For more than sixty years, I lived with one simple habit.
If I wanted to see something in the distance, I put on my glasses.
If I wanted to read something up close, I took them off.
I didn’t think about it. I just did it.
Then came cataract surgery.
Today, my vision is 20/20. My doctor says everything is healing well, and I’m grateful for that.
But now everything has been turned upside down.
To see something far away, I don’t need glasses at all.
To read something close, I do.
It sounds like a small change, but it has revealed something much bigger.
Every morning, I still reach for my glasses before I even realize I don’t need them.
I’ll be watching television and instinctively put on my reading glasses. Then I wonder why the picture isn’t as clear as it should be.
Or I’ll take my glasses off before reading a document, exactly the opposite of what I should do now.
The funny thing is that my eyes have changed.
My habits haven’t.
That has reminded me of an important truth.
Habits are powerful.
So is muscle memory.
We often think change begins with a decision. In reality, change usually begins with noticing how many unconscious habits are still pulling us back toward yesterday.
What This Means for an Encore Career
As experienced professionals, we’ve spent decades building habits that made us successful.
We planned carefully.
We avoided mistakes.
We polished our work before anyone else saw it.
For me, that mindset served me well during my years in manufacturing and engineering. You wanted things to be right before they reached the production floor.
Today, as an entrepreneur, those same habits sometimes slow me down.
Instead of waiting until everything is perfect, I need to publish.
Instead of polishing every sentence, I need to share my ideas.
Instead of thinking privately, I need to practice in public.
That has been one of the biggest adjustments of my encore career.
The challenge isn’t learning something new.
The challenge is replacing habits that were reinforced over thousands of days.
Give Yourself Permission to Be Awkward
Whether you’re learning AI, starting a consulting practice, writing your first newsletter, or building a business after a long corporate career, you’re going to feel awkward.
You’ll reach for the “old glasses.”
You’ll instinctively do what used to work.
That’s normal.
The goal isn’t to eliminate those moments.
The goal is to notice them.
Every time you catch yourself falling back into an old habit, you have an opportunity to choose a new one.
That’s how reinvention happens.
Not in one dramatic leap.
But through hundreds of small moments of awareness.
One More Observation
One practical thing I’ve learned is to make the new habit easier than the old one.
I now keep reading glasses in several places around the house and in my office. That simple change removes friction.
I’ve also started dictating more of my writing instead of staring at a blank screen waiting for perfect words.
Small adjustments can make new habits easier to adopt.
And perhaps that’s the lesson I’ll carry forward from this experience.
Sometimes the biggest obstacle to creating your next chapter isn’t a lack of ability.
It’s the quiet power of habits that no longer serve the person you’re becoming.
What old habit have you discovered no longer fits your next chapter? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts in the comments.
