Current top tennis players, at age 35 or less, say very similar things – they want to get better and practice make them better. It does not matter the ranking, these top guys have such motivation to simply get better, and the belief that hard work will play off. I love that attitude.
Do you carry the same attitude, regardless of the ranking? Do you keep inventory of areas that you want to improve and block time to horn skills? Do you have the right “rivalry” or friends to motivate or push you?
This past week, I took a one-day course on “presenting da
ta and information”, taught by Mr. Edward Tufte. Mr. Tufte is a professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is a pioneer in data visualization. With hundreds of “adult students” in attendance, he brought his unique perspective on data and gave us highlights of the rich content of his four books on data visualization. It was back to classroom lecture and had reading material that took more of the brain bandwidth and really needed focus. Over the years, we build the habit of the right “messaging” in our presentation with data filtering; we worry about complexity to our audience, and cherry pick “easy” and relevant information to our target audience; our challenge becomes less of a mental and content but more of a political and presentation. It is a day of reminder that rich content is superior to beautiful slides; a reminder to not distort data; and the expectation that communication could be clear, precise and efficient at the same time.
At age 73, Mr. Tufte is energetic, passionate to teach and “fearless” to disagree (with PowerPoint or with IT).
Over the hill at age 40, qualify for AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) membership at 50, become a senior citizen with senior discounts at 60 (sexagenarian), then a septuagenarian, an octogenarian to hit the average life span. There are almost always that unknown number of years between now and the end.
What can we make the most of these in-between years, to best the chance of being so admirable at age 73?
That is a lesson by itself.
oliviatamccue 
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