What If We Really Do Get Better With Age?

As Ira approaches his 45th birthday, he’s confronted by an unavoidable reality: he’s exploding Conventional Wisdom.

Conventional Wisdom says that he’s “middle aged” now. Granted, living to be 90 would be a great run for anybody. But it’s all the baggage that goes with the term “middle aged” that he’s pushing back against.

He’s hitting his peak professional years. He has an understanding of the ways of the world that is more astute than ever.  He has a great marriage, and his kids like him.  Even physically, he’s in better than average shape, and he still has the competitive fire burning in him that he’s had since he was 5 years old.

There’s no midlife crisis for Ira. In fact, he’s a little offended by the assumption that he’s past his prime in any way.

So, when his son, TJ, asks an innocent question, Ira hears a gauntlet being slammed to the ground:

“Hey Dad, did you ever dunk a basketball?”

Now, it’s important to understand that basketball was Ira’s primary sport for almost two decades. From middle school through high school he was a starting guard for his school teams. He played college intramurals, frequented playground pickup games after finishing school and enthusiastically threw himself into B-school intramural games well into his late twenties.

But despite all that playing time, he never could dunk the ball. He came close once with a tennis ball in high school, but that was it.

Now, here’s his own son, challenging him to do something he had never done before, when he had reached an age when people are assumed to be past their prime.

It’s just the spark Ira needs to launch this quest. His objective is simple:

He will be able to dunk a basketball by his 45th birthday.

There’s only one catch: Ira turns 45 in 90 days.