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Five Top Tips to Overcoming the Age Barrier
1. You're not alone!
Recognise that if you feel too old to change what you do YOU ARE IN GOOD COMPANY. Just taking a lucky dip with my current clients, apart from David (42) and Catherine (37), there’s Jamie (40), Carl (51), Liz (54), Alan (48), Gill (43)...
Let’s take a look at some of the people in my local business club: chiropractor (40’s, 3 years ago - publishing), image consultant (50’s, 3 years ago - trainer), lamination business owner (50’s, 3 years ago - mechanical engineer), interior designer (30’s, 3 years ago - marketing executive)...
Value your age. It makes you wiser. More savvy. More thoughtful. More committed. Stronger. Capitalise on its good qualities. It can be your best friend.
2. Fear is normal.
It's scary to change, and as we get older it can get scarier! Every single client I’ve worked with has been scared.
It's normal. It’s good to have fear – it keeps us grounded. The trick is to USE your fear to help you make plans. Like Catherine did by taking time out to think things through and develop a realistic and achievable plan of action, including the decision to return to work for a year to build up a retraining fund.
3. It's YOUR life.
If other people think you're mad (and as we get older, people do!), is their opinion really that important? Who has to live your life anyway?
Zoom forward and imagine you’re 80 years old – how much would you regret NOT changing what you’re doing? Now imagine yourself five years from now and what the possibilities could be if you do change.
4. Keep an open mind.
Do some big picture thinking. Keep an open mind. Once you start moving forwards, you never know what doors may open.
Like Catherine – although she’s training to be ‘a teacher’, what we discussed in her coaching sessions included what doors teaching could open, in addition to simply teaching. Doors such as international development and foreign travel for instance, which are passions of hers.
5. Get into action!
"The longest journey starts with the smallest step..." Big picture thinking is important, but don't forget to downsize to what's practical and possible right now.
So as you’re making plans, break each one down into bite sized chunks that you can start moving forward with immediately. Look at most successful people, most successful businesses and they started small, they started simple…the most important thing is…they started. Action creates its own momentum.
