The Pew Research Center issued a December report (2023) showing 19% of Americans ages 65+ are in the workforce, either by choice or necessity. This number doubled in the past 35 years, partly due to older adults maintaining good bodymind health. Many more in this labor group have a college degree than decades ago. Also, work conditions have changed; office jobs are overtaking the physical labor necessary in factories and farms.
You may ask, “What motivates those who choose to continue working?” Answers range from being bored with golf or pickleball to the desire for a sense of purpose. Jane Goodall (89 years-young) continues her ecology-motivated passion for chimpanzees as well as her initiative to teach youth about conservation. Her legacy Roots & Shoots youth movement, beginning with 12 teenagers on her back porch in Tanzania, now offers programming in 100 countries. Working actresses Judi Dench (88 years-young) and Helen Mirren (78 years-young) also love their careers and defy sexist stereotypes for female actors.
Many everyday seasoned citizens return to the workforce after “retirement age.” A spunky teacher in her 60’s returned to the classroom as a substitute teacher at a private school where she puts in an 8-hour day instead of the 16-hour days that she frequently found herself working in a public high school. Her reason for a continuation of her career reflects my own reason for my current work in prevention psychology: “It’s fun, and it keeps my brain going.” I am a strong proponent of maintaining a growth mindset for every age, but it is especially important for those of us who are lucky enough to reach the seasoned citizen stage of development.
The research of psychologist Carol Dweck (Mindset: The New Psychology of Success) defines two mindsets:
- Fixed mindset: You believe your qualities are set in neurological and psychological plaster—you have a fixed IQ, a set personality, and a certain moral character that defines you. A fixed mindset is a learned behavior.
- Growth mindset: You believe that you are capable of continuing growth. Your personality is flexible. It has plasticity. You cultivate new qualities through your efforts. You can adjust your moral compass with your life wisdom. Your true potential is unknown.
I am not suggesting that aging into 65+ territory is easy, even for those with a growth mentality for lifelong learning. I believe that it takes a growth-and-grit mindset in your beyonder years. Psychologist Angela Duckworth (Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance) researched the importance of grit or what my parents called “stick-to-itiveness.” Duckworth’s father taught her about the value of “pushing through and doing the hard things.”
I watched the enduring persistence of the first flower pushing through snow in my garden; the Lenten Rose inspires me to make a growth-and-grit mindset my everyday compass.
Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz
273. When do you respond to life’s challenges with a fixed mindset?
274. What times can you recall when you were in growth mindset territory?
Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog 