Encore: Rewiring for Your Next Act at Kanuga Conference Center

It isn’t often you get to mix planning for the future with Jazz improvisation and the spiritual journey. But that’s just what’s happening on February 25-27th at the Kanuga Conference Center outside of Asheville, NC. The program is Encore: Rewiring for Your Next Act. This event will focus on how to “do” retirement and the future, however you define it. Participants will learn to discover what really motivates and fulfills them as individuals, create a personal vision for the future, and begin to develop a personal “REWIRED life portfolio. There will be an opportunity for some personal coaching as well.

The program is the 2013 Bowen Conference, an annual event to explore Christian commitment.

We are delighted to be joining with the Theodicy Jazz Collective, the Reverend Ben Alford, a recent rewiree, and the Reverend Lisa Flores, Conference Coordinator.  Working with a Jazz group who constantly improvise as they play is a dream-come true for us. We love Jazz and we have seen first hand how retirees benefit when they use improvisation to improve their experiences and enhance their dreams. Attendees will leave with deeper personal insights about themselves and tools they can use to achieve a more fulfilling and enjoyable future.

Kanuga is one of the great conference centers and camps in the nation and is located in a magnificent setting in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It’s been around since 1928 situated on 1400 of the most beautiful acres you can imagine. Lake Kanuga is a photographer’s dream. The facilities of Kanuga are modern and amazing. In addition to the conference individuals can take full advantage of the hiking trails, yoga and other recreational venues located at Kanuga. 

Here is the link to learn more about the Conference and how to register for what will be an exceptionally rewarding and fun experience. The conference is open to everyone regardless of religion or denomination.

STOP GIVING YOURSELF LIP SERVICE!

I had postponed writing a New Year’s blog because I found myself beginning to write some of “the same old, same old.” What I mean is that each year there is the expected dialogue that people have with themselves about making and keeping resolutions. Or perhaps it’s the dialogue about getting committed to changing some things in your life that you have been complaining about forever. Or maybe you truly are sincere when you try to convince yourself that you really have the desire to start anew but just can’t get into gear for whatever reason.

I thought about those dialogues and decided NOT to write about change or resolutions this year. Instead I decided to get right to the point and to tell everyone DO SOMETHING SMALL. YES SMALL! Don’t go for BIG! You won’t get there. You know yourself and you might have proven that to yourself already.

Think about it: We learn to crawl before we walk, and to walk before we run. Yet as grown ups we go for BIG and often make monumental commitments to ourselves, only to falter, or even worse, fail because the commitment or goal just looked too massive. So rather than being down on yourself … GO SMALL. Take a small step.

In fact I challenge you to make some small effort or action today towards a goal you have been thinking about. Then when you’re done, smile and pat yourself on the back. Sounds trite but if you do that every day for one week, you’ll not only feel better about yourself but you’ll be moving forward on some initiative in your life.

Rewiring your life…whether it be at work, play, in the community or in relationships, doesn’t happen overnight. There are books, YOUTUBE videos and podcasts on taking small steps to success, so take them! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

DON’T MISS OUT ON LIFE BECAUSE OF YOUR EGO!

We recently did a blog on why people don’t try new things and it is often because they are safeguarding their time, effort, energy and money. In our presentations and workshops we are always challenging people to REWIRE®. We help them identify dreams, goals and resources that would lead to a more fulfilling future… at work, at play, in life overall.

Every day we meet men and women over 50 who want to rewire their life by trying something new. That “new” can be learning a sport, a language, doing yoga, even volunteering, but for whatever reason they find excuses not to proceed. We had earlier discovered that they postpone or procrastinate on moving forward because of time, effort, energy and money….and now we add …they are safeguarding their egos…to the list!

We first saw this happening with Boomers who were facing retirement, or even in retirement, and admitted to being bored and “antsy” to try other things, but holding back. Being researchers we probed why this was happening, and discovered that they didn’t want to be a beginner. They didn’t want to look stupid in front of others as they tried something new.


Many of these men and women had been highly successful in their work, and didn’t want to be in positions where they would appear vulnerable, and not able to compete at peak performance.


One man lamented that he could kick himself now for not having taken up golf years ago, now at 64 his friends played a pretty good game, and he didn’t. He told us he didn’t like to play with them, because they ribbed him about how bad he was and he hated it!

In our experience there is no possible way to go from being a beginner to an expert, or even just proficient in something, without starting out as a novice!

We all have to make some hard choices: Will our ego permit us to be a beginner, or will our self perception hold us back from new experiences? The answer is up to us but here are a few very basic tips to ponder:

1. Look into taking a private lesson or two to jumpstart your new activity.

2. Supplement your classes with books, videos and apps.

3. Don’t be a “quick quitter!”

4. Believe in the adage: “Practice Makes Permanent.”

5. Your brain has great “plasticity;” challenge and use your gray matter.

Don’t let your ego hold you back form a great future. Go out and BEGIN!

Update on Herman Wouk and Ageless Creativity

One of our October blogs was about 97 year old Herman Wouk, author of The Caine Mutiny and numerous other famous books.  His new book, The Lawgiver, has recently been released.   Brooks Barnes of the New York Times has written an article about Herman, his productive life and the significant contributions he has made to the gobal literary landscape.  Part of the article discusses how remarkable it is for someone of his age to be using email, Skype and the Internet.  He is still working to conquer text messaging. He also uses Facebook.

