Stubbornly Young
Stubbornly Young
9 Rules for Being Stubbornly Young - Quick List
Episode 2 of the Stubbornly Young Podcast, takes you briefly through Dave's 9 rules for being stubbornly young. These guideposts will have you thinking of practical activities to keep your mind, body and spirit stubbornly young.
You can find Dave’s at length post and read more about these live and ever changing set of rules on his blog. You can also share your insights, thoughts and feedback with Dave and start the conversation about it.
Here are the 9 rules for staying stubbornly young:
1. Embrace the new world
2. Consume thought provoking content
3. Enjoy the outdoors and physical activities
4. Don’t talk about medical stuff 3:16 short version
5. Be open to the merit of both sides of an issue
6. To be upbeat, keep a sense of humor and don’t complain
7. Learn something new
8. Try something new
9. Accept that I’ll make mistakes
Dave’s book recommendation: Ready Player One
Read my Blog called Rules For Being Stubbornly Young and let me know what you think!
Email your thoughts at dave@stubbornlyyoung.com
Check out where it’s all happening on the Stubbornly Young website
Thanks and looking forward to hearing how you’re remaining stubbornly young!
Dave Tabor (00:00:01) - This one's kind of fun for me. Look, I believe this strongly. An open mind keeps us fresh. And look, it's better for the world. I thought when I reached this age, I'd be done making bad mistakes. And he looked at me with some surprise. Dad, you're still in the game. The world is changing. Of course you're going to make mistakes. I'm so grateful to him for pointing that out to me. I'm your host, Dave Tabor. Stubbornly Young is for people in their 50s and 60s and beyond who are interesting, have valuable perspectives, and are fully engaged in the world. We want to maintain the status we've earned and continue to be seen as relevant to the younger people who follow in our wake.
Welcome to the Stubbornly Young Podcast, episode two I'm Dave Tabor. I kicked off episode one with a special guest, Mark Schaefer, bestselling author and international speaker. We unpacked the whole notion of Stubbornly Young for this episode. It's just me bringing you my Nine Rules for Being Stubbornly Young.
Dave Tabor (00:00:57) - These are my key principles, sort of guardrails that define my outlook. This is a list only, and in subsequent posts I'm going to write about each at length. Explore those topics with guests, and we'll dig in a lot further. So please share your rules with me, your thoughts, and I'll add and remove and modify mine based on feedback. So let's jump right in.
Rule number one is Embrace the New world. And this rule was originally called Embrace Technology. I was convinced to change it because Sheryl pointed out that one doesn't have to love technology that is tech devices. So I changed technology to the new world. And technology and innovation drives almost all change. So use some new tech, hardware or software. I mean, most people do what you really have to and lean into learning about technological changes in the world. That's a must. And I'm going to expand on this, including talking about my search to learn about nuclear fusion on a full on podcast or a blog post about rule one.
Dave Tabor (00:01:56) - Rule two, Consume Thought Provoking Content. My preferred sources are audible and podcasts. I'd love to look for entertaining titles that teach and stimulate me to think outside my box. These can be business books, or sometimes I like to read fiction that stimulates ideas that help me stay stubbornly young. One, for example, is a book called Ready Player One. A lot of it takes place in what we now call the metaverse. I don't think it was named that when the book was written, but even though it was fiction reading it has given me a lot of insights about where the metaverse is going. And it's encouraged conversations that I've had with others about the metaverse. Rule three, Shifting Gears enjoy the outdoors and physical activity. Hey, what's better to keep the mind fresh and bright than being active, especially outside? My preferred outdoor activities are where I can enjoy the beauty of nature while getting exercise. My favorite is backcountry snowshoeing in the summer, some stand-up paddle boarding and hiking. When I'm out, I tend to step away from the others I'm with for a few minutes and capture some moments of solitary thought that really helps. Sort of brighten my mind, helps me relax, and makes the day really complete for me.
Dave Tabor (00:03:00) - Rule number four, Don't Talk About Medical Stuff. Now, this is controversial to those with whom I've shared it, and I look forward to explaining it in detail. I mean, really, some people are bewildered. Some think it's rude. When I interrupt a conversation, I say, I just don't want to talk about medical stuff. Now look, the short version is this I have a really good reason. The short version just won't. It's going to offend people. So I'm not going to get into this now. I'm going to get into this in a longer, more involved, separate post.
Rule number five, Be Open to the Merit of Both Sides of an Issue. This one's kind of fun for me. Look, I believe this strongly. An open mind keeps us fresh. And look, it's better for the world. Our world has become so divisive and that makes us feel negative towards others who don't share our perspective.
Dave Tabor (00:03:46) - Trying hard to at least understand, I mean, hey, even maybe appreciate things that we don't agree with in others that keeps our mind positive and fresh. And I think, really, it takes some discipline, especially with all of the media that we consume that tends to want to polarize us. Trying to see both sides of an issue is really important to me.
And that leads me to the next rule, which is six to Be Upbeat, Keep a Sense of Humor and Don't Complain. This is the hardest for me. I'm so envious of people for whom being upbeat seems to come naturally, but when I think of those to whom I am most attractive, I think most of us are most attracted, particularly those in the stubbornly young age group. They are all positive people. I mean really positive people that have a smile and it's sincere. I mean, sometimes when I'm frustrated, I think of my friend Tyler because he's so upbeat. I think, wow, he'd probably just laugh this off.
Dave Tabor (00:04:37) - All right. Rule number seven, Learn Something New. Learning new things makes me feel alive and creative. I wrote a post about experimenting with artificial intelligence generated art. I still do that. It's super fun for me. I also continue to return to Spanish language lessons on audible. It's really going slow because I'm not focused frequently enough. But when I can say something to a native Spanish speaker, even if it's like super basic, I feel more alive. I feel charged. It's fun and continuing on. So number seven was learning something new.
Rule number eight is trying something new. Trying something new gives me a hit of energetic positivity. I'm trying to relieve stress right now by getting started on a paint by number project. I haven't done that since I was a little kid. And anyway, while it feels rudimentary, it also feels fresh. I'm about 1% done and it's taken me a month. Really. It's a process, but it has a sense of contentedness and it makes me happy. So trying something new is rule number eight, except that I'll still make mistakes.
Dave Tabor (00:05:33) - This is rule number nine, and staying in the game means continuing to be a flawed work in process. I learned this actually from my son Matt. I was complaining, I think I was probably in my mid 50s and I was just complaining with deep angst because I had just made a bad mistake and I'm like, God, I thought when I reached this age I'd be done making bad mistakes. And he looked at me with some surprise. Dad, you're still in the game. The world is changing. Of course you're going to make mistakes. I'm so grateful to him for pointing that out to me. So as of today, these are my Nine Rules for Being Stubbornly Young. And they're already changing. I've already changed them. I'm sure when you provide me with feedback, they'll change some more. So please comment on the Stubbornly Young Facebook page or on the Stubbornly Young website, or email me at Dave@StubbornlyYoung.com. I'm Dave Tabor. My friends, glad you could join me. Please rate Stubbornly Young in your podcast app. Please encourage your friends to listen. The journey of staying relevant for ourselves and to those we care about is an exciting one. Visit stubbornlyyoung.com to read my blog, subscribe and send me feedback and ideas to make us all better at this. Thanks for listening. Onward!