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Successful Aging – Daniel Levitin

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Retirement Wisdom · Dec 29, 2020 ·

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We’re all aging, but what do we need to know about successful aging? I reached out to the person who wrote a comprehensive successful aging book, Daniel Levitin, a noted neuroscientist, musician, and author, to find out.

I discuss with Daniel Levitin:

What led him to write Successful Aging
How he defines successful aging
Common misconceptions about aging
How our brains change as we age
What older brains are better at than younger brains
The roles personality and mindset play in successful aging
What he learned from the Dalai Lama
Why you should consider working longer, and even never “retiring”
How music can be helpful in successful aging
What steps you can take to start to age successfully

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Bio

Daniel J. Levitin is an award-winning neuroscientist, musician, and best-selling author. His research encompasses music, the brain, health, productivity and creativity.

Levitin has published more than 300 articles, in journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. His research has been featured over 1800 times in the popular press, including 17 articles in The New York Times, and in The London Times, Scientific American, and Rolling Stone. He is a frequent guest on NPR and CBC Radio and has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, and CNN. His TED talk is among the most popular of all time.

He is the author of four New York Times bestselling books: This Is Your Brain On Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind and Successful Aging, as well as the international bestseller A Field Guide to Lies. A popular public speaker, he has given presentations on the floor of Parliament in London, to the U.S. Congress, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. He has consulted for a number of companies including Apple, Booz-Allen, Microsoft, the United States Navy, Sonos, Philips, Sony, Fender, and AT&T.

Dr. Levitin earned his B.A. from Stanford in Cognitive Science, his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with a Ph.D. minor in Music Technology from the University of Oregon, and completed post-doctoral training at Stanford University Medical School and UC Berkeley in Neuroimaging and Perception.

As a musician (tenor saxophone, guitar, vocals and bass), he has performed with Mel Tormé, David Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Victor Wooten and Tom Scott. Levitin has produced and consulted on albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell and on the films Good Will Hunting and Pulp Fiction, and has been awarded 17 gold and platinum records.

Levitin taught at Stanford in the Departments of Computer Science, Psychology, History of Science, and Music, and has been a Visiting Professor at Dartmouth, and UC Berkeley. He is currently the Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at the Keck Graduate Institute, San Francisco, California, and James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience and Music at McGill University.

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Wise Quotes

On Personality Factors and Successful Aging

“One of the big ones is conscientiousness. It’s the biggest single predictor, much more so than socioeconomic status, of how your life is going to turn out at any age. Conscientiousness is a cluster of different things having to do with reliability, dependability exercising due caution, and rule-following, to some degree. A kid who’s conscientious isn’t going to cross against the light, and so, is less likely to get hit by a bus. An adult who’s conscientious is less likely to end up in prison – and an older adult who’s conscientious is going to see the doctor when something’s wrong. They’re actually going to do what the doctor tells them to do. My doctor friends tell me that, you know, 80% of their patients are non-compliant and, but a conscientious person is. So that’s the role of personality in all of this. Now there are other factors that influence life satisfaction and health besides conscientiousness, but that’s the big one.”

On Mindset

“You don’t like the way you are? You can change – you can change at any age. And that’s a mindset issue – you have to want to change. It’s like the old joke about the psychiatrist and the light bulb. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is one, but the light bulb has to want to change.”

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More on Daniel Levitin

Daniel Levitin’s Website

Buy Successful Aging – now available in paperback

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Related Podcast Episodes on Positive Aging

How Can You Be Better with Age? – Alan Castel

What Can You Do to Age Better? – Anna Dixon

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

Can You Grow Younger? – Marta Zaraska

Are You in the Driver’s Seat? – Cindy Cox-Roman on Personal Agency

Is Working Into Retirement Good for Your Brain? – Dawn Carr

Advice for Successful Career Women Transitioning to Retirement – Helen Dennis

Retirement Planning Includes Getting Good at Getting Older – Rabbi Laura Geller

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About Retirement Wisdom

We help people who are retiring, but not done yet, discover what’s next.

A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste. And a meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

We help you design the life and/or the second career you want.

Schedule a call today to discuss how we can help you.

