Make Sure You Don’t Age Gracefully [Academy]

Make Sure You Don’t Age Gracefully

One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from one of my dealers back in the days when I was still managing a sales territory.

It was a beautiful spring morning and we had just finished unloading two large truckloads of seed corn into his warehouse, bag by 80,000 kernel bag. This was pre-bulk packaging days. My dealer and I walked outside to dry the sweat from our shirts when he commented that it was his birthday. I said, “Happy birthday, you really look good for turning 55. You’re aging gracefully.”

“Yeah,” he replied, “and I hate it. I wish I was in the kind of shape you are in. I don’t know how you do it,” he said. “You’re on the go all of the time, working hard. You are focused and happy, you find time to work out, you never seem to get tired, and you always have a great attitude.”

“But you look good too and you seem to be aging gracefully,’ I replied.

“I don’t want to age gracefully,” he said. “What’s wrong with aging gracefully?” I asked...