Over the past couple of months I’ve written many times about the benefits of focussing on your strengths (e.g. here and here); most Positive Psychology literature (unsurprisingly) concentrates on what’s good about using a strengths-based approach and mentions very little in the way of the downsides. I’ve come across the phrase “overusing strengths”, but that’s about it. You need to look quite hard at the VIA-IS, StrengthsFinder and Strengthscope websites to find anything suggesting there might also be disadvantages.

Carol Dweck’s* research on fixed and growth mindsets made me wonder whether developing an inflexible view even of one’s good points (e.g. strengths) might actually be a bad thing, and that’s how I came to write my recent posting on Positive Psychology News Daily.

Anyhow, today I was sent a link to a post on the Berkun Blog, called “Why you should be bad at something“. It’s not just that being bad at something is OK, according to Scott Berkun it’s an absolute necessity if you’re going to learn something. How right he is. In order to learn you need to have a growth mindset, to try, and to keep trying over again when you fail. As a child you had a growth mindset – you’d never have learnt to speak, walk, read and write if you’d waited until you were good at it first.

What I like about Berkun’s post is it links the themes of comfort zones (which we have also discussed before here), learning, ageing, mindsets and happiness.

Berkun says “This sounds idiotic but I think being good, as in proficient, isn’t good all the time… as I get older I realize how important it is for my soul to be bad or awful in at least one thing I do, and to take pleasure in it anyway. There is a way to take pleasure in things independent of my ability at them and I’m convinced that cultivating it will make me a happier person“.

I dare you to be really bad at something!

* Carol Dweck (2006) Mindset: The new psychology of success

Thanks to Neil for the link to Scott Berkun’s blog.

The Zimmers, the UK rock band with an average age of 82, continue their bid for world domination… or at the very least some recognition that older folks can continue to play a part in society and deserve to be heard.

This is Positive Ageing at its best, and the second example I’ve come across in the past few weeks -  the other is Dr Lilli Hvingtoft -Foster, the President of the Open University Psychological Society, which she was instrumental in establishing in 1974. The Grande Dame doesn’t reveal her age, but she must be 80 if she’s a day. She opened the recent OUPS Psychology of Well-Being Conference – her passion for her subject was immediately obvious, over the three days she attended all the lectures – a brilliant example of how life-long learning can help keep you young.

The Zimmers, who created a storm a month or so ago with their recording of The Who’s My Generation, and whose next single, a cover of The Prodigy’s 1996 song Firestarter, is due out in October, have taken a much more in your face approach to Positive Ageing. I loved the first documentary that the award-winning journalist Tim Samuels made about them; firstly it showed how mistaken we are to ignore older people, or to write them off as being somehow past their prime – and more importantly how we can continue to have fun and make a difference in the world whatever our age.

In a follow-up programme tonight on the UK’s BBC 2 at 10pm , we see The Zimmers conquering America, being interviewed by the world’s media and making appearances in front of the camera as if they were all born to it. They have their own Myspace page now, as well as an entry in Wikipedia, and numerous videos on Youtube made by admiring fans, plus hundreds of mentions in blogs world-wide.

It goes without saying that in the UK’s increasingly individualistic culture we need to treat older people with more respect. And what I really hope the Zimmers achieve through this new media spotlight is to make people realise that ageing positively is not a myth: retirement can be just as enjoyable, exciting and rewarding a time as your youth or middle age. The world is still your oyster whether you’re 28 or 82.

…pure inspiration…

One of our March blogs looked at the subject of legacy and making a contribution ; we featured the fabulous Peter, aka Geriatric1927 , who posts his own unique videoblogs on Youtube. Well, he’s popped up again, this time as part of the band, The Zimmers, who stormed into the UK Singles Charts at Number 26 this week with a brilliant version of The Who’s “My Generation” . Believe it or not the lead singer, Alf, is 90.

You might have seen The Zimmers featured on Tim Samuels’ BBC2 documentary last week, Power to the People: The Great Granny Chart Invasion. What an inspirational bunch of people. This is positive ageing in practice.