Not Too Late – Gwendolyn Bounds

The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

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Who do you want be when you grow up? It’s a question we were all asked in our youth – and it may be a fruitful question to consider now as you consider your next phase of life. It was a catalyst for our guest today in taking up a challenging pursuit that was way outside her comfort zone. Your new pursuit may be very different from hers, but her experience may inspire you take up something new – something challenging that will make you excited about each day ahead. Gwendolyn Bounds, author of Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age, joins us from New York.

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Bio

Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds is an award-winning journalist and author of multiple books, including her newest — Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age — which will be published in June 2024 by Ballantine Books.

Bounds currently works as Vice President of Content & U.S. Media Partnerships for SmartNews, a news & information curation platform powered by machine learning and human wisdom. Before coming to SmartNews in 2022, Bounds was Vice President & Chief Content Officer for Consumer Reports overseeing editorial strategy, content creation and operations for all the brand’s print, video and digital products. Prior to that she worked at The Wall Street Journal for two decades in multiple leadership and content development roles.

In her non-office time, Bounds competes in obstacle course racing — a demanding military-style sport requiring speed, endurance, mobility, and strength. The story of her transformation from an unathletic office executive glued to her screens into an age-group medalist and Spartan Race world championship competitor is chronicled in her new book Not Too Late.

Bounds’ first non-fiction book, Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, A Town and the Search for What Matters Most was published in 2005 by William Morrow. The critically-acclaimed book recounts her experiences at an old Irish pub in New York’s historic Hudson River Valley after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Bounds previously served as a regular on-air contributor to ABC News, including its Good Morning America show, for general consumer economic issues and has appeared on CNBC, The Weather Channel, CNN, MSNBC, DIY Network and Fox News. She is a seasoned speaker and moderator on topics of leadership, business and media.

Bounds was an executive producer of the Emmy-nominated NBC TV series, “Consumer 101,” which she helped launch at Consumer Reports in 2019. That same year, Bounds was named one of Folio’s Top Women in Media. Bounds was executive producer on a short-form documentary called “A Beautiful Death,” part of a Consumer Reports multimedia package that was a finalist for a National Magazine Award.

A native of North Carolina and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bounds is a past board member of the university’s Board of Visitors, General Alumni Association and the Hussman School of Journalism & Media. Bounds is also a member of the North Carolina Media & Journalism Hall of Fame.

She currently lives and trains in New York’s Hudson River Valley and serves as a board member for multiple nonprofits, including American Public Radio’s Marketplace franchise, the award-winning Highlands Current nonprofit community news organization and the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center.

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For More on Gwendolyn Bounds

Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age

Website

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

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Unlock Positive Aging with Outdoor Adventure – Caroline Paul

The Power of Reinvention – Joanne Lipman

The Benefits of a New Challenge – Joe Simonetta

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Wise Quotes

On Becoming a Competitive Athlete

“When I woke up that morning after the dinner party, I was very disconcerted. And I still don’t know why I typed this, Joe, but I typed into Google, What are the hardest things you can do? And one of the algorithmic search answers that came up was another question, which was What are the hardest physical things you can do? And Spartan Racing and obstacle course racing were among them. For me at that point, having never been a competitive athlete, someone who was a last picked kid for teams, spent a lot of time sitting on the bench, passing out water to my friends, this was so far out of the realm of anything I thought I could do.”

On Tapping Into Information As We Age

“But fortunately, I had made a young mentor, an elite racer in the sport, a young woman who reached out to me via email. And instead of letting me wallow in my misery and commiserate, she was just very quick to say, Yeah, that happens. And it happens when you are not prepared. And here’s what you do need to be prepared. You need these gloves, and you need to use this technique and you need to wear these pants. And she really, Joe, and I think this is important for anybody in any activity they want to want to embrace, she made me understand that it’s not all about strength and speed, but it was about getting smarter and information. And that led me to understand that in any discipline, any activity we take up, we can find our edges and equalizers as we age by tapping into information. So that race sticks with me as a particularly critical one because I could have quit and I didn’t, and it was a turning point.”

On Movement – and Trying Something New

“And to get ourselves out of this inertia and potentially a rut of chronic boredom. And chronic boredom has been associated with all sorts of health risks from anxiety to depression to even the risk of making mistakes. So finding something new that you can engage in and to get out of that cycle, something that will make you wake up every day excited to try something new that forces you to learn, to unlearn, to relearn, this is this doesn’t have to be obstacle course racing or sports, as you said, it can be anything. I do think there’s a real benefit to having movement be part of our life as we age. Over and over again, you’ll hear that, you know, the research shows that we can get profound changes for our bodies and our minds just by starting to move more regularly, even in middle age and beyond. And those statistics are incredibly powerful. And so I think no matter what you choose, building movement into your day, more regular movement. I just wrote about this for my newsletter today is so important, not just again, for the physical side of being able to do what you love with the people you love, but also for the protective neurological and cognitive impact that it has.

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.2 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

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The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.