Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in The Second Half of Life. By Arthur C. Brooks
This book was written to the “workaholics” of the world and how to navigate slowing down and reprioritizing life. I must say, although I worked hard and often long hours throughout my life, I always made time for family and friends and play. Here’s a quote near the end of the book:
Use things.
Love people.
Worship the Divine.
“Things” have never been a priority for me. After my near death experience in 1984 it confirmed to me that owning “things” was not important. People, have always been my top priority. And this book confirmed that.
His premise is that, just like athletes who have a peak physical point in their lives which is maybe mid-30’s, we all have a peak intellectual time in our lives which is probably in our late 40’s to early 50’s which he calls our fluid intelligence.
Fluid intelligence is what drives us to be creative, solve complex problems, and helps us move up in our careers. It is our strength as we build our career. But it wains as we get older. The good news is that we tend to gain a new strength which he calls, crystallized intelligence which is the kind of intelligence that gives us a more mature view of things.
Crystallized intelligence gains ground as fluid intelligence wains, and crystallized intelligence never wains. As we get older we get better at making connections, seeing broader themes, best defined as wisdom. I think explains why what I want to do now in my life is mentor more people rather than “coach” people.
I love how he ends with making your weakness your strength which helps us see that no matter what our weakness is (aging for example) we should accept it and know that failure happens to us all. (Failure Makes Me Happy) So be authentic, share your weaknesses with others and be vulnerable. It makes people accept us as human. Take this weakness and know that there are lessons to be learned that we can share with others so they can be better.
A thought-provoking book that I recommend to any workaholics out there and others who are in the second half of their lives.
Note: He talks about hiking the Camino de Santiago with his son and I learned that the translation of this trail is Way of Saint James. This trail exudes the value of walking and spending time alone or with a few friends. Which is what I love to do! My time backpacking with Rees and Howard over 40 years on the Pacific Crest Trail, Long Trail, Colorado Trail, and other hikes confirms the importance of this. (Inhale the Future. Exhale the Past.)
**If you’d like to read another review on this book, my good friend Scott Woodard recently also wrote his. Check it out here.
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