“How old do you think I am?”
I glanced at the Uber driver’s face. Every time I’m asked this question… I don’t know how to respond. I would feel bad guessing too high and they’re definitely not 21. I’ve learned looking at the face isn’t a good way to guess age because I don’t know if they’ve had plastic surgery, a great skin care routine, or never enjoyed the sun.
Instead I look at their hands.
Combined with the two, he looked younger than my dad. (Dad you look young too but this guy..)
“50?”
He laughed. “Don’t flatter me. I’m 70.”
His skin looked great and his voice was strong. I had to know. “How?”
No stress. And then he told me his life story. He ran an internet marketing company for over 30 years with about 30 employees. He asked what I was up to. I told him I was trying to find my own philosophy on management because I was once told I lacked one.
He started off with, “Well Jon, the CEO is the lowest on the totem pole.”
I responded, “I can see that. You have to satisfy your customers.”
He continued, “And my employees. I have to be there for everyone. For support. Where’s my support group as CEO? Nobody cares for me.”
I understood that and asked how he managed people. He said, “I never micromanage. I tell people this is what we’re going to do. And they do it. If they don’t and we can’t come to an agreement, there’s no hard feelings. They go.”
He drives Uber to give himself purpose by chatting with random people. Another reason is extra spending money. He doesn’t want to touch his retirement nest egg. He mentioned when he sold his company, he felt lost and useless for years. He couldn’t play golf every day and retirement became boring. All of his friends either passed away or were still working. He mentioned feeling depressed, and he believes this is a common sentiment shared by people who retired after a long career.
He’s planning for his next vacation in Bali and he flies around the world to teach dancing. He mentioned he knew West Coast swing, which was the dance I enjoy.
He’s not stressed at all with his life.
He pointed out when he was younger, he did not like working for big companies. Instead he aimed for starting his own company and making enough money to retire on. When he got there, he didn’t like where he ended up. He was unhappy. He pinned his whole life on one singular goal and when he achieved it, he had a serious life crisis. What was he going to do next?
He told me to enjoy my life and live in the present.
Life isn’t a checklist. He left me with three points to think about.
- There are things we know.
- There are things we know we don’t know.
- Most importantly, there are things we don’t know that we don’t know.
Took him 30 years and $500 at a life coaching seminar to understand those sayings.
What’s your takeaway from this?
Leave a Reply