This book I received from the publisher McGraw-Hill surprised and inspired me at the same time. Boundless Potential is a perfect book for those who are crossing or have long crossed midlife. Even for the younger crowd, it is always good to read ahead and have an end in mind. Before I go into the specifics, here are some questions for you.
- Do you feel unchallenged at work? As in, work no longer taps onto your full potential. You feel as though there is so much more you could do, although you are finding it hard to pinpoint what that is.
- Would you like to retire early so that you do not need to work but rather enjoy doing things that you like instead?
- BIG question here: Do you believe that our brain, like other human organs, is fated to wear out over time? That is, to lose its resilience and the ability to function as we get old, really old?
If your answers are yes, you and I are on the same boat. In contrary to common beliefs, our brain works in a different way once we pass our midlife. In fact, a better way. The key is to reinvent ourselves in order to recognize and unlock our potential. What is shocking to me is that I have this wonderful picture of what retirement is. No more work. No need to get up for work, and I can indulge in any hobbies – old or new. Even travel around the world sounds like a good plan. Have you dreamed about what your retirement is?
Now, what if I am to tell you that you should continue to work for as long as you can, be it as seventies, eighties, nineties, and beyond? And that retirement to pleasure alone could possibly kill you faster (curiously, my mother once told me about her concern over my dad’s retirement)? Boundless Potential is packed with tons of real life stories on how people reinvent themselves towards the second half of their lives. How they found a sustainable mean to pursue their dreams, and be happy ever after. In fact, it appears to me that because these people are happy with their work and the positive contribution to the society and those around them, they live longer. And they live a much fulfilled life possibly than those who sip beer over sunset at a farm populated by sheep (that is my dream retirement before reading this book).
Some of you may be skeptic. How to reinvent? What is my hidden talent? After all, while there are pages and pages of success stories, majority of us may well have an unproductive or unfulfilled retirement. To answer that question, the author presents a three-step approach.
First, you have to discover your fascination, your dream so as to speak. It is not an easy task. For some, this discovery journey may take place in a much later part of life, if at all. A fascination is a direction that pulls you forward, regardless of the obstacles ahead of you. It is something that both your heard and mind want. No one can tell you what that is. It may be something you chance upon if you open your eyes wide enough. I am the optimistic one. To me, finding your fascination is like finding your soul mate. Those who are singles are often worried that they would never find that someone to spend the rest of their lives with. But yet, many people are getting married or are living together. Do some soul searching along the way: Where is my fascination? I don’t know what yours is. I am quite sure I haven’t found mine yet. It is unlikely that I know the answer today. But I shall keep this at the back of my head, just in case I stumble upon my answer.
Second, once you found your fascination, it is time to find your flow. What is a flow? It is the highest level of human happiness that is generated when fascination is translated into action. The paragraph below best illustrates the concept.
Contrary to what we usually believe […] the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limit in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something we make happen.
With this specification, I can probably look back on my life thus far and identify a few flow moments. When I was a consultant before my major career switch five years ago, I used to give training workshops and facilitate focused group discussions for the senior officers of my clients’ organizations. It can be extremely stressful because while what I preached was derived from a defined framework, no two audience groups are the same. Different corporate or team culture may require different means to unlock their enthusiasm so that they are more receptive to the training materials. It is an art. I have to observe on the spot and talk to people during breaks in order to understand how best to engage them. For those highly intelligent groups, challenging questions that are new to me may come my way. Teasing out ideas may not be easy. Looking back, those were my happy moments. And I reckon I did quite well because our team constantly received praises and recognition from our clients. Could I reverse engineer my fascination knowing what my flows are? Maybe I am fascinated by training and learning with people? What about those moments when I played music with my band at Orchard for charity? Could music be my calling instead?
Back to the reinvention framework the author has proposed, the third and final step to this process is to envision your structure. A structure that is created by you for success in midlife and beyond. Is it going to be a project, a role, a career, a business, or a nonprofit? Whatever the structure is, it is certainly required in order to sustain and grow your fascination. It is probably something so new and different that you have to sell the idea to those around you and to establish one yourself.
Boundless Potential is written in a highly readable form. It is not possible to summarize all the inspiring case studies in one blog entry. Since I love reading this book (and for my future reference), here are some of my favorites.
An interview with Marion Rosen who was nearly 95 when the author conducted the session.
When we are at the height of our knowledge and the height of our lives, why should we give that up? Why should we not use what we have gotten in 60, 70, 80, 90 years? And hand it on to where it is wanted? It seems ridiculous to me.
If you don’t use your potential, it hits back at you. It strikes back, because it works on you, it wants to come out. And in order not to come out, you have to hold it back. And that is very bad for your health, very bad for your personality, very bad for your relationships. It doesn’t work!
The second quote would take a while to explain (that can be found in the book of course). It has something to do with our wisdom deriving from our maturity, experience, and the changes to the brain. It does sound convincing. I don’t need to see further but looking at my dad to know that this much is true. My father has recently reinvented himself into someone who produces beautiful Chinese Calligraphy (previously he was giving Tai Chi lesson to the folks in Hong Kong and making training videos).
State-of-the art neuroscience has determined that the human brain was never designed for decline or retirement but for continual reinvention and success. In fact, extraordinary powers become available to us in the second half of life that were not available in the first […] The mature brain, when properly maintained, has the potential to be continually transformed – to draw upon and synthesize its vast storage banks of knowledge and experience in ways that can be downright startling.
Another big question for you: What is the secret of living happily ever after? The answer could be as simple as play hard, so that you can work hard (not the other way round!), and pay it forward.
Unlike “simpler” animals, [the Athenians] reasoned, we humans are “composite creatures” who want more than to eat and sleep our lives away.
Thus, attaining genuine happiness – eugeria – requires a full-out lifelong pursuit of worthy goals through the three components of our humanity: body, mind, and soul.
This ongoing quest, they believed, was “the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
Hardcover: 262 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 16, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0071787852
ISBN-13: 978-0071787857
External Link: McGraw-Hill Asia