Hard Truths You Should Know Before Becoming Successful: A Seven Part Series - Part 7
Today I share the last post of my seven part series, from an article I love by Benjamin Hardy, the Bestselling author of Willpower Doesn’t Work. His points are reminders that it is hard work, dedication, passion, vision and courage that are required to build a successful and meaningful life. In your personal and business life, learning, reflecting, and seeking constant improvement are all important components to growing and being at your best. These posts have all hit on that point each week. If you missed any of my postings in this series, here are the others. Find them here: Week #1, Week #2, Week #3, Week #4, Week #5 and Week #6.
The final four truths focus on retirement, the perception of time, the competition gap, and music. Read away!
1. Retirement Should Never Be The Goal
“To retire is to die.” — Pablo Casals
The most powerful way to punch someone in the face is to aim a foot behind their face. That way, you have full momentum and power when you make contact. If you aim only for the face itself, by the time you reach it you’ll have already begun slowing down. Thus, your punch will not be as powerful as you intended it to be. Retirement is the same way.
Most people planning for retirement begin slowing down in their 40’s and 50’s. The sad part is, as momentum-based beings when you begin to slow down, you start a hard-to-reverse decaying process.
Research has found that retirement often:
Increases the difficulty of mobility and daily activities
Increases the likelihood of becoming ill
Decreases mental health
But retirement is a 20th-century phenomenon. And actually, the foundations undergirding this outdated notion make little sense in modern and future society.
For instance, due to advances in health care, 65 is not considered old age anymore. When the Social Security system was designed, the planners chose age 65 because the average lifespan was age 63 at the time. Thus, the system was designed only for those who were really in need, not to create a culture of people being supported by others’ labour.
Furthermore, the perception that people over 65 can’t provide meaningful work no longer makes sense either. Retirement became a thing when most works was manual labour — but today’s work is more knowledge-based. And if there’s anything lacking in today’s society, its wisdom, which people in their later years have spent a lifetime refining.
Retirement should never be the goal. We are fully capable to work — in some capacity — until our final breath.
My 92-year-old grandfather, Rex, was a fighter pilot in WWII. In the past five years, he’s written three books. He goes to bed every night at 8 P.M. and wakes up every morning at 4:30 A.M. He spends the first 2.5 hours of his day watching inspirational and instructional content on television. He then eats breakfast at 7 A.M. and spends his day reading, writing, connecting and serving people, and even doing physical labour around his son’s (my dad’s) house. He even walks around his neighbourhood proselyting his faith and asking random strangers how he can help them.
I have no intention of stopping or slowing down. Contrary to popular belief, humans are like wine and get better with age.
2. Yesterday Is More Important Than Today
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” — Chinese Proverb
Our present circumstances are a reflection of our past decisions. Although we have enormous power to change the trajectory of our lives here and now, we are where we are because of our past. While it’s popular to say the past doesn’t matter, that simply is not true.
Today is tomorrow’s yesterday. What we do today will either enhance or diminish our future-present moments. But most people put things off until tomorrow. We thoughtlessly go into debt, forego exercise and education, and justify negative relationships. But at some point, it all catches up. Like an airplane off-course, the longer we wait to correct the longer and harder it is to get back on course.
Time is absolutely marvelous. We get to anticipate the experiences we want to have — which is often more enjoyable than the experiences themselves. We get to have the experiences we long for. And then we get to remember and carry those experiences with us forever. The past, present, and future are uniquely important and enjoyable.
3. You’re Not “Way” Behind
In sports and all other forms of competition, people perform best when the game is close. Which is why big magic happens at the end of games like on-sides kicks retrieved followed by 30-second touchdown drives. But when the contest is decidedly in one opponent’s favor, neither side acts with the same effort.
When you’re winning big, it’s easy to get lax and overconfident. When you’re losing big, it’s easy to give up.
Sadly, you probably perceive those at the top of your field “in a different league” altogether. But when you do this, you perform with less intensity than you would if you perceived the “game” to be closer.
When you elevate your thinking — and see yourself on the same level as those at “the top” — you quickly become disillusioned by the fallibility of those you once perceived as immortal. They are just people. Most importantly, you will begin playing with an urgency that often surpasses even them.
The game is close. The game is close.
4. The Music You Listen To Determines Your Success In Life
“Without music, life would be a mistake” — Friedrich Nietzsche
One study found that the type of music you listen to affects how you perceive neutral faces. If you listen to sad music, you’re more likely to interpret people being sad. By listening to positive music, you’re more likely to see happy faces which will influence how you interact with people.
Listening to moderate noise level makes our mental processing slightly more difficult, which leads us to utilize more creative methods of problem-solving. When that music is ambient, we can delve deeper into the wellsprings of neural creativity.
Other research found that your music preference reflects your personality type. For example, they found that classical music fans tend to have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease; and that chart pop fans tend to have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease.
Science highlights the fact that in some cases, silence is not golden. For instance, listening to classical music enhanced the visual attention of stroke patients while listening to nothing at all worsened attention. Other research found that cyclists who listened to music required seven percent less oxygen than those listening to nothing. Indeed, music can literally change our entire energy, emotion, and motivation in an instant. It’s a powerful and beautiful tool.
You can also use music as a trigger for optimal performance. For example, Michael Phelps had a routine he did religiously before each swimming event involving music. He’s not alone. Many athletes use music before events to trigger relaxation from the pressure and even to psych themselves up.
When asked by Time Magazine about his use of music prior to races, Phelps said it kept him focused and helped him “tune everything out and take one step at a time.” When asked about the kind of music he listens to, he answered, “I listen to hip hop and rap.”
Interestingly, research has found that high tempo music like hip hop can create strong arousal and performance readiness. Other evidence finds the intensity of the emotional response can linger long after the music has stopped. So, while Phelps is in the water swimming, he’s still hyped from his hip hop.
Lastly, research has found that the types of music we listen to impact our level of spirituality. This last point is particularly important to me. Spirituality heavily influences everything I do, from how I interact with my family, to what and how I write, to how I develop and pursue my goals.
I have enjoyed sharing this series of articles with you these past number of weeks, and have enjoyed hearing from you as well. Look out for more content from me throughout the year, as I share insights, ideas and information I find interesting from leading business executives, influential leaders, and those who I find inspiring. As always, I would love to hear from you, get in touch directly with me at: skrawitz@savills.ca.
All the best,
-Stan Krawitz