_________________________

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Retirement Wisdom · Dec 17, 2020 ·

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Are you living your core personal values? If you look carefully at how you’re spending your time, how aligned is it with your core values? It’s a great time to step back, take stock, and make some changes that can make a big difference in the year(s) ahead.

Our guest Harry Kraemer, author of Your 168: Finding Purpose and Satisfaction in a Values-Based Life, highlights how self-reflection can help create greater alignment and flexibility.

A Values Based Life

Our conversation covers a lot of ground:

Why 168 is his favorite number.
After the books he’s written on leadership, what inspired him to write Your 168.
What a life based on values looks like versus one that’s less so.
Why self-reflection is so important – and how it’s part of his day.
How planning and spontaneity can co-exist.
What the transition was like for him when he retired – and what led him to teach in the MBA program at Kellogg.
What a friend and colleague learned from a wake-up call.
The role habits play in a values-based life.
Why genuine humility and making a difference are key parts of a values-based life.
His involvement in the One Acre Fund.
The best way to start if you want to make the most of your 168 starting in 2021.

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Bio

Harry M. Jansen Kraemer, Jr. is an executive partner with Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm based in Chicago, Illinois and a Clinical Professor of Leadership at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He was named the 2008 Kellogg School Professor of the Year. Harry is the author of two bestselling leadership books: From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership and Becoming The Best: Build a World-Class Organization Through Values-Based Leadership.

He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Baxter International Inc., a $12 billion global healthcare company. He became Baxter’s chief executive officer in January 1999, and assumed the additional responsibility of chairman of Baxter’s board of directors in January 2000.

Mr. Kraemer joined Baxter in 1982 as director of corporate development. His twenty-three year career at Baxter included senior positions in both domestic and international operations. In 1993, he was named senior vice president and chief financial officer, responsible for financial operations, business development, global communications, and European operations. Over the next several years, he assumed additional responsibility for Baxter’s Renal and Medication Delivery businesses. He was elected to Baxter’s board of directors in 1995, and was named president of Baxter International Inc. in 1997.

Before joining Baxter, Mr. Kraemer worked for Bank of America in corporate banking and for Northwest Industries in planning and business development.

Mr. Kraemer is active in business, education and civic affairs. He serves on the board of directors of Leidos Corporation, Dentsply Sirona, Option Care Health, Performance Health and Alcami, and on the board of trustees of Northwestern University, The Conference Board, NorthShore University Healthsystem and the Archdiocese of Chicago Finance Committee and School Board.

He is a member of the Dean’s Global Advisory Board of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is a member of the Council of CEOs, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Economics Club of Chicago. He is a past member of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, and the Healthcare Leadership Council.

Mr. Kraemer graduated summa cum laude from Lawrence University of Wisconsin in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics. He received an MBA degree in finance and accounting from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1979 and is a certified public accountant. For his outstanding leadership and service, he received the 1996 Schaffner Award from the Kellogg School of Management. Harry enjoys jogging, tennis, skiing and reading, especially world civilization. Harry, his wife Julie, and their five children live in Wilmette, Illinois.

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Wise Quotes

On the Transition to Retirement

“…When I first was announced that I was going to leave Baxter, my initial thought was: Oh, well, I guess, I’m going to run another company. And the good news was I talked to some really good people, Joe, who literally said, ‘Well, before you do that, think about this a minute. This is not like you’re 50. And over the next five years, you’re going to be sort of retiring. Harry, if you retire when you’re 50 or 55, you could actually be retired for longer than you were working. Harry, if you take care of your health, you may, God willing, have another 30 years.’And the questions I thought were really insightful, Joe – probably similar to the work that you do – that one fellow asked, ‘Well, Harry, before you jump into your next thing, what do you have to prove? And to whom?’ And I thought: Well, I’m at a point now I don’t think I have anything to prove anything to anybody. ‘Well then, Harry, why don’t you figure out what would make you happy? Why don’t you think of what would give you meaning? What do you feel like your calling would be? ‘And I thought: that’s interesting. And then the other great question, Joe, which I remember distinctly, [although] it is just now 15 years ago, was ‘Harry, what do you want your next role, your work, your workplace to be like?. Do you want to be that a singular event? Or do you want to collect a bunch of things?’ …And I thought: Well, you know what? If I collected several things rather than one main event, that would probably give me a lot more flexibility with the children, and with other things that are important…”

