtations/affairs/divorces, botox and bikinis. Midlife is, for many, a time of transition, including whether or how to retire. It can be a time of more questions than answers, a time in which you feel less steady as you review and revise who and what you find most meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile. Some changes are desired and welcome, while others feel forced or unavoidable.

I believe, as I share in my upcoming book, The Ageless Way, that  “Those of us who are entering, in the midst of or, like me, leaving our rich middle years, are well poised to use such times of transition as opportunities to tap more deeply into our reservoir of innate soulful greatness – what I refer to as our Signature Greatness DNA. As history has shown, change makers and world shakers always deepen their culture and leave a legacy for future generations by confronting the difficulties of such times with invention, insight, and transcendent understanding.”

It is at these times that many people choose, whether out of desire or necessity, to begin a second (or third, or fourth…) career, which is often referred to as an encore career. There are different reasons people choose to pursue an encore career, such as: financial security; personal fulfillment and meaning; the desire to give back to the local/national/global community; flexibility; work/life balance; learning new skills and utilizing those that have been acquired over decades; sustaining social connections; pursuing a long-held dream…

Regardless of the reason(s) for selecting an encore career, those in their middle and later years have garnered personal and professional experience and wisdom which they can offer to employers and clients. In addition, Boomers and Matures (members of “The Silent Generation”) grew up in eras which inspired active, organized involvement in response to diverse current events, such as WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the fights for civil and women’s rights. As a result, these workers are often valued for their efficiency, sense of responsibility, loyalty, hopeful attitude and strong work ethic.

The trend toward an increasingly older and diverse workforce creates multiple opportunities for building successful intergenerational office environments. Encore career professionals offer a variety of abilities and knowledge to enhance the capabilities of the younger generations and benefit, in return, from their colleagues’ perspectives and talents with new work aspects like technology. Such mutually supportive business cultures ensure a more solid future for everyone, from those engaged in encore careers to the generations yet to come.

There is even a movement afoot to support those choosing or hiring for encore careers. Encore.org’s mission is “building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond to improve communities and the world.” It seeks to engage the vitality, wisdom and talents of those in the third and fourth stages of life while emphasizing social purpose. Seeing an aging society as a solution to, rather than creator of, problems, Encore.org connects generations in diverse ways, including hosting an annual conference and offering The Purpose Prize for people over 60 who integrate their passion and experience for the betterment of society. Created in 2005, the prize aims to “showcase the value of experience and disprove notions that innovation is the sole province of the young. It’s for those with the passion to make change and the experience to know how to do it.”

I mentioned the term encore career in a blog posted earlier this week, “Second Time Around” , in which I wrote about Barbara Beskind who is now in her third year of work as an inventor, a lifelong dream she achieved just shy of her ninth decade. Additionally, I have met/worked with diverse women and men who have chosen (are choosing) to embark on an encore career. One 51-year-old woman hot shot media executive left her job to pursue what she always wanted to do as a teenager — she went back to school to become a social worker. Another high flying 62-year-old woman left an intense demanding sales executive post to return to the beloved art career of her youth. A 63-year-old retired teacher became a published author. In her January 16, 2015 New York Times article, Older Job Seekers Find Ways to Avoid Age Bias, Kerry Hannon shares the story of a 66-year-old man who was laid off from a high-powered position. After undergoing the unease of transition, questioning his purpose and averting age discrimination encountered in interviews, he ultimately ended up teaching part-time, making money, and feeling valued. And I am one among many who have found fulfillment in an encore career by creating their own business.

Encore.org and the AARP  are just two of the organizations offering programs, resources and information for those embarking on an encore career. In the short term, this transition may require additional investment of education and retraining (including working with a certified professional career coaching and strategy-creation coach). The rewards, however, can be infinite. Following your passion while giving to others can be stimulating, enlivening and offer adventures which demonstrate that, despite pleasurable memories, the best is still yet to come.

When musicians are called by an audience to perform an encore, a demand for more, it is surely a sign of success. Whether you choose an encore career out of need or want, in honoring and utilizing your skills and knowledge you are the one whose success is to be celebrated. Bravo!!

What’s your encore career story?  Please share your experience below.

