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How to Keep Your Mind Sharp As You Get Older [Guest Post]

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How to Keep Your Mind Sharp

sharpen your mindYou’re only as old as your ability to process new information. Scientists used to believe that your brain developed rapidly in the first few years of life, and then slowed down in your 20’s as your mental capabilities reached their peak. This wasn’t even close to the truth.

The brain, as we’ve learned since then, continues to change, develop, and learn over the course of your life. While certain cognitive functions may become weaker or less reliable with age, other functions may continue thriving (even improving) over time.

Great news.

So what exactly happens in your brain when a memory is made? And more importantly, how can you ensure you’re able to continue learning new things as you age? In this article, we discuss how the brain works and some of the most proven memory games to regain your brain and keep mentally fit regardless of how old you are.

How are memories formed in the brain?

The human brain is the greatest and most misunderstood machine of all time. In 2007, Richard C. Mohs penned a very in-depth resource on How Human Memory Works, in which he goes through simplifying the very complex process of encoding, storing, and retrieving memory. In the chapter on memory encoding, he explains:

“Encoding is the first step in creating a memory. It’s a biological phenomenon, rooted in the senses, that begins with perception.”

Once a memory or perception is encoded in your brain, it’s then stored in various locations (via electricity and chemical activity) for later retrieval. Though the scientific community is not 100% sure how memory recall truly works, they do know that the connection between neurons and synapses become stronger each time you recall a memory.

The more you use your brain to remember things, the stronger these connections become and the better memory you will have. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help explain why you forgot where you put your keys yesterday.

How does the brain forget things?

It’s no secret that even though our brains are amazing, they have a tendency to let us down. This usually occurs in the form of memory loss or forgetfulness. In the seven sins of memory, Daniel Schacter categorizes memory loss into the following 6 of 7 types:

  • Transience – This means the decreasing accessibility of memory over time. This is definitely normal and part of the aging process. It can be worse but usually related to damage to the hippocampus.
  • Absent-mindedness – We all know this one! Lapses of attention and forgetting to do things. This occurs at two stages: when a new memory is created (encoded) and when that memory is accessed (retrieved).
  • Blocking – You know when something is on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t remember it? That’s considered blocking aka the temporary inaccessibility of information that your brain has stored.
  • Suggestibility – Remembering something that isn’t 100% accurate. Usually due to outside influence, deception and other causes. Sounds super dramatic, right?
  • Bias – Psychologist Michael Ross observed that memories can be distorted and skewed by a person’s current knowledge and beliefs.
  • Misattribution – This happens when you swear you’ve seen or heard something that you, in fact, did not. As you can imagine, this type of memory loss or flutter can cause major hiccups in a court of law.

The seventh sin of memory is persistence. I didn’t include it because it has to do with the ability to not forget something – like a traumatic event that plays over and over in your head.

At this point, we know a lot more about how your brain manages to process, store, and forget memories. But what can you do to ensure as you age you maintain the ability to learn new things (strengthen those synapse connections), as well as the ability to forget less?

This is where brain games or brain exercises come into play.

8 unusual brain exercises to sharpen your memory

In the above video, memory expert and two-time USA Memory Champion, Ron White, goes over 8 weird (but effective) memory training games to keep your brain firing on all cylinders; also referred to as neurobics. This goes beyond matching cards or using some smartphone brain games app. Neurobics involves using your brain in new and unexpected ways to stimulate growth.

Ron explains that while doing the same exercise over and over may seem like it helps your brain, the opposite is actually true. Here are the 8 exercises he recommends to stimulate your brain:

