The world is always changing. Fast of slow? For better or Worse? Richer of Poorer? Sicker or Healthier? Cleaner or Dirtier? Sounding a bit like a marriage here. Things change at both the macro and micro levels.
I am a technology geek. While I like to engage in a variety of different types of work I still like to roll up my sleeves and engage in technology. I like tinkering with and building software from what is called the backend to the frontend. Right or wrong there is a perception that your shelf life starts to diminish and deteriorate at around age thirty if you are a hard core techie.
Well, I am fifty-four. Since I was about forty I literally have woken up most every work day looked in the mirror and asked myself, "Is the world of technology passing me by?", "Am I keeping current?", "Are my ideas fresh?", "Am I still able to be innovative?", "Am I becoming too set in my ways?"
Sometimes if we are being honest with ourselves these are tough questions to answer. Especially when we are only reflecting on them in our own moments of privacy.
A few years ago I recall a phone conversation with a co-worker and friend. He was railing about having to deal with a group of older co-workers on a project. They were set in their ways, dug in and unwilling to look to new ways to solve a problem his inter-disciplinary team was facing. I sat and listened as I had worked with many of these people and shared his sentiments. During his vent he said something to the effect that it was sometimes hard to work with older people in technology and I think he even threw out an age that was quite younger than mine (at the time). I said to him... "You do realize I am fifty two?" ...then braced myself for his response.
"I know, but you are not like them..."
I brushed the sweat off my forehead, sweet validation of my self-perception :-).
Seriously though, this is not a physical game we are playing where we cannot help that our body is just slowing down.
Why is it we get so set in our ways?
I recently engaged with a rather brilliant fellow of somewhat renown that comes across like someone who still lives in the early 1980's. I know this as after I spar with him I will typically get a few communications from people that privately tell me this. His voice is not nearly as well received as it could be because he really does live in the past. While much of what he says is still relevant today he comes across is a manner that cause most people to just stop listening.
What is our reason for resisting change?
Is is because what we are doing and have been doing really works so well we just feel "why should I change"?
What is our motivation for not wanting to change and adopt new ideas?
My worldview on this for a long time has been...
- Take what has worked in the past and bring it forward. But do not be afraid to tweak or modify these things to adapt them to the current situations you face.
- Do not be afraid to examine and learn new ideas and innovations. Do so with the lens of how is this a better mousetrap than the ones we have used?
For me these are ideas that apply to everyone regardless of what their age or occupation is.