On Self Reflection

“…You will notice when you say you want to be self-reflective and be self-aware, you spend a little bit of time in self-reflection yourself. But as you know, Joe, you’ve got to find a few people that you can bounce this off of. Whereas my wife, Julie will say, ‘Harry, left to your own devices. You could convince yourself of anything. Do you want to know what I think now after 40 years? Joe, you and I know the answer to that is Yes! You may not think it’s Yes, but absolutely that’s it. And I really do believe having some people, Joe, – it could be a sibling, could be a fellow roommate – but having people that’ll just say, ‘Hey, Joe, you know I hear you talking about your values. I hear you saying that, but Joe, I’m looking at your actions pal, and the words and the music aren’t working together.’ So I’m trying to get people to really do two things, Joe: to take the time to figure out what they’re doing and why – and have a couple of people who can say ‘What are you living and [is it ] what you’re talking about? And I think that has an enormous impact.”

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For more on Harry Kraemer:

Website

Buy Your 168: Finding Purpose and Satisfaction in a Values-Based Life

The One Acre Fund

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Related Podcast Episodes You May Be Interested In:

The Skill Set for Life’s Transitions – Bruce Feiler

The Joy of Movement – Kelly McGonigal

Design Your Life and Get Unstuck – Dave Evans

Tiny Habits Can Lead to Big Changes – BJ Fogg

Why People Make a Career Change with Purpose Top of Mind – Chris Farrell

How Life Hacks Can Help Make Your Retirement the Best Time of Your Life – Sam Horn

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About Retirement Wisdom

We help people who are retiring, but not done yet, discover what’s next.

A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste. And a meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

We help you design the life and/or the second career you want.

Schedule a call today to discuss how we can help you.

_________________________

Explore retirementwisdom.com

Retirement Wisdom · Nov 24, 2020 ·

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The benefits of gratitude are plentiful. Yet there’s a tendency to take things for granted, even what matters most. How can gratefulness be cultivated without the painful experience of a wake-up call? Our guest, Kristi Nelson, author of the new book Wake Up Grateful, shares her wisdom on how to develop the mindset and practices to be grateful in our day to day lives.

Kristi and I discuss:

The mission of her organization A Network for Grateful Living
The distinction between gratitude and gratefulness – and why it matters
The role gratefulness has played in her life
Why gratefulness is especially important now
How being grateful can help relationships
Why Thanksgiving can be a springboard to gratefulness year-round
Her new book: Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted
What one thing you can start to do if you want to be more grateful in your life

Kristi joins us from Massachusetts.

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Bio

Kristi Nelson is the Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living (gratefulness.org). She’s also the author of a new book Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted.

Kristi has spent most of her adult life in non-profit leadership, fundraising, and organizational development. In a wide variety of roles, she has helped to lead, fund, and strengthen organizations committed to progressive social and spiritual change.

In 2001, Kristi founded a values-based fundraising consulting and training, and leadership coaching business, and in this capacity worked with organizations such as the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Spirit in Action, Wisdom 2.0, and The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. During this time, she was also founding Director of the Soul of Money Institute with Lynne Twist, Director of Development at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and Director of Development and Community Relations for the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society.

Kristi received her BA from UMass/Amherst, a graduate certificate in Business and Sociology from Boston College, and her Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) with a concentration in Leadership Studies, from Harvard University.

Kristi is a stage IV cancer survivor who feels blessed to work with her beloved colleagues in sharing the gifts of gratefulness with people around the world. She lives in Western MA with her family, and gives thanks every day to be surrounded by the glories of the natural world and a vibrant, loving community.