For those going through life stage shifts, particularly at midlife and beyond, these greater societal shifts and story conflicts run parallel to the transitions and upheaval in our personal and professional lives. The chaos and uncertainty is coming from all sides, and it’s tempting to hang on for dear life to anything stable and certain we can find, even if doing so means remaining in an unfulfilling career or toxic work environment, such as what former BBC presenter, Miriam O’Reilly (53) experienced. O’Reilly was one of four female presenters, all in their forties or fifties, who were dropped from the 23-year-old show. Not only did she leave…she filed an age-discrimination and victimization suit and won. 

These are the times when we have more opportunities, not fewer, to transform our work, our world, and ourselves. 

A fast-moving wave of a diverse cross-section of us is leaving behind the hallowed halls of large corporations, institutions, and organizations. No matter how you leave one chapter to the next, the no-exit terror of those no-return revolving doors as you make your way out are anxiety-producing, even frightening, especially in chaotic times. We are in the midst of a page-turner. We are witnessing, and are morphing into, lean and mean new start-ups. Clearly our feminine entrepreneurial spirit is rising. 

Read More in my Amazon Best Seller Gray is the New Green.

“A definitive book. At a defining moment.” 

~ Elsie Maio, Founder of Humanity, Inc/The SoulBranding^SM Institute

I often say that most of us have the potential to do 95 percent of our best work in the last 5 percent of our lives. As we age, we become well poised to offer a range of perspectives and skills, which can only come with time and experience. This is true throughout our lives starting from when we are babies learning how to walk and speak. Our middle and later years can be a time in which many of us have raised families, had some success in our work (and perhaps reached the silver ceiling…), and may wish to pursue old (or new) dreams if we have the ability, opportunity, time and financial security.

A perfect example of someone who has learned from experience and is using her personal history and decades-long patience to find opportunity, satisfaction, and meaning is 91-year-old Barbara Beskind. Beskind was the focus of a Today Money piece by Scott Stump (February 25, 2015, Today.com), the title of which tidily sums up her story: ‘Age is not a barrier’: Tech designer, 91, lands her dream job in Silicon Valley. 

Beskind’s inventiveness began “out of necessity” during the Great Depression in the 1920’s. As she tells it, “I wanted to make a hobby horse, and I made it out of old tires. I learned a lot about gravity because I fell off so many times.” Despite having decided by 10 years old that she wanted to be an inventor, a high school counselor told her that females weren’t accepted at engineering school. She, therefore, pursued other avenues and hobbies until two years ago, at 89, she had an opportunity to follow her original dream. Beskind applied and was hired for a one-day-a-week job testing and designing aging-related products at the Silicon Valley global design firm, IDEO, where she still works today.

While praising the welcoming inter-generational culture and atmosphere at the company, in the Today story Beskind also shared her perspective about hiring someone from her generation for that position. Suggesting that many younger designers “…can’t put themselves in the shoes of the elderly” and, therefore, often design for fashion rather than functionality, she shared her feeling that “… elderly people bring experience that you can’t teach.” 

The idea of pursuing one’s passion and meaning in an “encore career,” a career after retirement, is becoming increasingly popular as we live longer and have more opportunities. Whether following through on an old dream or creating a new one, if situations permit, many of us find our satisfaction in such pursuits.

My own experience involved shifting careers in midlife (in what I have since termed my second “midlife reclamation”) from a successful corporate career to that of an educational GeroFuturist with my own consulting, coaching and publishing business. Was it easy? Not at all! Transition rarely is. Experiencing somewhat of a crisis of the Soul, I agonized while reviewing who I was and wanted to be, what was most important to me and how I could find meaning, significance and fulfillment while also giving back and making a difference for others. These are often common hallmarks for anyone pursuing their heartfelt passion and/or looking to have an encore career, whether by choice or even by necessity.

Career changes, whether they follow retirement or not, may involve some unexpected shifts, detours or delays. For those of us who are ready, Radical Reinvention is in order. Sometimes, when we consciously choose to pursue a process of breaking away from what was to what can be, we will traverse what I have long called The Canyon of the Soul. In this trek you will transform based on the best of you, as well as reclaiming the core of what really matters to you. As I mentioned in my February 11, 2014 blog, False Alarm: Reinvention is Boomer Friendly (www.karensands.com/false-alarm-reinvention-is-boomer-friendly), “Now is the last chance we get to embrace the gift of turning crisis into opportunities.”

