What’s happening! 

I’ve had Hoffer’s quote hanging on the wall in my office for over 5 years now and it’s not just sounding good, it’s beginning to seem relevant to my life.

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth

while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped

to deal with a world that no longer exists,”

Eric Hoffer.

Beautifully equipped to deal with a world that is passing away? 

Is that where many of us, beyond fifty, are living?  We don’t like change.  We’re uncomfortable with change, even though we know it’s inevitable.  Life is a living system and living systems move and change; they aren’t static, they don’t remain still.  So, it’s impossible that our world not change.

ARE YOU A FUNDAMENTALIST? I USED TO BE.

I’ve been a fundamentalist.

What’s a fundamentalist?  According to Seth Godin, “Tribes,” a fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to his religion/belief, whatever that might be, before he ever looks into or examines the fact.

According to Godin’s definition I’ve been a fundamentalist for 70 years. 

If something comes up that doesn’t agree with my inner thinking I simply discard it, ignore it, force the fact-teller to shut up. 

But after 70 years of fudamentalism, fundamentalism began morphing to curiosity.

“A curious person explores first, and only after exploring,

decides whether or not he wants to accept the proposition,”

Seth Godin 

70 years it’s taken me.

YOUNG GURUS MET IN LAS VEGAS. I WAS THERE. 

Two months ago I attended an Internet marketing meeting in Las Vegas, listened to speakers, met, and watched people. Since I knew I was forced to stay–I was sitting in the room and knew I’d be there all day–I listened to them and opened my mind to new ideas.

Gradually I saw a new world.  InterNet gurus making unbelievable incomes, starting their own businesses, young, independent, following their gut, going against accepted business-world protocol, change from the bottom up.  Not a suit in the room. Sneakers, T-shirts, long hair on some, dred locks, jeans.  The new business community.

SAFE FEELS RISKY.  RISKY MIGHT BE SAFE

Following risk might turn out to be the safer road.  Seventy years of needing to be in control, and fear of change gives me a life governed by fear.

Janice and I have been married 47 years.  Janice and the boys are the curious ones, constantly challenging status quo, intrigued with new ideas, off-the-wall possibility.

“The marketplace now rewards (and embraces),the heretics.

It’s clearly more fun to make the rules than to 

 follow them, and for the first time, it’s also profitable,

powerful, and productive to do just that,”

Seth Godin.

Healthy living beyond fifty demands we open ourselves to new ideas.  See change as a cleansing, a process of birthing new ideas for a new world. 

Ask questions of yourself you need to ask: “What do I love to do?”  “What am I really good at doing?”  “Where do my gifts and talents lie?”  Enlist your partner’s help.

Then, take one new action this week to follow up on those questions.

“See” you again soon,

John

Next Article/Video

Tweet This Post