  1. Get some coins and put them in your pocket. Then reach in your pocket, not being able to see the coins, and feel the texture, size etc to figure out what coins they are (quarter, nickel, dime). This exercise utilizes your sense of touch.
  2. Close your eyes when you walk in your house. Carefully try to navigate through your home with your eyes closed and identify where your furniture is. This really tests your memory in a way it’s not used to working.]
  3. Watch the television with your friends on mute. You and your friends invent conversations with the characters talking. Not only does this challenge your brain to improvise based on what you see, but it’s also a lot of fun.
  4. Read something outside of your normal routine. If you typically read about crafting or wellness, switch it up and read about French history or hunting. Taking your brain out of your normal routine can be very stimulating.
  5. Watching a different news channel than usual. News channels have a tendency to be politically biased. By watching the “other” channels you will be taking yourself outside of your comfort zone, and force your brain to process different information than what you’re used to.
  6. Take a new route while driving. We have a tendency to build up habits, especially around how we commute. Taking a different route home from work once a week will wake up your brain.
  7. Write with your nondominant hand. Spend a week writing with your nondominant hand and see how well you can write. This is an incredible way to trigger parts of your brain that are usually dormant.
  8. Close your eyes, and try to identify spices by smell. Get a friend to gather a bunch of your spice jars, and then close your eyes and take a whiff. Smell is a fantastic way to trigger memory retrieval and inspire new meal ideas.

When it comes to neurobics and retaining your brain power, the moral of the story is to try new things. Reignite a forgotten talent. Take yourself out of your comfort zone. Listen to new music. Smell new flowers. Close your eyes and use your sense of touch, hearing, taste, etc. When you stop using your brain in new ways and stop challenging your ability to process different types of information, your brain starts to degrade; much like muscle atrophy from a lack of physical activity.

Changing careers, especially later in life, can do wonders for stimulating your brain power – especially if you’ve been on the same career path for a number of years. Utilizing your past experience to make practical pivots is the premise of Repurpose Your Career, by Marc Miller.

Are there any brain games you like to play to keep your mind sharp? If so, please share them in the comments below.

This was written by Elijah-Blue Vieau. Elijah is a musician turned digital marketer from Toronto, Canada who has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and enterprises grow their business online. When he’s not running the SEO department at Logojoy, the world’s favorite logo maker, you can find him teaching SEO workshops at local tech hubs, recording and performing music, or off the grid in a remote cabin up north with his wife, 2 daughters, and an acoustic guitar.

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Do I Ever Want To Retire? I Do Not Think So.

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Do I Ever Want To Retire?

retireOn my walk back from my workout this morning, the question about whether I ever wanted to retire popped into my brain.

My wife and I are living in Ajijic, Mexico, one of the oldest expat and retirement locations in Mexico.  We are finalizing our move in the coming months, as we will make a final pilgrimage back to Austin in October 2018, to clean out our condo for rental. We will return in early December to be semi-permanent residents.

I have worked since I was 14 years of age and for most of my career, I enjoyed what I did. My father was an economist for the New York Stock Exchange for 25+ years before he was forced into retirement at 58 years of age. He had a generous pension, but being forced into retirement before he wanted to retire killed him. It took 15 years, but he died because he could no longer do what he loved.

I do not want to be like my father.

Do I Have to Retire?

We have been planning to move out of the U.S. since the early 1980’s when I had an assignment in what was then West Germany working for IBM. This came to head with our current health care and health insurance crisis for baby boomers in late 2016, right before the presidential election. You can read more about this in the post The Looming Healthcare and Insurance Catastrophe for Baby Boomers.

I have since carefully planned the move which you can follow in the Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Series of blog posts and podcasts.

Now that we have relocated to Ajijic, Mexico, I have met all kinds of people from the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world who are retired. We met a couple of women the other day playing cards at a local taco restaurant. They enjoyed all of the activities that were available to them. Their husbands regularly play golf at several of the golf courses in the area. My visceral response was “yuck”.

If this is what it means to retire, I want no part of it.

Meaning and Purpose

Ever since my bicycle accident in 2002, I have been seeking meaning and purpose in what I do with my life. The thought of spending my days playing games or doing other activities that do not fill a mission is not what I want to do.

We have met many here who are actively involved with a variety of charities that help the local school children, spay and neuter cats and dogs, rescue street dogs, support the arts, and many other worthwhile endeavors. Over time I will likely become involved with one or more of these efforts.

Maybe I am a little selfish, but I want to work on what I want to work on. I created Career Pivot in 2012 to help my peers and friends who were adversely affected by the Dot Com bust and then the great recession. It is something that I feel I can have an impact and yes, make a few dollars doing.