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Wise Quotes

On Gratitude versus Gratefulness

“And I’ve done some pretty deep dives into the exploration because we love feeling gratitude. It’s a fantastic feeling and we love inciting gratitude and other people helping other people feel grateful and yet gratitude tends to be conditional it’s fleeting. It’s transactional. Often we wait for somebody to do something for us or for something to happen. As we said from the outset it’s something that is ephemeral and difficult for us to put our hands around. How do I get more gratitude inducing experiences? And it ends up being a little bit like the pursuit of happiness. I think in that way it’s elusive. And it feels out there gratefulness, as I was saying before, is something that we can cultivate as a practice, very similar to mindfulness. And it’s a beautiful way to weave together more moments of gratitude. And to learn how to find those experiences of gratitude and to uplift them and to deepen ourselves into them more often. So it’s not about being grateful for everything, but gratefulness as the ability to be grateful in every moment. And that’s something that we can learn.”

On What’s Essential

“So this has been a really tough year. I think it’s taught us what’s essential and helped us come home to that question of How do we value and really live into what is essential for us? Because we don’t take the next moment for granted. We say: This is the moment that’s mine. This is the day that’s mine. This is the life I’m living. How do I live gratefully into what is most important to me right here right now, and not count on anything else, because that’s the way we live a regret-free life. That’s really the way to live without regrets and not put anything off. And so I think that’s really come home to roost – as what’s essential. And I think the lessons are continuing to unfold.”

On Gratefulness as an Action

“I will say that it’s not just feeling grateful. It’s being grateful. It’s an active verb. It’s like love. You can feel a lot of love. You can feel a lot of gratitude, but until you express it, it doesn’t necessarily transform your relationships. And so the invitation is to live it out loud. Don’t take the people in your life for granted. One of the things I say is that when we take things for granted, they become lifeless. They become literally kind of dead to us. We get into a trance. We sleepwalk. We walk past people who are miracles in our lives, and we don’t appreciate them. And we take a drive that we’ve taken off and in our lives. And we don’t appreciate it because we’re asleep to it. And yet somebody who takes that same drive and goes by these trees and on this road might say, Wow, this is extraordinary! …But I think [with] the people who become invisible to us in some way, what we have to do is to be really awakened – and then actively express all of the appreciation that we feel. And one of the things that I’ve really experimented with is: Is it possible to really be too grateful for the people who we appreciate and whose presence in our lives matters deeply to us.? And I kind of have not found the threshold. I’ll just tell you there’s a huge amount of capacity for us to express appreciation.”

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For More on Kristi Nelson

Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted on Amazon

A Network for Grateful Living

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

The Mind-Body Connection and The Rabbit Effect – Kelli Harding

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

Is It Time to Break Up with Busy? – Yvonne Tally

Tiny Habits Can Lead to Big Changes – BJ Fogg

Why Settle for Happiness in Your Retirement? – Emily Esfahani Smith

How Seniors Are Saving the World With Activism – Thelma Reese

Not Exactly Retired – David Jarmul

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About Retirement Wisdom

We help people who are retiring from their primary career – and aren’t done yet – discover what’s next.

A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste. And a meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how we can help you make yours great.

_________________________

Retire smarter. Explore retirementwisdom.com

Retirement Wisdom · Nov 17, 2020 ·

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Retirement is one of life’s transitions – a big one. What’s the ideal retirement lifestyle in today’s Baby Boomer retirement? I’ve had the opportunity to read Shifting Gears, the new book by Richard Haiduck. Through interviews with Baby Boomers in retirement, he paints the picture of the diverse retirement life that different Baby Boomers are living today. Whether you’re planning for retirement or you’re in retirement, you’ll benefit from the stories and life lessons he’s captured and chronicled.

Why he wrote Shifting Gears:50 Baby Boomers Share Their Meaningful Journeys in Retirement.
The themes that emerged from his interviews – and what surprised him
Insights people shared about deciding when to retire
Lessons learned from retirees on choosing where to live in retirement
One of the many compelling stories in the book – and what it taught him
How the stories he heard have influenced his own retirement
What’s on his recommended reading list

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Bio

Richard Haiduck is the author of the new book Richard is a former life sciences executive and mentor and now has an active retirement. He is becoming the Voice of Boomer Retirement Stories. He is immersed in challenging the boundaries of his own retirement while observing the experiences and areas of curiosity of his fellow retirees.

