Life Hacks

I’m 30 Years Old With Over 60 Years of Experience

This self-belief will help you never be “old”

The older you get, the more likely you will realize that age truly is just a number.

I can legitimately say, “I’m 30 years old with over 60 years of experience”.

That’s because the essence of my soul, beliefs, attitude, and my foundational sense of who I am and what’s important to me remain the same as they did when I was 30.

My desires and intentions to be relevant, learn new things, try new things, be innovative and inventive, find new ways to express myself and make an impact are the same.

Except that now, I am in a vastly better place to manifest them and enjoy the ride more because of my 60 years of experience.

Surprised?

You shouldn’t be.

Many if not most of the greatest achievements in art, literature, science, politics, society, and virtually all endeavors that didn’t require a youthful body, have come from people who are “older”.

It makes sense.

We’ve had decades of life to learn, advance our skills and talents, and sort through it all to discover the essentials.

So many of the success factors that come with time, just cannot be achieved by youth.

My great-grandfather Clifton Long was a very successful artist.

I have an old newspaper article profiling him in which he said he hoped to live to be 125 years old because, by then, “I will hopefully have my style and technique fully developed.”

WTF Happened

Despite this reality of getting better (and best) when you get older, one-night years ago we went to sleep knowing this to be the truth and woke up the next morning to an opposite perceived reality.

That when you get older, you aren’t relevant anymore.

That innovation, success, and all the other adjectives of praise belong to those who are younger.

That older people should just quietly go away and leave it to youth.

All too often with societal trends we humans have a knack for overreacting and over-embracing them.

What happened is that beginning in the 1960s, the walls of convention and tradition were torn down and the gatekeepers were killed off enabling people who were ‘younger’ to make their mark.

(Ironic isn’t it that the people who started it all are now the victims).

The youth movement has gotten most of the attention and praise.

Much of it is deserved.

But not to the exclusion of what remains a truth.

This isn’t nor should it be an either/or proposition.

Younger people became more relevant and assertive.

They joined the party. That doesn’t mean the older attendees need to be kicked out.

In fact, this can make for one helluva intergenerational party.

A blend of strengths, insights, diversity of thought, and experience.

This can and should happen IF we get past the BS prejudices directed at all ages and view the other person for who they are and what they bring to the effort.

Duh!

There is a quiet transformation occurring by people who are older doing what so many older humans have done before them: Be at their best and signify.

Once we get out of our own way (e.g., ageist assumptions, presumptions, and stereotypes) we can take advantage of this amazing dynamic.

The pendulum of regard has swung way too far one way but may be now swinging back to a more balanced position.

I wonder if there’s a way on a job application to list your true age (attitude, desire, beliefs, even health) along with your experience.

It would be a much more accurate and telling measure of the value that person can bring to the effort.

Because after all, chronological age truly is just a number.

You’ll see.

Looking for a New Way Forward in your life? You can get my free “Launch Yourself Get Started Guide” by going to www.NewWayFWD.com.