I am mission driven.

Work Less, On My Terms

I have decided I do not want to retire.

What I do want is:

  • To work as hard as I want to work
  • Work on something I am passionate about
  • Stretch me to learn new things
  • To work when I want to work

I want to work less, on my terms, on what I want to work on.

It is rather interesting, this coincides with what the Career Pivot Community membership has told me.

They want:

  • To work on what they want to work on when they want to work on it, and on their terms
  • Have accountability

Lastly, they need to have their horizons broadened. There are so many new ways to work and make money.

Am I being unreasonable? I do not want to retire like my father and many of the people I meet.

I want to continue to contribute to society in a way that I control.

What about you?

Marc Miller  

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How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You – Part V

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How to Move Abroad Part V

Move abroad
By Neldahinojosa – Own work, GFDL, Link

We are finally ready to make our move to Ajijic, Mexico. We just moved into a new casita in the center of Ajijic.

I have been chronicling our experiences in this blog and on the Repurpose Your Career podcast. I have been discussing our experiences on the podcast and writing about the business side of the move here on the blog.

You can find all of the blog posts and podcast episodes where I am chronicling our journey and the decision-making process on the How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Series Page.

I want to discuss today the technological, financial, and legal challenges.  You can make a lot of assumptions about all 3 areas, and you would probably be wrong most of the time.

Look for the next Repurpose Your Career podcast episode to cover:

  • Shipping food supplements and medications from the U.S. to Mexico
  • Healthcare
  • Health insurance
  • Automobile insurance
  • Leasing property in Mexico

Why Are We Doing This?

The number one factor in making this move is the absurd behavior of our federal government, healthcare, and health insurance industries.

I wrote about this a few weeks back in my post The Looming Healthcare and Insurance Catastrophe for Baby Boomers.

What I predicted is coming true. My health insurance provider has asked the Texas Insurance Board for a 34% rate increase for 2019. I am already paying $1358 per month for a $10,000 deductible bronze level policy for my wife and myself. It is time to move on.

Exploration

We are on our third exploratory trip to the North Shore of Lake Chapala, to the city of Ajijic, Mexico. We previously explored San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and Cuenca Ecuador.

The plan was to come for 3 months and find a long-term rental that would start in January. The rental market is so tight that we immediately changed our plans and found a fully furnished 2 bedroom 2 bath casita in the center of Ajijic. Our total cost (rent, electricity, and gas) should be under $1000. This is about 30% more expensive than we had planned for because of the tight rental market.

At the time of publication, we would have been in the casita for one week and very much enjoying it.

Look for more details on the rental market, the move, and healthcare in next week’s podcast.

Technology

I have written about this multiple times, but it bears repeating, we are not living in a big city in the U.S. A lot of creature features that we have grown accustomed to, are not here.

Internet

The big story here is to have a backup plan if your business depends on Internet connectivity. The podcast episode that releases the same week as this blog post is a good example. I was forced to leave the AirBnB house we were renting to record the podcast episode.  Power first went out due to a power transformer blowing up during a big thunderstorm, and this happened just after they replaced power lines in the neighborhood. Power was out for almost 3 days with no indication when power would be restored. Once power had been restored, the Internet connection was very unreliable for many more days.

This is not an unusual occurrence. When utilities fail, you should expect them to be off for an indefinite period of time. This includes telephone, Internet, and power.

TelMex, the incumbent telephone monopoly, provides Internet service for most people in the area. It is at best a mediocre service providing 5 – 10 Mb download and .1 – 1 Mb upload. Service is very inconsistent and unpredictable.

In comparison, my Google fiber service in Austin provides 300 Mb up and down.

Backup Plan

My backup plan was to tether my MacBook to my iPhone and run the Internet over the AT&T LTE network. When that works, and it often does not, I get 20 Mb up and down. More than sufficient bandwidth to run video calls.

Why is the AT&T network a problem? There has been an explosion of Smartphone usage in the last year or two. Both AT&T and TelCel have struggled to keep up.