Yes, you often have to toss out old definitions of yourself and of success, as well as aspects of your life that do not really matter, that are merely clutter. You have to remove the tangential plot lines, the side stories that distract from the main plot, and sometimes you have to even cut characters who are dragging the story down. Radical Reinvention is a purification process, getting down to your essence, to your Signature Greatness DNA, and to your core values. At the same time, you don’t have to toss the gold with the dross, so it is key to know yourself and have a clear vision.

Eight decades after dreaming of becoming an inventor, Barbara Beskind chose to make her vision a reality. Her story exemplifies that dreams can be achieved at any age. I imagine (and hope) that as we live longer, stories like this will become commonplace.

 Do you have an old dream you are pursuing? What advice do you have for others wanting to do the same?

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Insights gained will become the foundation for developing and implementing effective, innovative – yes, even visionary, new approaches.

Leading GeroFuturist best-selling author, firecracker speaker, game changer, and thought leader on the Longevity Economy, 40+ market, the business of aging, and ageless aging. A world-class trusted advisor, Master Certified Coach and expert authority, Karen boldly advocates for the new story of our age.  Karen guides go-getter entrepreneurs, trailblazers, and visionary leaders to their niche in the global business of aging while evolving their role in response to this new narrative. Karen is an in-demand speaker known for dynamic presentations and a remarkable gift for captivating any audience!

Contact Information: http://www.karensands.com/ | 203-266-1100 | Karen@KarenSands.com| https://www.linkedin.com/in/karensands/

Books:http://www.karensands.com/store/
The Ageless Way
The Ageless Way – A Companion Journal/Workbook
The Greatness Challenge
Gray is the New Green
Visionaries Have Wrinkles
Visionaries Have Wrinkles Reflections Journal
Visionaries Have Wrinkles Reflections Card Deck
Ageless Reinvention (Releasing 2018-2019)
Mastering Reinvention for Midlife & Beyond – (Re-releasing 2018-2019)

In his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum offers essential tidbits of wisdom most of us learned as children, including “Share everything. Dont take things that aren’t yours. Put things back where you found them.”

In the last decade or so, adults have been revisiting these essential lessons in new ways, creating businesses and opportunities for what has been dubbed “The Sharing Economy,” a business concept based on renting or borrowing goods and services, rather than owning them. Though this idea is not new — libraries are one of the oldest examples, volunteering another — the advent of technology has made sharing a variety of resources easier than ever, impacting how we live and how we choose products and services.

As described by Benita Matofska of The People Who Share“The Sharing Economy is a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human and physical resources. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organisations.”

Advocates of sharing who engage in this practice, which is sometimes called The Collaborative Economy, do so for financial and/or social/communal reasons, as well as flexibility and/or ensuring a more sustainable world. Examples of some of the better-known companies that have emerged out of the sharing concept include: Airbnb, ZipCar, Lyft, Uber, Craigslist, TaskRabbit, Pinterest, and GiftCardSwapping, to name just a few.

A 2013/2014 report based on two surveys conducted by Vision Critical’s Voice of Market states that there are 80 million “sharers” in the U.S. Though it claims nearly half of sharers across the globe are under 35, there are still a significant percentage (between 19-40 percent) of participants, particularly in America, and particularly outside urban centers, who are 55+. Regardless of age, location or other differences (e.g.: higher incomes), however, the study asserts that “..all businesses need to know that sharers are not a niche market. Sharers are part of the mainstream set of customers that businesses can’t afford to ignore.” Additionally, those over 40 are not only consumers but also solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, many focused on the Triple Bottom Line of people, planet, and profits.

As with all new ideas, start-ups in The Sharing Economy may need tweaks to ensure best practices for the greatest number of people (including safety and liability). That said, it appears this concept is here to stay. Despite any resistance we have to changes, what has been proven time and again is human’s ability to adapt to circumstances. As we move through life’s transitions, including the changes that come with The Sharing Economy, perhaps it is wise to be mindful of even more of the words from Robert Fulghum’s aforementioned book, which are excerpted below.

~ Play fair.
~ Don’t hit people.
~ Clean up your own mess.
~ Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
~ Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
~ Take a nap every afternoon.
~ When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
~ Be aware of wonder.

In what ways have you participated/are you participating in The Sharing Economy?

Get a sneak peek into Karen’s Amazon #1 Best Seller, “The Ageless Way” Claim your FREE chapter, “Agelessness Across Generations” download here. 