At age 7, he was sure he wanted to be an author. Now, 66 years later, that dream has become a reality. The inspiration for the book came from hearing about the meaningful journeys in retirement taken by friends and colleagues. They were doing fascinating activities at this stage of their life, and often completely new directions from their prior careers. The idea that these stories could become a book became a driving force for Richard. His 75+ interviews and his frequent social media interactions have developed his perspectives and insights on the retirement activities of the boomer generation. Richard’s prior roles as both a leader and a mentor have been based on his ability to listen and to get people to share their feelings. He uses a style of interviewing with short, open questions to get people to open up about their retirement stories. The result is Shifting Gears; 50 Baby Boomers Share Their Meaningful Journeys in Retirement.

He graduated from Miami University and got his MBA from Xavier University. He is happily married to his wife of 52 years and has 2 daughters and 4 grandsons.

His own retirement has been hyperactive. He learns new things through weekly interactions at Stanford, formerly via attending lectures and via Zoom during the pandemic. Each year he reads about 100 books and bikes more than 3000 miles. He mentors organizations serving refugees and small farmers in Ghana. He combines family time with domestic and international travel.

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Wise Quotes

On the Freedom to Retire – and Trial & Error

“While you’re working, there are things that you don’t have the time to do, but you want to do. And they may be things from when you were seven years old. This guy who was fishing, my guess is he may have been fishing when he was seven years old and always wanted to do more. And I think through some of the other stories as well, people decided to go back to an earlier passion, an earlier hobby, an earlier goal – and rejuvenated it in retirement. You get to do whatever you want in retirement if you can deal with the health and wealth challenges. If you’re not broke, and you’re not sick, then you get to do whatever you want. And that means if you’ve got a passion for something, then go do it. And that passion can be whatever is important to you, but you’ve got the freedom and you’ve got the freedom of trial and error too. You can try something. One of the guys in the book said, ‘I know I’ve got certain wishes, but I don’t know exactly how to do it. I’m going to do trial and error until I get this right.’ And in his case, he was looking for the ideal volunteering opportunity. And he went through four different ones in a fairly short period of time until he found the one that was perfect for him. Because he says, ‘That’s what I get to do. I’m retired. I get to do trial and error. And if I don’t like something, I move on and do something else.”

On Baby Boomer Retirement

“There’s a generational theme. That’s probably not surprising, but it’s more pronounced than I thought. And that is Baby Boomers are going to continue to be Baby Boomers in retirement. You know, we’ve been an active generation. We were protesting in the sixties. We were inventing things in the seventies. We were doing all sorts of things that were breaking new ground. So, you know, some would think, well, this generation has accomplished a lot. It’s been an interesting generation when it retires, it will just slow down and relax wrong. That isn’t the way it’s been at all. This generation has continued to innovate, continue to have new passions, continued to do things, to have a retirement that isn’t like our parents’ retirement or retirement that has. And they’re not all earth-shattering kinds of things. So of the things are, are more personal and what’s something someone wanted to do all their lives. One of the guys moved to a place near Yellowstone national park. He’s within an hour’s drive of four great rivers. And he goes fishing every day. He said, and he said, well, once in a while, I’ll miss a day if the event, but he says, Oh, I love it. And I, that is my passion. And it’s just neat to see how much joy he gets from that and how important that is to him and what it means to him in terms of his own satisfaction.”

On How the Stories Have Influenced His Retirement

“I like to think of myself as open-minded and listening and all that sort of thing. But you hear a story like the one about Bruce and Jill and you say, Wow, they’re out there doing something really amazing! And asking myself, what can I do differently? What influence does this have on my behavior? I think it’s given me a stronger sense of wanting to give back. And I do mentoring of social enterprises that are trying to solve major social problems, mostly in the developing world. And I think I’ve gotten a lot of reinforcement from the interviews that I’ve had with people who are doing similar kinds of things.”

On Work in Retirement

“Work in retirement? I don’t think is an oxymoron. I think work can do a lot of things for people. It can provide income if that’s necessary or income to do special things – like I’ll work a little bit so I can take that special vacation or I can go out to dinner to a fancy place on Saturday night. So it’s almost financing a luxury. I think it provides mental stimulation or physical activity that is important to some people. But I think the thing that there are two stories [in the book] that I just was really very gratified to hear about working in a way that the job looks like a hobby, but the job is like I’d do this even if I wasn’t getting paid for it.”