I will be signing up for TelCel’s home Internet service, which runs over their LTE network, when we return in November. I cannot order the service while living in Mexico on a tourist visa. Both AT&T and TelCel offer this kind of service and require a 2-year contract. You are probably saying, “A 2-year contract!?!” Well, the cost is only around $18 per month.

Between my Telmex service, TelCel home Internet service and my U.S. AT&T service from my iPhone, I should be able to get reliable Internet service.

Voice Communications

I have a U.S. AT&T account that allows calling to and from Mexico and the U.S., and I have been having two different problems. Where we stayed for the last 2 months, is in a hole between 2 cell towers. If I sat in the middle of the living room and did not move, calls worked fine. If I moved into another room, or even outside, all bets were off. The second issue was it was common for calls to drop for no reason.

We have moved to the center of Ajijic which should solve this problem. I will be ordering an LG flip phone from Telcel and sign up for one of their packet plans. I can buy a simple flip phone for about $50 from a TelCel agent and I can recharge my account by going into any OXXO store in Mexico. This could be done online, but not with a U.S. based credit card. See banking section below. Besides, OXXO stores are everywhere.

I want a Mexican phone with a Mexican cell phone number for traveling between the U.S. and Mexico by car. When we return to the U.S., we will upgrade my wife’s iPhone and trade it in. I will upgrade my iPhone but keep my current iPhone 6s. I will unlock it and when we return to Ajijic in November, I will get a TelCel account for it.

This means I will have a current iPhone on the AT&T network with a U.S. telephone number, and an older iPhone with a Mexican phone number on the TelCel network. My wife will take the TelCel flip phone for calling in Mexico, and use the AT&T for calls to the U.S.

There are a gazillion ways to do this, but we want to keep our U.S. based phone numbers and have Mexican telephone numbers, to make it easy for local service providers to reach us.

Finances

On the north shore of Lake Chapala, very few merchants take credit cards. If they do, they charge you a fee to use the credit card.

I have been withdrawing money from ATM’s at the maximum the ATM will allow, usually between $250-$380. Fees and exchange rates vary a lot. With a lot of experimentation, I found 2 different banks that gave me similar exchange rates and fees. It is not unusual for ATM’s to run out of money on the weekend. You have to have a backup plan.

Banking

It is possible to open a Mexican bank account with a U.S. passport and a tourist visa, but I have not found anyone who has successfully accomplished that. This is Mexico, and what you are told is possible and what you can actually accomplish can be quite different. When we return in November, we will stop at the Laredo, Texas Mexican consulate, and I will apply for Permanent Resident Visa. This will allow me to open a Mexican bank account.

I will open a bank account in the U.S. at BBVA Compass, and then open a Mexican account at BBVA Bancomer. These accounts can be linked, and I will be able to transfer money when the exchange rate is in my favor.

There are other advantages to having a Mexican based bank account including being able to pay individuals and businesses via the Mexican banking electronic payment system. Rather than paying the plumber with cash, I will be able to pay him/her electronically. Similarly, I can acquire a Mexican credit card which I will able to use on Amazon.com.mx or other online non-U.S. retailers.

This is a big deal. To rent the casita in Ajijic, I had to get almost US $3,500 in cash to make the down payment. This was a lot of trips to the ATM over a month period to accomplish this. I will talk a lot more about this in the podcast episode.

Legal

Career Pivot will continue to be an Austin, Texas-based business. I will need to acquire an Austin address for the business which will likely come from a service equivalent of PostScanMail.com.  All business for Career Pivot will pass through U.S. based financial institutions.

Visa Types

You can live in Mexico with 3 different types of visas. These are:

  • Tourist visa or FMM – You are limited to staying 6 months but can import a U.S. plated automobile for 6 months.
  • Temporary Resident – This is good for 1 year and can be renewed annually for a total of 4 years. You can import a U.S. plated automobile for the length of the visa.
  • Permanent Resident – This has no time limits but you cannot import a U.S. plated automobile.

There are different financial requirements for the temporary and permanent resident visas. The vast majority of retirees come in on a temporary resident visa, and after 4 years, convert to a permanent resident. They simply do not have enough savings or income to qualify for a permanent resident visa initially. You have to demonstrate you have approximately $100,000 in investments continually over the past year or have had an income of $2,400 per month, to qualify. The average baby boomer has far less than $100,000 saved for retirement.

