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Work peak and professional decline (2019)
41–50 of 164 posts
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#42Related: The notion of "retirement" is a relatively recent invention. Traditionally, when you were too old to work the farm or prove the theorem (sorry, cognitive decline is a well-documented thing, and tends to coincide with physical decline[1]), you would "retire" to a productive life in less-demanding pursuits: caretaking of the grandkids, woodworking, food preservation, writing, etc. It's important to maintain ho…
For an interesting take on this, see the book Ambition, by Gilbert Brim.
It’s been posted to HN before, and led to interesting discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10967206
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#43Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#44Related: The notion of "retirement" is a relatively recent invention. Traditionally, when you were too old to work the farm or prove the theorem (sorry, cognitive decline is a well-documented thing, and tends to coincide with physical decline[1]), you would "retire" to a productive life in less-demanding pursuits: caretaking of the grandkids, woodworking, food preservation, writing, etc. It's important to maintain ho…
While I share your antipathy for low-efficiency vehicles, why is traveling around the national parks of the west a sad way to spend your retirement years?
Exactly. The need to be productive for society until the day you die may have been a requirement in the past, but encouraging that today just sounds depressing.
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#45So what you're saying is if I already don't feel useful in my early 40s I'm pretty screwed.
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#46I would not underestimate the value of experience. And the older you get, the more of it you have a chance to acquire. I think the mistake most people make is to deliberately slow down as you get older. Never slow down and you'll keep pulling ahead.
When I was younger, I would run as fast as I could straight into brick walls. I deliberately go more slowly now, and make wiser decisions. The value of my experience has taught me that it's better to move slow in the right direction than fast in the wrong direction.
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came to say something similar but less succinct. I've been in a transitional state career-wise, partially by choice, but I think there's two major factors not really mentioned by the article, and in fact, factors I think the article reinforces. The first is ageism, like you say. But I think ageism is a lot more subtle than other things, because it's not only an assumption of age-related decline, but more generally…
What a trashy article. A lot of elderly Americans, including in the upper middle class, never retire due to Medicare being inadequate. You can quite literally save millions for retirement as an individual, and have coverage for drugs and treatment under Medicare, and still run out of money due to having to pay extortionate prices for covered drugs. This line in the article is quite revealing and strange, contextually…
Do you have any data to show that Medicare Advantage plan members have lower 5-year cancer survival rates than other patients? Because most other studies have shown that Medicare Advantage plan members receive better quality care on average. Just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean the system is failing everyone else.
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
> low-efficiency vehicles Tangent: Are these actually low efficiency? Sure, 10 mpg (this is a more typical average, BTW, not 8 mpg) is terrible gas mileage ... for an average car. But a portable house that can drive down the interstate isn't just a car. Per pound, it doesn't seem that bad.
And when compared to air travel and hotel stays (which come with large water and heat costs associated with daily laundry) it's actually less of a carbon footprint.
mind showing your work?
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#49One of the most productive engineers I knew (who I’m guessing will read this) was in his 60s when I met him. He’s since “retired” and helped a company obtain a $1B valuation. Similarly, my 85 year old grandfather still doesn’t own a wheelbarrow and will move stone, dirt, etc every summer. His motto is “keep moving”, I don’t think there’s really anything else to it. Yes you will slow down, but stay engaged and motivat…
Ultimately, the data for things like this boils down to anecdotes over a wide distribution. Some people flourish with age; some don't. Each individual's situation arises from a confluence of factors, some within their control (lifestyle, attitude, attention to professional development) and some outside their control (industry changes, ageism, health). To contribute an anecdote from my own experience: I once worked at…
Genetics is also a major factor that a lot of people ignore. I'm relatively healthy right now and do my best to live an active lifestyle, but am also preparing for a physical and mental decline by 60-65 since that is when my entire extended family going back generations has always started to show their age.
Re: Work peak and professional decline (2019)
#50Does the author struggle with any substance use or abuse? My mental acuity is sharper at 38 than it has ever been. But I gave up all alcohol and substance use a year ago.
Yeah it’s so obvious how much better your body and mind perform when you give it the right inputs and remove the bad.