After 50 It's Up To Us: Developing The Skills And Agility We'll Need Paperback – September 15, 2007

After 50 It's Up to Us was an enjoyable, easy, and informative read. Dr. Schofield weaves his personal experiences throughout the book, and these stories and examples bring the book to life. I was particularly impressed with how Dr. Schofield captured the optimism and opportunity of life after 50 and balanced this view with the accountability each of us has for being proactive in creating our futures.He delicately reminds us that our identities have been driven by circumstances "outside of ourselves" (roles, family, work, achievement, etc), and he describes how this identity changes as we move into our 50s and beyond. He tells us we have the opportunity to drive our lives to a new meaning, and he goes into detail why this is possible and important.Dr. Schofield provides a truly refreshing and optimistic look about the next stage of life. I like the book so much, I bought it for my parents and in-laws.

George Schofield has provided an easy to follow pathway for each of us to determine our "readiness" for life after 50 and beyond. For many of us whose "eye on the ball" was so intense that we failed to notice that the magic line of middle-age had come and gone, Mr. Schofield provides us with tools to reassess ourselves and our lives while "in transit." As one who has long crossed that line, the advise I've provided others in preparation for the later stages of life is "expect to be surprised." No one can anticipate all of the financial, social and personal changes which arrive with aging (including the welcome as well as the unwelcome). "After 50 It's Up to Us" provides tools for each of us to develop the flexibility often required to effectively respond to the arrival of the unexpected. I highly recommend this book.

Like many people, I am wondering if the rest of my life will be and should be a continuation of what I have done so far. At 55, I have a long way to go, but I have already been a long way. This book helped me realize I needed to change some of the fundamental things in my life if I was going to accomplish what is left undone. And it told me how to make those changes. The result has been a transformative experience. Thanks Dr. Schofield for saving the rest of my life!

At about 100 normal sized pages "If you find it wondrous short, it cannot hold you long".I couldn't decide whether to give this book one star because it was a rehashing of trite concepts from others or 5 stars because it had some genuinely new insights that made me think.The book is apparently based on a large number of interviews of 50+ year olds by the author. The book doesn't describe the interviews in any detail; more importantly for me it doesn't describe how the interviews led to the insights in the book. There are many quotes from other authors but they float somewhat in isolation from the main lists and ideas of the book. So I was left unclear whether those lists and ideas have come from others or from the author.For example are "identity anchors" the author's invention or something pulled from psychology (perhaps with a research base to back them up)? We are told they have "2 key aspects: 1- They serve to keep something safe and centered but also inhibit change even if change is desirable 2- Have their own strengths often in opposition to the forces trying to dislodge them." (Seems to me like jargonizing the obvious but if it leads you to think about these issues that is probably useful)We are also told "the 2 major forces working on identity anchors are--belonging: the need to know who I am when I am with others and how successful I am at maintaining the level of belonging I think I should have and --- individuation: the need to know who I am and how successful I am at being an independent individualWe always have need for enough belonging and individuation--balance between the two varies throughout life."Reading this led me to reflect on my belonging-individuation balance which was maybe useful but I don't think it really moved me beyond knowing I am pretty self-contained and that at 50 I ought to be getting out a bit more outside work.The author describes an HR/Business/Consulting background and this book probably reflects that. There seems to be some academic backing to what is written but the links are not clear. There are a number of lists--easy to grab, but how each list got chosen isn't clear. For example here are "10 key skills after 50:Planning is essentialPace of change is acceleratingLife doesn't go completely according to planThriving 50+ requires special abilitiesPath we expect will change as we go down itPrevious skills may not be what we need in future--may even get in the waySituations and companions will change, sometimes without noticeAging cant be solved or moved beyond like a problemAcquiring and practicing right skills early will make a difference in quality of life laterNo one-size-fits all answer for life 50+. Success requires resilience and awareness in taking responsibility for ourselves.".....but it isn't clear to me why these are more important after than before 50.Much of the book could be a good basis for a discussion group. It may be that the author runs courses, workshops for the 50+ age group and has decided to convert them into a book...without really working out how to answer questions that would get addressed in any discussion of the material.

He indicates the group becoming oldsters are pioneers. Balderdash. Life expectancy in the US is DECLINING. My grandfather lived to be ninety nine. He had no chronic diseases, took no meds, was mentally and physically vibrant (he walked briskly at least a hour daily) and was an extraordinary specimen. Nowadays men that age are so jacked up on meds they're stumbling all over the place, routinely falling. Seniors circa 2014 are in far worse shape thanks to "overtreatment money driven American medicine-man" and big pharma who is not interested in curing anything (what's the point, there's no profit in that) but in making everything a lifelong treatable (and very profitable) disease. If the premise is wrong what follows is basically useless. If you were boring and whiny young, you'll be boring and whinny old. Scare tactics and pithy advice change nothing.