Our Visa Plans

I will apply for a Mexican Permanent Resident visa in Laredo on my return from Austin. This must be applied for from a Mexican consulate in the U.S. Most people first apply for a temporary resident visa, and later move to a permanent resident visa after 4 years. The problem with having a permanent resident visa is you cannot bring a U.S. plated car into Mexico on a permanent resident visa. Only on a tourist or a temporary resident visa can you apply for a temporary import permit (TIP) to bring an automobile into Mexico. This gets complicated because the Mexican government does not want your U.S. plated car in Mexico. They want you to buy a car in Mexico.

My wife will return on a tourist visa and we will later be able to acquire a temporary resident visa for her in Mexico. She will obtain the TIP for the car on this trip.

Needing to Prove Legal Marriage Status

In order to acquire a temporary resident visa for my wife while in Mexico, I will not just need a marriage certificate, but a certified marriage certificate. There is a special term for this that I cannot remember, but I need to get my wife’s and my marriage certified by the state of Texas. There are stories of foreigners who have not been able to take their spouse’s body after death because they cannot prove to the Mexican government that they were married.

I engaged with an American lawyer who supports the expat community. He reviewed the lease, my business plan, and immigration status. Basically, as far as the Mexican government is concerned, I am retired. I can receive no income from a Mexican business or individual, which should not be an issue.

You need legal counsel to accomplish this. This is not a DIY process, but the cost of engaging a lawyer is quite affordable.

What Else?

I will be covering in the podcast episode:

  • Shipping food supplements and medications from the U.S. to Mexico
  • Healthcare
  • Health insurance
  • Automobile insurance
  • Leasing property in Mexico

These are much more personal in nature, and I want you to hear some of my frustrations, angst, and joy.

This move will likely produce a $50K shift in our annual budget. The financial difference is staggering and much of this is due to health insurance, healthcare, housing costs and cost of living.

Have I scared you, or made it believable that you can make this happen?

Marc Miller  

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Do You Really Want a Full-Time Job After 60?

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Do You Really Want a Full-Time Job?

full-time job
Copyright: Elnur / 123RF Stock Photo

I am over 60 years of age and I do not ever want a full-time job, ever again.

Let me be clear, I have no intention to retire, but I want to work on my terms which means I want to work:

  • When I want to work
  • On things, I want to work
  • Only work as hard as I want to work

I do not want a full-time job, and surely do not want to work for someone else full-time.

The reason I am writing this post is that I have talked to multiple people in the last couple of weeks, who are over 60 years of age and are pursuing what I consider a pipe dream, which dictionary.com defines as any fantastic notion, hope, or story.

That pipe dream is a full-time job in a new industry or profession. I am not saying it cannot be done, but I was predicting that the path there would be very difficult and if they attained that full-time job, it would not be as they expected. They were suffering from MSU (Make Stuff Up) disorder.

Getting an Associate Degree is Programming After 60

I met a gentleman who was sick and tired of what he was doing. He had worked in manufacturing for 30+ years, single, over 60 years of age, and worried about having enough money to retire. He had taught himself to program 15-20 years ago and really loved it.

He planned to go back to school full-time for 2 years, take a student loan, and then get a full-time job working as a programmer. This would mean he would have acquired some significant debt, not contributed to his retirement accounts for 2 years and dipped into savings for living expenses.

My questions for him were:

What kind of programming would he be specializing in? No one just hires a Java programmer without specialization.

Does the area of specialization have legs? Will the area of specialization still be relevant in 2 years? Things are changing so fast that skills that are hot today can be obsolete in 2 years.

What companies or organizations in his area have jobs in the area of specialization?

What are the demographics of the employees doing the programming at those companies, and are these people you want to work with? If they mostly hire 25-year-old guys, would you want to work with them as peers? (For most of 60+ year-olds the answer is no).

He could not answer any of the questions.