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For More on Richard Haiduck

Buy Shifting Gears: 50 Baby Boomers Share Their Meaningful Journeys in Retirement – Available now

Richard’s website

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

Retirement Planning Includes Getting Good at Getting Older – Rabbi Laura Geller

The Skill Set for Life’s Transitions – Bruce Feiler

Not Exactly Retired – David Jarmul

How Life Hacks Can Help Make Your Retirement the Best Time of Your Life – Sam Horn

Are You Thinking About Going Back to School in Retirement? – Nell Painter

What’s Next for You? – Jeff Tidwell

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About Retirement Wisdom

We help people who are retiring from their primary career – and aren’t done yet – discover what’s next.

A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste. And a meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how we can help you make yours great.

_________________________

Retire smarter. Explore retirementwisdom.com

Retirement Wisdom · Nov 12, 2020 ·

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What second career ideas are you considering? The best second career jobs aren’t often posted on job sites – you create them. One approach is to build a portfolio career, consisting of several activities that leverage your skills, experience, and interests. Our guest, Kate Schaefers, shares her story of how she created a portfolio career – and her observations on how Baby Boomers and organizations are evolving.

I discuss with Kate:

What led her to build a portfolio career.
How the Advanced Careers Initiative at the University of Minnesota was created – and how it works.
What attracts people to the program.
The benefits, and perhaps challenges, of multigenerational groups.
Her perspective on working in the second half of life.
The role of lifelong learning.
What innovative organizations are doing to tap into the skills and knowledge of older workers.
The mission of The Encore Network.
Her advice on how to create a portfolio career/life.

Kate joins us from Minnesota.

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Bio

Kate Schaefers weaves a portfolio of work into a career with one unifying theme: to help individuals and organizations shine. She is Executive Director, University of Minnesota Advanced Careers (UMAC) Initiative, a gap year for experienced professionals as they transition from career jobs into meaningful post-career lives. She is a psychologist and leadership coach, partnering with leaders and organizations to strengthen leadership competencies and organizational effectiveness. She is an adjunct psychologist and coach with The Bailey Group.

Kate is a skilled educator, facilitator and trainer. She has taught graduate-level courses at both the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas and was part of a team of educators that designed a coaching certificate program.

Kate is actively involved in nonprofit and community work. She is Volunteer State President of AARP-MN, convening the AARP Executive Council and contributing to local and regional strategies for the organization, especially around the aging workforce, intergenerational teams and caregiving. Kate was appointed to the Citizens Commission on Minnesota’s Aging Workforce.

She is a member of the Encore Network, a founding board member of SHIFT, and a member of Pollen Midwest. She received the Jules Kerlan Outstanding Achievement Award in 2012 from the Minnesota Career Development Association for contributions to the field of career development.

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Wise Quotes

On Building a Portfolio Career

“It’s hard to find a ready-made cookie-cutter job when what you’re wanting to do is something new – and something that there’s no job description for. So this is how I ended up coming to a portfolio career. I looked at my skills, I tried to distill down what am I good at? What stands out with me? How do I make sense of all of the things that I can do – and create this brand around what I want to do? And so, I struggled with that for a while. I ended up saying yes to a lot of things. Some of them were from paid work, just to broaden my horizons, some was unpaid work and some was volunteer work…So I just took all of these things and tried to look at what skills do I have? How do I redeploy them? And then how do I tell a story about the work I want to do next?”

On the Multigenerational Teams

“Our workforce is intergenerational. So we have four generations in the workplace today – some say five. We still have some of the silent generation in the workplace. Yet most college students learn in an age-segregated environment. And so if we talk about even preparing them for the workplace, they’re not necessarily having those discussions and conversations in a way that reflects what they’re going to experience when they get out of college and then move into the workplace. And we also do know in the workplace that diversity is so important, including age diversity. It enhances performance and creativity. Multi-generational teams in the workplace tend to perform better. I do think some organizations are understanding that when you connect the generations, you can fuel innovation and productivity.”