In a blog post once by Seth Godwin, he makes an excellent point about why we sometimes don’t get very far in our endeavors, even when we are taking action every day. Often out of fear, our actions are either too small, too easy, to get us anywhere, or, out of our impatience, they are too big and doomed to fail. The secret, he contends, is to set difficult, but achievable goals.

This is an excellent point that we should all take to heart, but I’d like to take it a step further. Even difficult achievable goals won’t take us where we want to go, if we don’t have a clear idea of where we’re going in the first place. Without a big picture view, a vision, that ties together every action we take, we could end up at the wrong destination, the place where achievement and success ring hollow because we still feel unfulfilled. Worse, perhaps, is that our steps could lead us in many different directions, without reaching any destination, feeling scattered and overwhelmed, thinking, I’m working so hard. Why

aren’t I getting anywhere?

One of the first steps you need to take is to redefine what success means to you. (I talk about this in more depth in my post “Sustainable Success.”) Without a clear idea of how you personally define success—not how you used to define it, and certainly not how others define it—you won’t be able to map out the steps to get there, and you won’t be able to measure your progress along the way.

But even more important is a step many people leave out, even those with a big picture view, a vision, and difficult but achievable goals to get them there. It’s incredibly critical to periodically stop and reassess. Ask yourself these reflective questions with ruthless honestly. Are the actions you’re taking still moving you toward your vision, or have you veered off course? What have you learned along the way? Do you need to fine-tune your plan or even your vision? What creative insights can you gain from your mistakes or from results that didn’t turn out the way you thought they would, or even expected results that didn’t feel the way you thought they would?

This is a crucial step, but it’s also a fine line to walk. It’s easy to turn reassessment into second guessing, not based on continuous improvement, but based on insecurity and fear. You need to be brutally honest with yourself about your reasons for wanting to make changes to your game plan, as well as your reasons for not wanting to change. It helps to feed your intuition with facts, so that they work in partnership. Continuous improvement requires continuous lifelong learning, about who you are, what gifts you bring to the table, what knowledge and skills you need to acquire, and what the world around you needs and how your actions and vision intersect with those needs.

Staying in tune with the flow of everything around you, and adapting constantly to that flow, is the difference between having a vision and being a visionary.

What big picture view ties together all your actions? Do you have periodic reassessment built into your game plan?

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.

However, from the vibrating heart of our dissipating structures comes the promise of our true greatness: a greatness of awareness and action that will change the world. From the midst of the evolving Great Transition, we leave the Great Recession and the uplifting Obama era behind us as we enter an unknown, unchartered new cycle of populism and extreme radicalism ripping our valued democratic tenets to shreds and putting each of us on the line.  This Great Shift demands that we each unlock our potential for greatness which lives in each of us, and we are being called to make a difference. That is the premise of The Greatness Challenge, in which I offer a template for embracing and embodying our unique Signature Greatness DNA^SM to unleash our personal and collective greatness.

The Greatness Challenge is a manifesto for the growing wave of us who want to add value in all we do and who are being called to personal and collective evolution—from dentists to doctors, executives to engineers, artists to teachers and visionary leaders and futurists who are looking to redesign their lives so that every moment counts . . . for those of you who seek work that not only fills your bank accounts but your “values” bank as you yearn to do well doing good . . . for leaders who seek a pathway to visionary leadership, so the impact you have is of the greatest benefit for all.

To be one of the first to hear about The Greatness Challenge when it releases join us in the Secret Facebook Group here.

A problem adequately stated is a problem well on its way to being solved.   R. Buckminster Fuller

Last weekend, I sat in the lazy Spring evening with a dear friend to say goodbye.  We all gathered outside on the genteel front porch, surrounded by splashes of outrageous colors in wafting fragrance from their lovely- tended perennial gardens. All of us either ex-hippies or on the early at baby boomer hood. Now mainstream and highly accomplished.  Some of us parents with adolescent kids, other brand new or seasonal empty-nesters.  Coupled and single along with a recent widower.  All of us hunkering into midlife and beyond.

Our conversations floated from one thing to another finally to what’s next?  Each of us piping to our two cents.

What’s next?

 So typical of midlife and beyond: the biological clock keeps ticking! Each of us want to beat that clock… or remove its hands! Like Ulysses’ sirens all our ‘I wants’ shrill shrews demanding attention right now! The consensus: everything looks so risky and getting more so every day!  We all laughingly agreed that it would be so great to just float away. Take a cruise and come back when everything is all decided. Isn’t that what holiday escapes for?