He was going to be 63 or 64 years old when he graduated. I then asked him, at that age, do you really want a full-time job, working as a peer with a bunch of kids (20-35 year-olds), and be working 50-60 hour weeks?

He was going to have to think about that, but the answer will probably be, NO!

An Alternative Scenario

In the Career Pivot Membership community, there is Jim. Jim runs a small to medium size professional association that is highly political. His board of directors drives him crazy with their petty politics and games. I should also add that Jim is closer to 70 than 65 years of age.

Jim wants control of his work life and he does not want to stop working. Jim is very mission-driven, he needs a purpose.

Jim is taking an alternative path by starting a portfolio career. He will not have a single full-time job but multiple part-time jobs that he can control. He will be doing the following:

  • Part-time advisor for his local Small Business Development Center, working 3-4 days a week
  • Teaching one class at the local university as an adjunct professor
  • Starting a consulting business working with local municipalities on a variety of issues
  • Turn on his Social Security benefits

Does this change scare him? HECK YES!

Will he be working harder than before, for less money? HECK YES!

Will he feel more fulfilled at the end of the day? HECK YES!

Will this stretch him and energize him? HECK YES!

It took a good bit of soul searching and a lot of encouragement from the community to make this change. Jim will probably not have another full-time job, and that is fine with him. He will have more control of his own professional destiny.

One of the common themes in the community is everyone wants freedom. The full-time job often does not give us the freedom that we crave in the 2nd half of life.

The Full-Time Job Fallacy

I was born in the 1950’s, raised by parents who told me to get an education and then go to work for a father-like company that would take care of me. I should work there for 30 or 40 years and then retire.

Those days are gone. Many of us still crave the security of a full-time job or the security of the regular paycheck. When we reach our 60’s, that progressively makes less and less sense. That full-time job restricts us, prevents us from pursuing the goals that we have delayed because of the obligations of raising our families, taking care of our parents or other societal obligations.

I am 62 years old, and I no longer want a full-time job. I want the freedom to control how, when and what I work on.

Conclusion

I am sitting writing this post in Ajijic, Mexico, on the 16th of August, 2018. It is 11:00 AM and the outside temperature is 71 degrees Fahrenheit. It will get up to 79 degrees today, which is much cooler than the 100 degrees it will reach back in my hometown of Austin, Texas. This temperature is normal for the summer rainy season.

I left my last full-time job in January of 2011, and I have not looked back. My wife and I are in the process of moving to Ajijic, Mexico, not because we have to, but because we want to. If I had a full-time job, I would not have the freedom to make this move. You can read more about our journey here.

Do you still want that full-time job?

Marc Miller  

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Mindset And Belief Systems In The 2nd Half Of Life

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Mindset And Belief Systems

mindset
Copyright: rawpixel / 123RF Stock Photo

We all have mindsets and belief systems that proved useful in the 1st half of life. I am squarely in the 2nd half of life and that mindset no longer works for me.

Over the last couple of years, many of my mindsets and belief systems have been challenged.

I am sitting in our rented house just outside of Ajijic, Mexico. We originally had planned to move here full time in the next 3-6 months.  That plan is being accelerated rapidly; I would have never done that in the first half of life.

A big mindset shift but more on that later.

A couple of years ago, I would have never thought I would be leaving Austin, TX where my wife and I have lived for the last 40+ years. I believed that we would be living in our condominium, a short distance from downtown, for at least another 10 years.

Then a number of things happened that challenged me to look at why I was doing things the way I was.

Necessary Endings

In late 2016, I was introduced to the book Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward by Henry Cloud.  You can read my full review of the book here.

My favorite quote from the book is:

“Whether we like it or not, endings are a part of life. They are woven into the fabric of life itself, both when it goes well, and also when it doesn’t. On the good side of life, for us to ever get to a new level, a new tomorrow, or the next step, something has to end. Life has seasons, stages, and phases. For there to be anything new, old things always have to end, and we have to let go of them. Infancy gives rise to toddlerhood and must be forever shunned in order to get to the independence that allows a child to thrive. Later, childhood itself must be given up for people to become the adults that they were designed to be.”

As we all move to the next phase of life, what things should end so that new things can begin?