On Following a Path with Heart & Generosity

“You need to be curious, you need to learn from people, you need to reach out, and you need to build your network. Also, you need to have a level of trust. Trust that you’ll figure it out. You have to have a level of Okay, I may not know what I’m doing, but it’s okay – I’ll figure it out. Follow a path with heart, give back to others, tell your story in a compelling way, work with generosity, pay it back, pay it forward – just put it out there, with generosity.”

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Learn More

Kate Schaefers on LinkedIn

Twitter @KateSchaefers

University of Minnesota Advanced Careers Initiative

The Encore Network

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

How to Build a Non-Profit Encore Career – Betsy Werley

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

Advice for Successful Career Women Transitioning to Retirement – Helen Dennis

Why People Make a Career Change with Purpose Top of Mind – Chris Farrell

What Can You Do to Age Better? – Anna Dixon

The Exciting Potential of Intergenerational Mentoring – Charlotte Japp

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About Retirement Wisdom

We help people who are retiring, but not done yet, discover what’s next.

A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste. And a meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

We help you design the life and/or the second career you want.

Schedule a call today to discuss how we can help you.

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Successful Aging – Daniel Levitin

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A Values Based Life

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Retirement Regrets – Noah Sheidlower

Holistic Retirement Planning – Lane Martinsen

Empty Nester – Dr. Rachel Glik

Season 8

Shift – Ethan Kross

The Art of a Balanced Life in Retirement – Dr. Marybeth Crane

Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life) – John Kaag

What’s Your Cause? – Ed Hajim

Stop People Pleasing – Hailey Magee

TALK: The Science of Conversation – Alison Wood Brooks

Tiny Experiments – Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Layer Upon Layer – DavId Horton, MD

Our New Social Life – Natalie Kerr & Jaime Kurtz

Lessons Learned in Retirement That Can Help You – Judith Nadratowski

Golden Years – James Chappel

Big Goals – Caroline Adams Miller

The Purpose Code – Dr. Jordan Grumet

How to Winter – Kari Leibowitz

The New Happy – Stephanie Harrison

Season 7

The Very Best of 2024 – Retirement Wisdom

Your Money Matters in 2025 – Larry Kotlikoff

Spiritual Aging – Carol Orsborn, PhD

Slow Living – Stephanie O’Dea

Best of the Retirement Wisdom Podcast 2024 – Part 3

The Pursuit of Wisdom – Ben Lytle

Best Of – On Gratitude

Turning the Page in Retirement – Stephen Riggio

Is Semi-Retirement the Best of Both Worlds? – Liz Weston

The Second Fifty – Debra Whitman

The Art of the Interesting – Lorraine Besser, PhD

Changing Lanes to Make a Difference – Jennifer Jacobs

How to Use Your Head to Save Your Brain – Mitchelll Clionsky, PhD

The Joy You Make – Steven Petrow

Passion and Purpose – Jim Ansara

The Future of Aging – Lauren Dunning | Milken Institute

How to Retire – Christine Benz

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile

Best of 2024 – Part Two

The Good Life – Marc Schulz, PhD

The Retirement Savings Time Bomb – Ed Slott

My Last Bad Day – Michael O’Brien

Strategies for Retiring Right – Rick Atkinson

Retire on Fire – Cathy Bishop-Clark

Phased Retirement – Jennifer Barnes

A Season for That – Steve Hoffman

Is Your House in Order? – Adam Zuckerman

Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman

Making a Difference by Mentoring – Jay Silverman

The Laws of Connection – David Robson

Your Next Act – Robert B. Tucker

Not Too Late – Gwendolyn Bounds

Unretired – Mark S. Walton

The Science of Longevity – Coleen T. Murphy

Why Are So Many Men Bad at Retirement? – Dawn Fallik

Mastering Your Transition to Retirement

The Benefits of a New Challenge – Joe Simonetta

Practicing Retirement STILL – Mary Jo Hoffman

How Not to Age – Dr. Michael Greger

On My Way Back to You – Sarah Cart

Live Better Longer – Maddy Dychtwald

Best of 2024 – Part One

Why We Remember – Charan Ranganath

Tap Into the Wisdom of Toddlers – Hasan Merali, MD

The Wisdom and Wonder of Uncertainty – Maggie Jackson

The Fourth Quarter – Allen Hunt

The Ritual Effect – Michael Norton