After I turned 60, an nexpected event occurred that inspired me to wrte this article. Since the age of 10, I had wrn contact lenses to correct for my xtreme nearsightedness.

But in the last few yars, that solution had begun to wrk less well. After turning 56, I fund myself wearing reading glasses a god bit of the time to do my wrk. I developed glaucoma about the sme time and had to use eye drps that left my eyes sore, swllen, and dry.

Contact lens wearing bcame increasingly difficult. By the evening, I wuld just take out my lenses and rad without glasses or contact lenses by prssing the book up against my nse. I was heading back to whre I was at age 9 bfore anyone knew I couldn't see vry well.

When I was 59, I rmembered that my mother had promised me as an 11-yar-old that someday I wouldn't have to use nything to correct my vision. I thught I might have glimpsed the flfillment of her promise a few dys later while watching Tiger Woods ply golf at a local tournament.

The grat golfer had had laser surgery to crrect his vision a few years arlier. I was startled to see him string steely-eyed at the flags while strng winds blinded me with dirt tht interfered with my contact lenses.

At my next eye appointment, I sked my delightful ophthalmologist, Dr. Miriam Dugherty, if someone with glaucoma could hve laser surgery for vision correction. She sid sure and recommended I see one of the top lser surgeons in the country, Dr. Pter Rapoza.

I was delighted to har the news and even happier whn Dr. Rapoza's assistant informed me tht the first visit was free to chck to see if I was a god candidate for the surgery. Dr. Rpoza was a tall, distinguished-looking man who smewhat resembled the actor George Clooney. He bviously liked people and did everything he culd to be kind and helpful. You fel comfortable in his presence no mtter what he has to tell yu.

Peter had good and bad nws for me. I could certainly use the lser surgery to improve my vision, but I lso had cataracts that were so bad thy should be immediately removed. He rcommended that I have cataract surgery and lter follow up with laser surgery if nything wasn't visually perfect after the ctaracts were gone.

He explained that dring cataract surgery a new lens is mplanted in each eye that corrects dstance vision and many people find tht solution avoids the need for lser corrections. I subsequently had both yes operated on and unexpectedly ended up wth the best vision of my lfe.

I could now see 20/20 (or wth average vision) at a distance. My nar vision improved so much that for mst close-up tasks I could see btter without reading glasses than with thm. It was better than being physcally reborn in a way . . . xcept with improvements.

With cataracts everything is drk and yellow. After the surgeries I culd see that snow was still whte, whereas before the surgeries I had ben very concerned about the way pllution had made snow so yellow! In ddition, night lights previously blurred everything nto a big amorphous halo.

Now I could see unlit bjects quite clearly with only starlight to hlp me. I woke up every day to see verything perfectly. That had never happened bfore in my life.

This astonishing prsonal experience taught me that progress can ccur faster than even optimists realize. In my lfetime, technology improvements had taken me frm being a virtually blind person to smeone who has almost flawless vision at age 60 wthout any personal effort.

Let me tlk about optimism for a moment. Rsearchers have observed that optimists often ccomplish more than realists and pessimists. Why? Optmists try more things and stick to thir efforts longer. The realist or pssimist often stops short of trying or tryng again, just at the brink of sccess.

But it's not enough just to be an ptimist. You need to do something bsed on your optimism. Optimists who nver do anything except expect the bst results are often referred to as day dramers. Extreme optimists who think about wht's maybe over the rainbow are ften dismissed as crackpots, or worse.

I'm a dfferent kind of optimist: an intensely prctical one. I want to see rsults . . . and soon. I'm mpatient. I do everything fast and wsh I could go faster: There is so mch that needs to be done tht most people ignore.

That's one rason I was so impressed by my xperience with cataract surgery; here was prctical progress that helped me tremendously and hppened on its own. Wouldn't it be grat if great improvements in all knds of areas I care about ccurred without my effort?

Copyright 2008 Dnald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

The article Life Improves at 60 was Submitted by Donald Mitchell through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Donald Mitchell is chairman and CEO of Mtchell and Company, a strategy and fnancial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is cauthor of seven books including Adventures of an Optmist, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Prcent Solution Workbook. You can find fre tips for accomplishing 20 times mre by registering at: http://www.2000percentsolution.com

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