Gary,

Your thoughtful question deserves a response.

Aging definitely makes a difference. As we age, our values change. We are less driven by the tyranny of ambition. We've climbed the ladder as far as we can.

This creates a great sense of freedom to refocus on other things.

I've often written that we can measure time or experience time. When we're young, we measure it: What's on my to-do list? What time is my next meeting? With whom should I network (even if I don't like them) to advance my career.

With age, we can ask, "Whom and what do I love most? That's where I want to spend the limited time I have remaining."

I would add, however, that we don't need to wait until we're old to think about that. Our American society allows being busy to be an excuse to avoid almost anything we don't want to do.

Aging allows us an opportunity to re-examine our value system and refocus how we experience v. measure out time.