I too find that I’ve definitely changed my view points/took a more nuanced view of things I was once so sure about. I think life is our greatest lesson. I am less judgmental and much more open to ideas as I’ve aged. I’ve also had new experiences that humbled me and made
me more empathetic and less judgmental about what I perceived to be the short comings of others (we all have a story). I also recognized that luck more than merit or hard work played a much greater role in my life (the color of my skin, family background, etc) so I have more empathy for those who still struggle. My biggest ah ha moment is when I saw quite clearly that there is no failed life. People live the life they know how to and the path they took when they came to a fork in the road. It’s is what it is. I also realized that there shouldn’t be any regrets. It’s all part of the journey you had.
Great post! Much of this resonates with me as well….
But I have also discovered that in some things, I have been right all along.
Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to mentor a few younger guys who, seeing how successful I was in my career, sought me out for advice in how to build a successful practice (I am a dentist).
One of the interesting things is that several of these guys ended up being fairly dismissive of what I said, saying that I practiced in another era, and that times had changed so the things that worked for me wouldn’t work anymore- in other words, I had become out of touch with the realities of today’s world. All I could do was shrug my shoulders and say “maybe, maybe not.”
Two years ago one of these guys actually contacted me in dire straits. One of his practices was floundering and he was wondering if I would be willing to come out of retirement to help stabilize his practice. He had never been able to build this practice up and had never come within more than 15% of reaching his goals.
I told him that I would be willing to give him only a day and a half and wouldn’t be willing to work hard, but I would be there to help stabilize the practice and try to turn things around.
My goal was to help him reach his goal. I went in there and immediately set out to change the culture of the practice and do things my “old fashioned” way.
Well, the turn around was fast. Within 18 months I helped build the practice up to where it exceed his goals by 20%, and was 35% higher than the best year he ever had prior to that.
Surprisingly, he still doesn’t think the success was necessarily because of the way I believe in doing things, and continues to be fairly dismissive.
I have decided to move on from helping him and devote my energies to helping another colleague who has reached out to me for assistance.
But I come away from this experience knowing that my approach still works and the profession has not passed me by.