Boundless Potential: Transform Your Brain, Unleash Your Talents, and Reinvent Your Work in Midlife and Beyond

Book excerpt: What is the lifelong potential of the human mind? Do we have talents or brainpower we’re unaware of? Can we make money and a difference doing something we love? Is there a science to it or just luck? Millions of us in our forties, fifties, and sixties are facing career, financial, and personal challenges beyond anything we anticipated—and now we’re filled with fresh uncertainties. We’ve seen careers derailed and investments devastated by economic chaos. Some of us have grown restless or burned out in our businesses or professions. Others have unexpectedly “flunked retirement,” finding the so-called golden years mind-numbingly boring. However we’ve come to it, the challenge is the same: What Now? Personally driven by this question, Peabody Award–winning journalist and Fortune 100 leadership consultant Mark S. Walton set out on his most fascinating assignment yet. Crisscrossing America to meet with remarkably reinventive people and researching the latest breakthroughs in brain science, psychology, creativity, and happiness, he made three life-altering discoveries: State-of-the-art neuroscience has revealed that we are hardwired for reinvention through the emergence of extraordinary new brainpowers in life’s second half. A growing number of men and women are learning to leverage this inborn potential. In midlife, they’re raising the bar—inventing profitable new careers, businesses, and avenues for social impact that extend well into their seventies, eighties, and even nineties. Longevity experts are increasingly convinced that doing work that “pays it forward” to future generations pays us back in personal long-term health and happiness. In Boundless Potential, Walton weaves firsthand accounts, cutting-edge research, and practical lessons into an actionable blueprint for redesigning our lives and work. Entertaining, informative, and empowering, this groundbreaking book delivers overwhelming evidence that we were never meant to downgrade our ambitions or goals, but to continually reinvent them. Praise for Boundless Potential: “A great book . . . Will hit home with intelligent men and women contemplating their next steps.” —Elizabeth Pope, The New York Times “No greater challenge faces millions of us in our forties, fifties, and sixties than how to create a successful and meaningful second half of life. In this pathbreaking and timely book, Mark Walton shows us how to reinvent our ‘game’ with a simple, powerful, practical framework; inspiring examples; and new insights from neuroscience. I recommend it highly!” —William Ury, Ph.D., international bestselling coauthor of Getting to Yes “A terrific book. Boundless Potential provides clear and practical advice on how to navigate the transition from work to good work; and if that isn’t enough, Mark Walton is a master storyteller. The people you meet in this book will, I am sure, become your companions and inspiration along the way.” —Suzanne Braun Levine, founding editor, Ms. Magazine “Brilliant, provocative, and highly practical. Applying his award-winning journalistic skills to a topic of vital importance, Mark Walton has punctured the myths and stereotypes of life’s second half to reveal our true human potential: how we are hardwired, not for decline, but for continual reinvention, personal achievement, and contribution to others.” —Michael Murphy, cofounder and chairman emeritus, Esalen Institute, and bestselling author of Golf in the Kingdom “Boundless Potential is must reading. Mark Walton tackles one of the most important issues of our time with thoughtfulness, intelligence, and careful analysis: how to harness the talents and energy of the largest generation in American history. For answers, he turns to some of our most important role models and brilliant thinkers on the interplay of age, creativity, and experience.” —Mark Miller, nationally syndicated columnist: Tribune Media Services, CBS MoneyWatch, and Reuters.com