Shirley MacLaine's 20-40-60 rule

My Grandma once said to me, "David, there are different joys at every stage of life".

This wisdom I have found to be true and it's a saying that has really stuck in my memory.

As I pondered on this today I also recalled the 20-40-60 rule,

Actress Shirly MacLaine puts it like this...

At 20, your life revolves around an obsession of what others think of you.

At 40, you begin to not care what others think of you.

And at 60, you realize that when you were 20, you really weren't being judged at by anyone but yourself.

People worry about getting old. It's understandable. Yet, one of the great things about getting older is that you find it easier to "be yourself".

Silicon Valley investor Heidi Rozen reminds us...

People have enormous capacity to beat themselves up over the smallest foibles — saying the wrong thing in a meeting, introducing someone using the wrong name. Weeks can be lost, important relationships avoided, productivity wasted, all because we’re afraid others are judging us. “If you find this happening to you, remember, no one is thinking about you as hard as you are thinking about yourself. So don’t let it all worry you so much.”

Heidi explains this to Stanford students in this short clip;


Getting old before your time can be a good thing.