Why am I Still in Austin?

It got me thinking, why am I still in Austin? Other than my wife, I have no family in Austin. My business is virtual and I work with clients all over the world. Although I do have a network in Austin, most of the people I regularly speak and interact with are not in Austin.

Why was I still here? I did not have a good answer. Austin has become very expensive and the city is growing by 150 people every single day. Traffic has grown dramatically. It is not the sleepy government/university town that I moved to in the late 1970’s.

The city had changed, but my mindset and belief systems had not changed with it.

Health Insurance and Healthcare

In October of 2016, we received our rate increase notice for our health insurance from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas. It was an eye-popping 50% increase which made us rethink this entire area of our lives.

My wife has endocrinological issues that are treated fairly inexpensively, that until the Affordable Care Act (ACA), disallowed us from the private health insurance market. I stayed employed in the private and public sector for years just so we could get health insurance from an employer.

I have had to rethink and re-imagine how we would get healthcare and pay for it.

Ever since that time, my mindset and belief systems have been challenged. You can read more about this in my recent post, The Looming Healthcare and Insurance Catastrophe for Baby Boomers.

Business and Economic Climate

I launched Career Pivot in 2012 when we were still clawing out of the great recession. My target audience was baby boomers who were struggling to recover the 2nd major recession in the last 10 years. Many saw that retirement was no longer a possibility, or like myself, had no real desire to retire like my parents did.

A lot has changed since I launched the business. The economy today is growing at a rapid rate, but at the same time, creative destruction has accelerated. I have had multiple clients who have seen their industry change so much that they no longer fit in, or their industry just simply went away. I wrote about this in the post Living in a “Career Disaster Area” at the Age of 65.

Even though the economy appears to be booming, it is not booming for everyone. Many boomers are being left behind in this economy. I wrote about this in my post Full Employment is Here Except For Baby Boomers.

Our finances and investments have done very well in the recent past, and with our move to Mexico, our expenses have been cut dramatically. I have started to look at my business model of one-on-one coaching.

I have rapidly reached the point where the people who can afford my services, are not the people who most need my services. This is why I have formed the Career Pivot Community, which is currently in beta phase. I am totally rethinking how I might be able to help my target market.

I have had to totally rethink and ask, why am I doing what I am doing, and for whom?

This shift in my mindset has been pretty dramatic.

Fixed versus Growth Mindset

I know many of you have what is referred to as a fixed mindset versus having a growth mindset. The quote I love from the linked article is this:

People in a fixed mindset believe you either are or aren’t good at something, based on your inherent nature, because it’s just who you are.

People in a growth mindset believe anyone can be good at anything because your abilities are entirely due to your actions.

I have a growth mindset. We arrived in Ajijic, Mexico a month ago on our third exploratory trip. Our plan was to find a long-term rental property and return in January to live full time. Well…. we discovered that simply will not work.

Rental properties are snatched up quickly. It is a hot market for long and short-term furnished houses and apartments. On top of that, the high season is October through March when snowbirds descend on the North Shore of Lake Chapala.

Our plan was flawed, in fact, horribly flawed. In the past, I might have continued for several more months trying to find something that would be available in January.

Instead, we have adapted and as I write this post, we are pulling together funds (all in cash) to put a deposit on a 2 bedroom, 2 bath furnished apartment with off street locked parking, and a courtyard for $950 a month. Rates have gone up a lot in the last 2 years. We are not waiting, and to follow the Nike slogan, we’re going to Just Do It.

We will take possession on September 3rd of 2018. We will likely return to Austin in late September to handle all of the details of renting out our condo there. This will include selling and giving away a lot of “stuff” and putting a little bit in storage. This is 3+ months sooner than planned.

My wife and I are adapting to the situation and changing our mindset and belief systems. Check out my podcast in a few weeks to learn more.

Has Your Mindset and Belief Systems Stopped You?

I want you to question yourself whether your mindset and belief systems are holding you back.

What is stopping you from taking that next step?

I know this is stressful because I find these shifts to be very stressful, but that has never stopped me.

What is stopping you?

Marc Miller  

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