Weekly review (2024-06-02)

I started to think about my long-term plan again. I made it when I was 23 with the assumption that I would retire at the age of 60. However, after seeing many impressive senior people (sometimes aged more than 80) keep working on something, I am tempted to change my plan. I think at this rate, I can work until I turn 80. A retired life could be boring, so I’d rather keep working while not doing harm to society. In Japan, there’s a word “Rogai (老害),” which means “harmful senior people” who would stick to a senior position without understanding that they are causing trouble to many other people because of their deteriorated capabilities. I don’t want to be a Rogai.

As I observe these impressive senior people, I feel they know what to do with their changing capabilities. As people age, stamina, short-term memory, and other capabilities get weaker. However, some other capabilities, which are often crystallizations of skill, knowledge and experience, keep improving as people age. These senior people are often very good at tasks that require a short time of concentrated work, i.e., short poems, quick drawings, giving short advice, etc. Quite often, designers, poets, architects, artists, philosophers/thinkers, etc. work until their death. The common characteristic is that they keep producing something that can be short.

Another important factor to think about is how to maintain health (these senior people are surprisingly energetic). Good habits of exercise, diet, and sleep definitely contribute to a long career, though our health conditions largely depend on our innate constitution.

Maybe I will keep working like this until I turn 60 or 70, but after that, I will need to think about the right transition, which requires good preparation. I have to start something now, and what to choose requires deliberation. That is why I am spending time thinking about it.