Life Maturing

Have you noticed that intelligence diminishes with age? At least, that's been my experience. I can remember when I knew everything as a much younger person, but now I admit to knowing very little and remembering even less. I doubt that I've ever quoted Oscar Wilde and probably never will again, but he did seem to hit on something when he wrote, "I'm not young enough to know everything." Is there a lesson in light of this generational dichotomy? If there is, it likely is that aging grants one the largesse of not needing to know everything. In fact, one of the characteristics of advanced leadership ability is acknowledging what one does not know or do well, and expending the greatest amount of time and effort in doing that which they're gifted in and most passionate about rather than in correcting areas of weakness and inability. Marcus Buckingham writes of this in "Now, Discover Your Strengths." Leadership development guru Robert Clinton calls this the Life Maturing stage, and describes it as a period of maximum fruitfulness. So, be encouraged my aging friends. Instead of pining for departed youth when we thought we knew everything, embrace this opportunity of doing the one thing we love better than we've ever done anything else.