Dr. Rick Steiner didn’t write the book for us. But trust me, we need to be paying attention to how Boomers are living in retirement.
Retirement: Different by Design: Six Building Blocks Fundamentally Changing How Life After Work is Viewed, Planned For, and Lived takes an in-depth look at the bridge between what we’re doing now, and what we want to be doing during retirement.
Steiner breaks it down into what he calls Retirement’s Six Fundamental Building Blocks:
- Physical and Emotional Health and Well-Being
- Financial Security and Continuity
- Life Transition and Acceptance
- Intergenerational Life Engagement
- Intellectual and Physical Pursuits, Interests, and Activities
- Spirituality, Meaning, Family, and Legacy
Ryan and I believe that the best thing you can do to prepare for the future is to start thinking about it now. Pay attention to what’s happening to those just a few years older, because retirement is coming for all of us, whether we want to admit it or not.
Although I found the last part of Steiner’s book the least relevant to me (I’m not religious, or “spiritual,” unless you count the KISS Army as a religious institution), the book is a quick read and worth the time.
I’m a huge Amazon Kindle nerd. I read most of my books on the device because I can take advantage of the electronic highlighting feature. When I’m finished reading, I can have my highlights and notes emailed to me as a PDF from my Kindle.
If you’d like to get a sense of what this book is about, skim my Kindle Notes.
Seize the day.
Who Let the Blogs Out? // The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something
Teachers, parents, or anyone who holds a position of authority or influence wants to excel. We’ve spent months, years, or decades honing a particular skill set. So why would we ever want to be terrible at something?
As Brad Stulberg writes in a post for Outsideonline.com, it’s important to suck at things. A lot.
“Adults tend not to try new things because they are worried that they’ll fail, or at the very least believe they won’t be any good. The best way to break through that, of course, is to just start trying new things. When you become a beginner, you are, as much as anything, training your curiosity—and the related trait of openness to experience. Being a beginner is fun and playful. As Vanderbilt observed in his young daughter, the beginner’s way can often be carefree.”
In other words, don’t expect to be joining the Foo Fighters on stage for a guest solo on “The Pretender” after two guitar lessons. But fighting through the learning plateau comes with a reward.
“For most, the plateau is a form of purgatory. But to advance beyond the low-hanging fruit in any meaningful discipline—lifting weights, writing, running, meditation, training a dog, parenting, marriage—you must get comfortable spending time there. Just like there is a richness that comes with trying something new, there is an equal richness that comes with getting deeper and deeper into something familiar.”
The Mental Benefits of Being Terrible at Something (blog post)
Pod Save the Queen // How to Pitch, Negotiate and Sell Using The Hero’s Journey with Jason Feifer
James Altucher is one of the best podcast interviewers on the airwaves today. He probes guests with relentless curiosity, often getting into conversations that go off the beaten path.
“The landscape of career nowadays has changed, it’s no longer climbing the ladder, and you don’t want to climb the ladder, It’s too much effort, and more often than none, too little return. In today’s world, you have to learn how to pitch quicker, negotiate better and sell more efficiently. In this episode, I have on our pod friend, Jason Feifer, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, a podcast host, book author, keynote speaker, startup advisor, and nonstop optimism machine, on to breakdown how to pitch, negotiate, and sell using the hero’s journey method.”
Even if you’re not a salesman, you’re “selling” every day. Don’t miss this episode.
How to Pitch, Negotiate and Sell Using The Hero’s Journey with Jason Feifer (James Altucher Show) (podcast episode)
Mall Food Court // America Loves Gas Station Snacks. Here Are Some of the Finest by Region
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The summer travel and vacation season is in full swing. If you’re like me, you get excited to explore the wild and exotic landscape of rest stop eateries. Or maybe you’re halfway to Poughkeepsie and you’re just hungry. Either way, this guide to gas station snacks should be printed out along with your Mapquest directions.
“Here, then, Eater has compiled some of America’s favorite regional gas station indulgences, from gobs in Pennsylvania to breakfast pizza in Iowa to deep-fried burritos in Texas to Spam musubi in Hawai’i. Regardless of what your gas meter says, these are some of the bites worth pulling off the interstate for.”
For the record, they are Gobs, not Whoopie Pies. The Yinzers out there will back me up on that one.
America Loves Gas Station Snacks. Here Are Some of the Finest by Region (article)
Pass the Remote // Risky Business
Tom Cruise’s big breakout also happens to be a snapshot of the Decade of Decadence (aka, the 1980s). Written and directed by Paul Brickman, the movie also starred a smoking hot Rebecca De Mornay alongside of Cruise.
Here’s what Roger Ebert had to say about it when the movie debuted:
“Risky Business is a movie about male adolescent guilt. In other words, it’s a comedy. It’s funny because it deals with subjects that are so touchy, so fraught with emotional pain, that unless we laugh there’s hardly any way we can deal with them — especially if we are now, or ever were, a teenage boy.”
So take those old records off the shelf…
I’m sure the youngsters have parodied or memed Cruise singing in his underwear, but I’m not on the Tock Ticker so I wouldn’t know.
Risky Business (Amazon Prime Video)
Mixtape Rewind // “Always Something There to Remind Me” by Naked Eyes
This song always made me feel a bit sad, the melancholy dripping from the notes like condensation off of an Orange Julius.
At the time, I had no idea Naked Eyes reworked the original Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard.
It entered the Billboard Hot 100 in March and peaked at number 8. Heavy on the synth, reverb, and 80s vibes, you’ll be sniffing this nostalgia for weeks. You’re welcome.
“Always Something There to Remind Me” by Naked Eyes (Spotify)
Where Were You When… [1983]
“Look, ma! I caught a Fraggle!”
Don’t pretend like you didn’t watch Fraggle Rock when it came out in 1983.
As stated on Wikipedia, “Fraggle Rock debuted in 1983… Filming took place on a Toronto soundstage (and later at Elstree Studios, London). The avant-garde poet bpNichol worked as one of the show’s writers. In the early days of development, the script called the Fraggles ‘Woozles’ pending the devising of a more suitable name. Henson described the Fraggle Rock series as ‘a high-energy, raucous musical romp. It’s a lot of silliness. It’s wonderful.’ The program proved accessible to audiences of all ages, and used the fantasy creatures as an allegory to deal with serious issues such as prejudice, spirituality, personal identity, the environment, and social conflict.”
A typical Fraggle is 22 inches tall, in case you were wondering. Anyone else think that Marjory the Trash Heap was like a more benevolent version of Jabba the Hutt?
Opening Theme – Fraggle Rock – The Jim Henson Company (YouTube.com)
This was a kid’s show?
