Chip Conley

The Mexican people have a lot to teach us about resourcefulness and resilience. Despite the age-old stereotype of Mexicans being lazy and taking siestas on the job, the reality is that they typically work six days a week, not five.

We're big believers in the social science around life satisfaction that shows that starting in our early 20s, we experience a long, slow decline in our happiness that tends to bottom out around age 45-50. This isn't necessarily a midlife crisis but a time when we reconsider our expectations of life.

Some of the most transcendent experiences in life are difficult to put into words: witnessing childbirth or someone dying, falling in love, being on the Burning Man playa at night, or attending the wedding of your oldest child. These moments are beyond language and cannot be fully expressed. I’d put this past weekend’s annual MEA alum reunion (now called "homecoming," thank you, Christine Sperber) in that category.

Society-altering innovations have typically happened in a way that's allowed us humans to take them in stride and adapt to them.

Okay, you're limping into the weekend, and this is the first time you've done that in the past month. Newsflash! You’re not a machine but a human who needs rest and renewal.

A recent Wall Street Journal article with the title of today’s blog got me thinking: is there a different work ethic for older versus younger employees, and if so, is that a new phenomenon? A survey of Americans’ values found that hard work is essential to three-quarters of older workers, while this drops to 61% for those 18 to 29. Many employers are taking note and are focusing on older workers again.

MEA alum and faculty member Ashton Applewhite has an enduringly great Big Think three-minute video on why much of life gets better with age. She highlights so many of the things that are part of our MEA “reframing aging” curriculum, including:

The French are pissed! Their President Macaroon (OK, Macron) wants his people to work a couple more years (moving the retirement age from 62 to 64) to earn their pension. The French have taken to the streets and even want to ban macaroons.

Thanks to MEA alum Amy Beilharz for these five quotes that will remind you that aging and growing are not mutually exclusive.

I recently read this excerpt from Brett and Kay McKay that was such a valuable reminder that our best years may be ahead of us. On page 172 of Jean Edward Smith’s biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ike is almost 52 years old, an age at which many a man feels his life has largely run its course.