Professional (and Monetary) Success

[finnime]

This is interesting:


www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/work-peak-professional-decline/590650/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-fb-test-1051-4-&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1lOAlRmdbElwiNK7KhScn1nnPX4s78CmbBcFIkGX4YhdKAICp_X3MMaZU

Just when you hit your peak you fall off the mountain in most professions.

[resolution]

That was an interesting read. I wish they had included links to their information sources regarding people reaching their peak and then suddenly declining.  I'd like to retire before I start negatively impacting my teammates, but how does one recognize when that sort of decline starts?

[Tiny]

Jun 21, 2019 14:21:16 GMT -5 resolution said:

That was an interesting read. I wish they had included links to their information sources regarding people reaching their peak and then suddenly declining.  I'd like to retire before I start negatively impacting my teammates, but how does one recognize when that sort of decline starts?    

If I read between the lines correctly - it will depend on the type of "intelligence" your profession depends on. It's the Fluid and Crystalized thing he talks about. If your "work" depends on (or demands) Fluid "intelligence" - the peak is generally in one's 50's. If it's "crystalized" intelligence (teaching, wisdom, knowledge) based "work" the peak is in one's 60's.



From the article:

Acharya answered elliptically, explaining an ancient Hindu teaching about the stages of life, or ashramas. The first is Brahmacharya, the period of youth and young adulthood dedicated to learning. The second is Grihastha, when a person builds a career, accumulates wealth, and creates a family. In this second stage, the philosophers find one of life’s most common traps: People become attached to earthly rewards—money, power, sex, prestige—and thus try to make this stage last a lifetime.

The antidote to these worldly temptations is Vanaprastha, the third ashrama, whose name comes from two Sanskrit words meaning “retiring” and “into the forest.” This is the stage, usually starting around age 50, in which we purposefully focus less on professional ambition, and become more and more devoted to spirituality, service, and wisdom.

I think that's a pretty good way to know - review how important those "earthly rewards" are to you.
I like the idea of resume virtues and eulogy virtues. It's all about figuring out whats "enough" (money/power/prestige" and then figuring out how to transition to using one's "crystalized" intelligence and working on one's eulogy virtues.

I liked this article. I found it helpful and thought provoking. I'm in the space between "resume virtues" and wanting to work on "eulogy virtues". I'm glad I seem to be on the right Path.

(I did find it interesting that the author used Eastern Wisdom to describe it all, but he wanted to spend more time with his own Western Religion. Doesn't Western Religion have wisdom/answers for these kinds of existential questions?  I'm not dis-ing Western Religion- but wouldn't you look to your own chosen spiritual path to find answers to existential questions?   Now I must go down that rabbit hole via the Google....  )

[Rukh O'Rorke]

I read a few paragraphs in and it got a bit too boring and not at all on point to the graph of what happens between 50 and 60.

What were they measuring? Who were they measuring?

I never found out.