Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

When it comes to the brain – neither younger or older means better. Well … actually it depends. While it may seem that we remember more and react faster at a younger age, and while many studies support the fact there's a steady decline over time in our gray matter – far fewer mental powers fade than we realize.

Sure - some people slip into mental traps and feel old, while others step to the advantages that come from the intellectual potential of maturity. It's more about integrating a lifetime of skills and then taking risks that bring advantages.

Research shows that that when people hang onto outmoded traditions, reject new information, or live regrets in their yesteryears … they experience fewer benefits that come from a rejuvenated brain. More and more research shows mature adults reawakening the brain’s flexibility to learn at any age.

Maybe that’s why Dr. Ronald Kessler from the MacArthur Foundation Midlife Network shows midlife as the best of times and the worst of minds. Dr. Margie Lachman, at Brandeis University agrees that aging speeds up some loss in cognition, but adds that years of knowledge make people invaluable additions to the workplace.

Former Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz offered one snapshot of the midlife mind from the vantage point of a lifetime well beyond that vista, in his poem, “The Layers,” where he described life, loss, and imagery from Cape Cod’s viewpoint in summer.

The Layers ends with a typical Kunitz challenge…


Though I lack the art
to decipher it.
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes

Are you?