The reality is that most of us are asking the same life altering questions as we find ourselves standing at the precipice of change: How do I make decisions now since I don’t know who I’m going to be by then… or what the world will like by then?! The “then” timeframe has some encompasses the next 2-5 years, and for others of us, 10-15. But what is the same for all is that these midlife and beyond questions range from the more profound:  why am I here? Is this all there is? The more fundamental practice decision about where to go from here both in career and life planning terms. On the midlife career front for instance: where do I step down and pass the baton? What’s my new passion? Should I join some company boards, or rev up and start a new business? Combine with more personal ones which muddy the choice even further: can I afford to downshift? Is this the spouse I want now? Do I want City living, the country or both?

Living Betwixt & Between

Just as in adolescence, most of us are teetering between “in control” and “out of control”.  Each what if? Required a multitude of compromises and leads to more complicated scenarios without obvious answers.  Like a child ride, around and around go.  It’s dizzying.  Lots of questions. Too many choices. Plenty of obstacles to traverse.

Caught in the middle zone, although reluctant to admit it out loud, we all confronted what day tremendous terror of not knowing, the Million-dollar jackpot question is: How do we live in between?

 The only answer: In the center of tension! Somehow we have to find another ground.  And wait it out!

This is the place I know so very well.  As a self-proclaimed midlife and beyond diva, I enter this space as a matter of course as clients seek new on-ramp, change lanes and shift gears on the road to midlife greatness and new destinations.

Life is Good

My own visits to the center of the maelstrom remind me that each new life cycling brings us back into the Life is Good phase. But once there, it’s so easy to get comfy. Too much so. In my youth, the inflation of success was so intoxicating.  I love the adrenaline high fueling my surety that I’ve got this nailed.  I am on top of the world. This phrase’s arrogance blindside us. Once again we fall totally out of touch with the other end of the continuum:  where things may look like there’s no way out…apathy reigns… you may want to give up… can’t find your way. The other side of ignorance can be excruciating self-doubt, emptiness, disconnection from life’s greater mysteries.

Caught in the throes of an inner life-death struggle, we prefer not to take the curves, but rather hold on to what we know and have. So many of us take the slow lane, driving within the speed zone. Only to find ourselves stuck in first gear, heading right smack into mediocrity.  Stagnation. Entropy.

Just like the lifecycle of a business, our lives follow a recurring pattern: one phase follows the next, in time. We either have to change- recycle- or die on the side of the road.

Recently I found myself like a deer in headlights, not sure which way to go.  My husband and I our grappling with where to live and work next. So many directions fascinate. We all want to be with kids, who are spreading across the country from east to west. I craved the country needing to be in nature, yet the” action” is in the city.  New doors are opening to take my work to the next level. I’m pregnant with possibilities.

Fortunately, I know better: I have to stay in the center of the maelstrom and wait it out. And I have to sit in my worst fears.  I know that if I resist, my fears of manifest even more. Instead of staving off the fear of not knowing with my favorite numbing trick, (filling myself with extra help of carbs, obsessing over roads not taken, buying something I probably don’t need) I must instead find a safe middle ground. A place within, where it’s okay to NOT KNOW…yet. That’s where real clarity is birthed.

Lots of opportunities that appear to be right up my alley are beginning to show up. It would be so easy to speed ahead. Any premature movement towards resolution, e.g., rushing the process…is a “subtle self-violation”, as Richard Moss would say.

As is true for all of us, as I get closer to a breakthrough, (the aha! Moments,) the ante gets upped. I need a fix! Just the time to outsource for support and objectivity. I call a dear friend or colleague, and she reminds me to be delicate with myself. And to make friends with my fear of not knowing just yet.

Thankfully, I am forced to acknowledge my own hunger for ready answers and unease with not knowing. I remind myself that this too will pass. Clarity will return. But while I wait, my task is to keep striving for greater consciousness…stretching to unleash my greatness.

Detours or Destinies?

 Now more than ever, it is critical that we remain flexible and adaptable…making friends with change and not knowing. This is our time to resource, preparing for a new phase or a totally new cycle. Each of us must be extra vigilant now to be personally accountable. Now is the time to invite change and embrace transformation.

