It’s been said life is like a sandwich—the more you add to it, the better it becomes. But that was before the Sandwich Generation came along, a cohort of overextended midlifers who would prefer less, not more.

Many of you resonated with my post yesterday about legacy, entitled “I Am What Survives Me.” I thought I would follow up with Susan Orlean’s masterful “The Library Book,” which offers this exquisite rumination on the subject of legacy. Enjoy.

Developmental psychologist Erik Erikson offered the five questions below to help define one’s legacy. He wrote about “generativity” as being an adult’s concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations.

In the Gregorian calendar used throughout most of the world, a Leap Year is a calendar year that contains an additional day, called a Leap Day, added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the seasons. In use since the 1500’s, a Leap Day compensates for the small amount of extra time it takes the Earth to make a full trip around the sun and allows for a realignment of the Gregorian calendar with the Earth’s position in the solar system.

An MEA alum was trying to apply my two types of mentorship theory to a young, high-po (“potential”) leader, but was frustrated. The alum said to me, “Can you really teach emotional intelligence to someone who doesn’t care about EQ?”

Chip: I’m continuing my conversation with bestselling author and Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki. You believe that it’s important to “always default to yes,” but how do we do that when our calendar is already full? Aren’t we supposed to become more discerning and a better editor as we age?

Chip: It’s great to have you join me on our daily blog, Guy. I’ll ask you a few questions over the next couple days and hopefully we’ll all be wiser for it. Psychologist Carol Dweck says that a fixed mindset focused on proving oneself while a growth mindset is all about improving oneself. Why is her book, “Mindset,” one of your favorite books and how has it made a difference in your life?

More than 35 years ago, Guy Kawasaki popularized the word evangelist in marketing Apple’s Macintosh as an "Apple evangelist," and he became one of the world’s best known marketers. He’s a bestselling author of 15 books, a venture capitalist, and, most important to me, someone learning to surf around age 60.

Just when I got comfortable in my skin, it started to sag. But that’s okay. I take life less seriously today than I did ten years ago. The Latin root of the word “serious” means weighty and grave. But even though my weight is 15 pounds heavier than it was in 2010, and I’m closer to my grave, I don’t feel more serious.

Having wandered around the field of gerontology for almost a half century, I’ve continually found myself banging into other people’s attitudes as to whether they think aging is a good or bad thing. Is it something to be embraced or conquered? Should we be “pro-aging” or “anti-aging?”