Herman sets the record straight: "I may be old, but I'm still aware of things." He embraced technology 10 years ago as a means to stay in touch with friends and family.  But he doesn't stop at technology.  He has a personal trainer, a yoga instructor, and a keen desire to keep on writing.  It's his passion, but it is also his job.  We always ask people who are considering retirement, "If you love what you do, why would you want to stop?"  No one had to ask him. He is already working on a new book.  Hopefully it will be out before he hits 100. 

Beyond being a great, mature author, he is a wonderful role model regardless of age.  None of us know how long we will live or how long we will continue to enjoy a vital and engaged life.  But we should never forget that there are two things in our control that are the best measure of our individual futures.  They are our attitude and effort.  A positive attitude and a committment to using the energy that resides within us is the best predictor of a more fulfilled future. 

Herman continues to get Driver fulfillment from his work.  Each new book he produces is testimony to his commitment to keep on REWIRING.

Encore! Rewiring for Your Next Act Conference

We often get inquiries from readers of Don't Retire, REWIRE! regarding when and where we are conducting Rewiring® Conferences or Seminars. We are pleased to tell everyone that on February 25-27, 2013 we will be keynote speakers at the Bowen Conference called ENCORE! Rewiring for Your Next Act. This will be a great opportunity to learn all the ingredients that go into have a great rewirement®. The conference will explore the spiritual as well as the practical aspects of creating a future you are happy about living.

The Conference is being held at the Kanuga Conference Center located in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Kanuga is affiliated with the Episcopal Church and is situated on 1,400 mountain acres near Hendersonville, North Carolina, with scenic Kanuga Lake at its center. The Conference is open to everyone who would like to attend. The cost is very reasonable and includes the program, lodging, meals and use of the recreational facilities. Commuter attendees are also welcome.

Whether you want to continue to work, volunteer, find new meaning in life or overall have more good times, you can have as many encores as you dare to imagine. We will be discussing tools and techniques to help create a fulfilling future regardless of your age or stage of life. Learn how to identify your personal drivers, which you can use to select meaningful and nourishing activities in this next act of life.

Come and join us. You will meet new people and learn new things about yourself and how you can make the most of the future. Get started planning for the Conference by taking the Rewirement Ramp Up Quiz.  Hope to see you in Kanuga in February!

CREATIVITY IS AGELESS!

If you think creativity ends after a certain age, guess again. In April The New York Times carried the announcement that Herman Wouk, famed author of the The Caine Mutiny, The Naked and the Dead, The Winds of War, and other great works, is coming out with a new book,The Law Giver. He was born in 1915 and is 96 years old.  And still writing away! Now how is that for life long creativity?

He wrote his first novel during World War II when he was in the Navy sailing on a minesweeper in the South Pacific. What’s his secret besides having longevity? Wouk has kept a personal diary since the 1930s. On September 10, 2008, he formally presented the Library of Congress with his journals---over 90 volumes (he kept copies). He keeps them so that he can remember what happened during his life with greater detail and accuracy.

No matter what age you are and no matter what your creative outlet…painting, writing, sculpture, acting, etc., don’t be stopped from pursuing your goal, just because you are 50, 60, 70, 80 or older like Herman. Science shows that the brain is always rewiring. It is the rewiring that gives us the ability to continue to be creative. But it needs to be stimulated to keep it going. Yes, use it or lose it. What better way to use it than doing something creative.

His advice to aspiring authors: "Write a page a day. It will add up."

What you can learn from the artist, Claude Monet

If you haven’t been to the New York Botanical Garden, this would be a good time to go. There is a wonderful celebration exhibit of the artist, Claude Monet’s Garden. Monet’s original flower garden still exists at this home turned museum in Giverny, France. The New York version is a fantastic recreation true to Monet’s vision. His garden was a love and vocation that lasted most of his adult life. His famous Water Lilies paintings came from seeing the garden almost every day, every season and every year for over 50 years.

Monet kept painting them until he died at age 86, because each time he saw them, they looked different. He loved to wake up in the morning and looked forward to each day. Some would say he never rewired. Other’s would say that he rewired every time he did a new painting. We think it’s the latter. Ask any gardener and they will tell you that everyday a garden changes. Something grows. Something dies. Animals and birds cycle in and out. It is never stagnant, but always dynamic and changing. Just like us humans.

He never bored of it. In fact he marveled at his good fortune that he was able to paint so many canvases. France commissioned him to create a series of extremely large paintings of the Water Lilies now housed in Paris at the L’Orangerie, a national treasure. It is an artistic memorial to those who died serving France during the First World War. If you can’t get to Paris go on line an see them or go to one of the museums in the U.S. that has one of his paintings.

The New York Botanical Garden held its annual Patrons Lecture earlier this summer, under written by the Carnegie Foundation at Sotheby’s in New York City. Professor Paul Hayes Tucker, the foremost authority in the world on Monet and a consultant on the exhibit delighted the audience, us included, with insights on Monet, Art, and life. Monet had the good fortune of never retiring. He painted until the end. He used his creative gifts and frequently asked the question, “Why would I ever stop painting? It is what I love most.” Fortunately for the world he was never forced to retire by an age limit or a corporate policy or even a limiting disability…he had cataracts.

So for all of our readers who love what they do, keep doing it. And for those who dislike what they do, retire if you can, and Get REWIRED. Dive into new activities and interests and find one that will nourish and sustain you for the rest of your life. Once you find that special something you can evolve into someone who thrills to wake up in the morning. Just like Monet did!