All we have to do is stay in motion. That’s the key to longevity! But we must remember us that heading into action without clarity is dangerous. Otherwise we may miss the gift of what Bucky Fuller, (one of our country’s greatest 20^th century Visionaries,) coined as a right-angle precession. Tracing patterns in nature, fuller uncovered a new truth: we must stay open to what shows up although it may look like a detour. It may very well be our destiny honking.

For instance, using the Bumble Bee as an example in nature: It flies parallel to the flowers below heading in a determined direction. Then, its turns perpendicular to its original path, only to find the nectar it was seeking. As we all know, it’s so easy to be totally focused on the goal in front of us, so wary of being sidetracked, that we miss the most important side roads. These show up as messengers pointing the way to our desired destination.

Tools for the Road

 I expect to spend the rest of my life in the future so I want to be reasonably sure what kind of future it’s going to be. That’s is my reason for planning.

CF Kettering

To avoid making the wrong turn or aborting the trip altogether, we need proper assessment tools, knowledge and experience to make distinctions. And if we are really savvy travelers, we can take the hairpin turns without destroying what matters most by studying with a master. With seasoned objective and wisdom, a master will help us turn on our headlights again.

In decades of work as a leading GeroFuturist aiming to transform the story around our culture’s approach to aging, I have often spoken and written about this issue. I continue to assert that a large and vital part of our new boldly vibrant story is dependent upon the language we use to define and describe growing older — to ourselves and others, and by those who serve and market to us. When we change or redefine the terminology we use in those descriptions, we change the perception, truth, and dynamics of getting older across the lifespan (for twenty-year-olds, as well as centenarians – and everyone else in between…).

It may sound simple, but it’s not easy. So how do we integrate individual and cultural mind shifts in order to change the “languaging” around adult development and growing older? Something has to give! A perfect example of misplaced, yet commonplace, labeling as we grow older is referring to Baby Boomers as “seniors.” I can assure you that those of us over 40 don’t relate to that at all. In fact, it makes us cringe and run in the opposite direction. Yet, “senior centers” across the country continue to bemoan and wonder why Boomers aren’t banging down their doors for “senior” services and community-building.

We clearly need new terminology to help shift the paradigm. We need a full expression of the affirmative, powerful, and even juicy aspects of aging. Old dismissive stereotypes do not consider the reality of those of us entering or beyond midlife as capable of being fully active physically, socially, mentally and professionally (to say nothing of the fact that the over-40 crowd is the largest adult consumer demographic and, thus, worthy of priority marketing and product development focus). Manifesting such transformation, as with all vital historic movements, will take patience, determination, effort, awareness, intention, time and acceptance.

As is the case with so much in life, there is not just one way to think about growing older or the terminology around that process (a process which will happen to all of us lucky enough to live “to a ripe old age”). My vision for the new story of our times is rooted in an approach toward aging that is “Ageless.”  At this juncture, this word may mean different things to different people.

A retired literary professional recently shared with me that when she hears the term “Ageless” she thinks of it as dismissive of aging, since it seems to infer wanting to avoid looking or growing older. I see the term in a different way, as being age-affirming. Ageless, Ageless Aging, Agelessness (and timeless) to me are all about transcending age at any age… all while owning our chronological age …whether 30, 40, 70…101. Agelessness involves not being defined nor limited by our chronological age at the same time as welcoming/embracing whatever age we are.

Agelessness is about transcending our limited, dismissive and insufficient attitudes toward aging so that we see ourselves and each other as whole and precious parts of a larger evolution with many births, rebirths, endings and new beginnings…no matter what our age or life stage. This does not mean we deny our aging. Instead, being Ageless and embracing The Ageless Way is evidence that we, at every age, own the vitality of life within us and our value, and remove the limits culturally placed on our youth and our elderly.

I feel so strongly about the importance of boldly shifting our definition of the word Ageless (as it applies to Ageless Aging) and proclaiming it as central to our new story of what it means to grow older, that I have titled my upcoming book The Ageless Way.

So, together, let’s re-cognize the abilities inherent in growing from youth to midlife to becoming an elder. Rather than seeing Agelessness as working against the fulfilling life all of us can envision for ourselves, our communities, our world, we will move forward with that word as a testament to our ability to surpass the heretofore ingrained and perceived limitations of aging. Will you join me on that journey?

What does being “Ageless” mean to you and what is your reaction when you hear that word? What are some words associated with growing/being older which no longer have any bearing on the NEW story of our age?