25 Feb 2025
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By Marcus Pearce
Learning what you love to learn is like a balm for the soul, generating an enthusiasm and joie de vivre that no other area of life can deliver. From travelling the world, going to your favourite concert, knitting clothes for your grandchildren or creating a beautiful garden, exceptional growth is more than a hobby; it’s a source of inspiration.
On the flip side, next to no growth is the recipe for boredom. The mainstream news, Netflix and social media represent the growth programs for most of us, not only stunting curiosity, but creating a learned helplessness and apathy that most people never wake out of. And with boredom often comes social isolation, the slow emotional death of relationships, and a melting pot for poor mental health.
The following excerpt from Your Exceptional Life – which PSK members can receive the ebook and audiobook for free here – shows that we are never too old to learn.
Albert Einstein loved to play the violin. Tommy Hafey took his wife to the movies each week and read one book per month. Dexter Kruger turned his hand to writing when his wife died. Sister Madonna Buder first started running at age 48.
Whilst many believe that going to school, getting a job and working for 40 years leaves no time or inclination for growth, The Exceptionals see it incredibly differently.
For The Exceptionals it’s not only what they learn, but how they learn. Most in society are chronic passive learners – watching, reading and listening to information – without any active participation. The Exceptionals learn to teach, actively learning their material by speaking, demonstrating and doing the real thing. This active learning embeds the knowledge, generating an enthusiasm and inspiration that passive learning cannot. This chapter is your invitation to unleash your curiosity, quash your boredom and join the few who add this remarkable layer of quality to their exceptional life.
Why (and What) Do You Want to Learn?
Englishwoman Sarah ‘Paddy’ Jones (b. 1934), like lots of young girls, started dancing when she was two. For the next 20 years of her life, Jones took classical dance and a variety of disciplines before giving it up. “I gave it up to get married and had four children,” recalled Paddy in 2014 on Britain’s Got Talent. “I went to live in Spain with my husband (David) and unfortunately after 18 months, he died (from leukemia). After David died I kept very busy which is my normal way of life. But I’m not a person for sitting down doing nothing or just watching TV. Dancing had always been my love. So it was what I thought I would go into and try something new.”
That ‘something new’ was a flamenco dance class at the local dance academy owned and operated by Nico Espinosa. From flamenco Jones graduated to salsa dancing and didn’t stop there. “Salsa is normally Latin-American dance with your feet firmly on the floor,” Jones explains. “But Salsa Acrobatica is when the male partner lifts you, throws you, puts you through his legs, over his shoulder and does all sorts of positions and the girl is just there to go into beautiful positions all the time. It’s not for the faint-hearted!”
Paddy and Nico became dance partners and in 2009 showed their moves on the Spanish talent show Tú si que vales, claiming the top prize. Five years later, at 79 years of age, Paddy was again joined by Nico on Britain’s Got Talent. Before they started dancing, judge David Walliams sniggered: “This reminds me of a Little Britain sketch.”
Taking my television producer hat off and putting scripted production values to one side, Walliams’s tone was ageist and somewhat mocking of a 79-year-old woman dancing with a man half her age on national television. Judge Simon Cowell buzzed the pair out early on in their performance just moments before the acrobatic part of the salsa came alive. To rapturous applause, gasps and roof-raising pandemonium, Paddy and Nico gave the performance of a lifetime to simultaneously silence and inspire the critics and provide the perfect example of what exceptional growth looks like – at any age. Judge Amanda Holden gave Paddy and Nico her ‘golden buzzer’ – a straight passage through to the final, where they finished ninth.
The seeds of exceptional growth were often planted in childhood
Jones, who has officially claimed the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest acrobatic salsa dancer, has an enthusiasm and reason for dancing that stretches beyond curiosity of the unknown. Instead, her exceptional growth is a matter of unfinished business from her childhood and a just reward for her sacrifices.
“When I started to do this I spoke with the family and I said, ‘What do you think?’ And they said, ‘You gave everything up to have us and look after Dad, and he would be proud.’
Whilst society may call Jones’s love affair with dancing a hobby – something we do with our spare time (whatever spare time is) – exceptional growth is defined by an enthusiasm that a small hobby simply cannot provide. Exceptional growth lights a fire in your heart and brain and has a magnetism that you can’t help being attracted to.
To find this magnetism and enthusiasm is not as difficult as it sounds. What it takes is some time and reflection and a tiny dose of courage to do something you haven’t done in many years (albeit that you loved to do).
The first place to go looking is your childhood, as Paddy Jones did. Her story is like millions of others: the young adult who felt the need to suppress childhood passions due to playing ‘grown-ups’ (work or family commitments), only to then retire and/or have an empty nest and more time to fill. Sadly, most people don’t put the effort into seeing it this way, instead filling their time with eight hours of TV each day and pottering around doing very little.
Personally, I feel like I gave up French and piano too young in life. To this day, I still have an enthusiasm and curiosity for them that I am yet to satisfy. Travelling to France only whets my appetite to master the language, while helping my children play the piano keeps me wanting to improve at it.
Is it time to resume the stamp collection you stopped in secondary school when homework intensified? Is it time to become a true green thumb, join the local choir, or resume violin lessons that ended 40 years ago?
Exceptional growth isn’t just about passing the time, it intends to light you up in a way no other area of life can.
“No matter what your age or your life path... It is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your own creativity.” Julia Cameron
Marcus Pearce is a longevity and life design strategist and the author of Your Exceptional Life. He hosts the podcast 100 Not Out: Mastering The Art of Ageing Well, and each year takes small groups to the European Blue Zones of Ikaria and Sardinia.
As for all things relating to your health speak with your GP or a relevant medical professional. For all your financial health contact PSK on (02) 8365 8300 or visit psk.com.au
General Advice Warning - Any advice included in this article has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the advice, you should consider whether it’s appropriate to you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs.
