Keeping Current

Keeping Current

Keeping Current

As my wife often remarks, she isn’t worried about me running off with a younger woman.  A younger woman wouldn’t understand a word I said.  My musical, political, historical and humor references would precede her by a number of years, possibly even extend to before she was born.

Still, I do try to stay current, thanks to my grandchildren, ages 4 to 16.  Through their encouragement I now have passing familiarity with Pentatonix, Rihana, Taylor Swift, Shakira, Pink, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.  (I already knew Lady Gaga because Tony Bennett introduced us to her through their duets on TV.)

I’ve seen the films Big Hero 6, Kung Fu Panda 3, Cinderella, Mirror Mirror, and Gnomeo and Juliet, among others.  I don’t always get the point,  but it doesn’t matter because I enjoy being with the grandkids so much. And I can also say “thank you” and “you’re welcome” in Cantonese.  I have the call to do so just about as often as I can find ways to work the above musicians and films into my repartee.

Now comes Fast Company to deal another reality blow to the remote possibility that I can keep up.  It’s one of the magazines I read in an attempt to stay current in our world of work, business, technologies and discontinuous change.  I just read that “Just nine months after investors placed a $10 billion valuation on WeWork, the office-rental company has raised another round of funding at a $16 billion valuation . . . [making] WeWork the sixth most valuable private company, eclipsing SpaceX and Pinterest.  On paper, WeWork is nearly as valuable as the largest publicly traded office real estate company, Boston Properties, which has a market cap of about $18 billion.”

Boston Properties is the only familiar name to me.  Pinterest I have encountered at some point.  WeWork and SpaceX?  What?  And on top of that, numbers in the multiple billions exceed my usually flexible imagination.

This is getting out of hand.  Or maybe it should be past tense.  This got out of hand some time ago.

I’ve decided to have a new tee shirt printed for myself.  On the chest it will say “No One Can Know It All.” On the back it will say “Including Me!”.   If I can’t hide it, I might as well go public with it.

Here’s my question to you: How are you trying to keep up? Or did you stop trying long ago?

4 Comments

  • Lee Pflueger
    April 14, 2016 12:09 am 0Likes

    Fun read, George! Thx. … I have no answers.
    Lee

  • Caryl Lenahan
    April 14, 2016 2:34 pm 0Likes

    Yes, keeping up is vital for one’s ability to navigate life, not to mention having the confidence as I age that I am still “with it”. “Keeping up” for me means with the areas I like to feel “smart” about – now it’s politics, wellness, finances, and sports. I consider a secondary level that of “being aware” – knowing what the Forever Stamp is, why Mar-a-Lago is in the news, and what’s happening with our Sarasota roads. Thankfully, “keeping up” has been made so much easier with Google, one’s smart phone and 24/7 news channels.

    • George Schofield
      April 15, 2016 8:38 am 0Likes

      Hi Caryl. Having tiers of “keeping up” is a really smart idea. Thanks. It allows priorities, areas of interest, and focus. My sincere thanks for responding to the blog. Am interested in what you think for all of them because conversation is what brings my blog efforts alive for many. Thanks for that. George

  • Jari Searns
    April 14, 2016 8:22 pm 0Likes

    Hi George,

    Great article! I think one needs to pick ones “spots” to keep up or go mentally “bonkers”. I love investing so I read IBD weekly, the business pages in newspapers and watch a lot of business oriented shows on TV.

    I also love politics, but this year and this election have been and continue to be a real challenge. Candidly, does anyone, reporter, columnist or politician tell the truth or is the truth only in the eye of the beholder? The more I read the more confused I become…and I believe it has less to do with age than it does with “information input”.

    Finally, no one can possibly keep up on every aspect of our complicated lives so each of us must pick and choose those topics that give us the most pleasure…and I’ve decided that politics for me is no longer part of my top 10.

    Feelin’ much better,
    Jari

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