We’re over in Queenstown at the moment doing some skiing and snowboarding.  We were up on the slopes yesterday and started chatting to an elderly gentleman, as it turns out, at 78, he had only learned to ski 20 years ago and his sons, who are now in their 50’s, have just started to learn to snowboard.  He lost his wife in a tragic accident which caused him to reassess his life and set some new goals.

To put that more into perspective, here am I in my 50’s just learning snowboarding (coming from Perth it isn’t on the top of the list of local sports). 

It started to put things into perspective for me,

what is possible and what isn’t at any age. 

I was in my 50’s when my role with a large corporation was made redundant and I was left with a mortgage, school fees, bills and a meagre redundancy package. With a bit of luck, risk taking and a can-do attitude, I took a small start up business to over a million dollars turnover in just a couple of years. 

So what is the common factor here? 

I believe it’s having a direction, working at it, and maintaining a positive attitude.  There are so many options in your 50’s that people seem to ignore, for some people, it’s the first time since they left school that they have so many options. 

A lot of what prevents people seeing those options

has to do with attachments.

For many the attachments are to status, salary, (perceived) reputation, a role, possessions or (faulty or positive) relationships.  These things get caught up in our heads in the form of ego, and untested assumptions. 

If you can let go some of those egotistical attachments,

many other options will present themselves to you. 

I understand it may not have been what you had planned for your life, but let’s face it many people seem to be very clear when a plan they never really worked, didn’t actually work out (what a surprise), it’s like a parent saying “I never raised my kids to be like that”.  Was there ever really a plan for any outcome?

I am always in admiration of senior people who come through our career coaching program, who’ve said to us, I’ve worked hard but now I just want to work as a tour guide, or at the local hardware store.  They are realistically winding down their careers. 

I coached the most senior manager at a large recognisable company talk about his planned rise to the top and his planned return down the ladder, his next few jobs, with the same company were less and less senior with less responsibility.  It struck me as being so mature.  On the other hand, I coached a senior executive who in his early 70’s was incensed that the company had made his role redundant (it took me three months to convince him to retire).

 

With the extended life expectancy of Australians, the way things are going economically together and the statistic that less than 15% of people are financially prepared for retirement, these are all sending us a clear message that life after 50 won’t be the same as it was for our grandparents. 

The reality is that we will all need to work, even if it is to maintain some level of sanity (20 years after 65 and nothing to do doesn’t sound like an attractive prospect).

It is never too late to plan,

it is never too late to work towards a goal

and it is definitely never too late to succeed,

just ask our 78-year-old ski instructor.  So what are you attached to that is holding you back or clouding your mind?

Career Life Transitions has extensive experience in skills assessment, leadership development, organisational restructures and organisational cultural assessment and development. For further information, how we can help transform your business and it’s people, please contact us.