“I’m 77 years old,” my barber said, as I sat in his chair for the first time today since returning to San Diego after my teaching sabbatical in Georgia. “Never going to retire. I have friends who are retired, they said they’re going to take vacations, play golf. After 6 months, they’re bored. I get out of bed and need a place to go every day. I enjoy going to work.” I may be many years away from 77 years old, but I feel the exact same way as my barber. Purpose is a strong motivator. I get out of bed every day and hit the ground running, literally and figuratively. I have goals to chase. I have been thinking a lot about this lately, because I find myself engaged in projects and looking for things to do that I don’t really need to be doing. I’m lucky that I don’t need to work right now, but I want to. I need that purpose every day. What do you think? Can you live without a specific purpose? Or is purpose what gets you out of bed in the morning?
IKAGAI is a strong motivator for healthy living. After 2.5 years in the wilderness, I retired and unretired. I am now back to full-time employment. In a week, it will be my seventy-first BD. I will celebrate that with a full marathon run, which will be the cycle of 8 marathons this year (last year it was 7; next year it will be 7+2=9 and so on). Yes, the purpose is essential for good healthspan and perhaps longevity.
Love this Jason Karp, PhD, MBA! I talked to a client and he said he’s dad is still working with 80 years because he says if you stop working you die, and he still wants to live…😅 while that might be a bit extrem, it’s true on many levels. people drop massively in health, looks and energy once the have no purpose to wake up to…🥳
I’m 85 and I just retired from coaching track at Cajon two weeks ago. I’m already bored and attended workouts at Riverside CC to observe some of my former athletes. I’m starting on Monday working with some sprinters because I can’t stay at home. Watching the Olympic trials on TV didn’t help me sit on the couch.
Good insight! My daily charge is to wake and to be the following: An awesome servant to God, a good husband, father, brother, grandfather, church prison ministry volunteer, human capital (HR) consultant, and private athletic coach. This gets me out of bed each morning, and it keeps me humbly focused on how I must carry on in life! “Do all with excellence, or don’t do it at all”!
Wouldn't happen to be Wayne, would it?