I coached someone today who said this within 5 minutes of her session.
"I'm too old to be successful." She is 56.
REALLY?!?!?!
Here's a list of people with rock star success that started over 50:
Maybe it's more not being old enough!! Studies have shown that a 55-year old and even a 65-year old has more innovation potential that a 25-year old.
So there!!!
That's what we call Life Experience. Can't buy that, study that, cram for that, download that. Must live it. That's what 24 hours a day for half a century gives us. And if we're observant, we now have a great catalog of experiences to reference.
But there's also a danger lurking in that catalog. If you aren't careful you will become Past Focused - making decisions on what you are capable of doing based on what you HAVE already done. If I can only do what I've already done based on looking back, the result is living to be 80 and simple living the same year over and over 50 times.
Think of a baby learning to walk. If she is Past Focused, she will see that she's never walked before.
She could refuse to even try because she's never been successful at walking before. Thank goodness, that as babies we didn't look to our past for evidence that we would be successful at walking or we'd still be crawling. Instead, we had our eyes on the prize, that toy across the room, and walking would get us there much faster. We knew and saw what we wanted and went for it. We were Future Focused.
We continue this through our early adulthood, but once we've finished college, found our soulmate (and someone that makes you laugh), got a job, bought a house, and had a baby or two, we stop focusing on the future and look backwards to see what we are capable of.
Common thought? "I've never done it before, so I'm not sure I can do it."
I'd never lived in Hawaii before and I wanted it like a baby wanted that toy. I was so Future Focused that I had blinders on for everything but moving here. Now I live in Kona, Hawaii. Sold everything and moved with 4 suitcases, our bikes and scuba gear. Future focused.
Who moves 3000 miles away from grandkids leaving everything behind?
A Future Focused person who isn't looking back.
Of course, now I look back and see that maybe I COULD have rented out my house on the mainland - at least until the prices doubled 3 years after we moved instead of losing money on the sale. But... life experience! Hehe
I have no idea what I'm capable of - I just know what I want. I follow that and the adventure begins. And age has nothing to do with being successful. Age is just a number - the higher the wiser.
"I'm too old to be successful." She is 56.
REALLY?!?!?!
Here's a list of people with rock star success that started over 50:
- 65 Harland Sanders - Colonel Sanders sold his first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise
- 52 Ray Kroc started McDonald's
- 65 Laura Ingalls - published Little House on the Prairie and wrote the whole series by 76
- 73 Peter Roget - published Roget's Thesaurus
- 78 Grandma Moses - got her first break in art, started painting at 70
- 60 PT Barnum - started the circus
Maybe it's more not being old enough!! Studies have shown that a 55-year old and even a 65-year old has more innovation potential that a 25-year old.
So there!!!
That's what we call Life Experience. Can't buy that, study that, cram for that, download that. Must live it. That's what 24 hours a day for half a century gives us. And if we're observant, we now have a great catalog of experiences to reference.
But there's also a danger lurking in that catalog. If you aren't careful you will become Past Focused - making decisions on what you are capable of doing based on what you HAVE already done. If I can only do what I've already done based on looking back, the result is living to be 80 and simple living the same year over and over 50 times.
Think of a baby learning to walk. If she is Past Focused, she will see that she's never walked before.
We continue this through our early adulthood, but once we've finished college, found our soulmate (and someone that makes you laugh), got a job, bought a house, and had a baby or two, we stop focusing on the future and look backwards to see what we are capable of.
Common thought? "I've never done it before, so I'm not sure I can do it."
I'd never lived in Hawaii before and I wanted it like a baby wanted that toy. I was so Future Focused that I had blinders on for everything but moving here. Now I live in Kona, Hawaii. Sold everything and moved with 4 suitcases, our bikes and scuba gear. Future focused.
Who moves 3000 miles away from grandkids leaving everything behind?
A Future Focused person who isn't looking back.
Of course, now I look back and see that maybe I COULD have rented out my house on the mainland - at least until the prices doubled 3 years after we moved instead of losing money on the sale. But... life experience! Hehe
I have no idea what I'm capable of - I just know what I want. I follow that and the adventure begins. And age has nothing to do with being successful. Age is just a number - the higher the wiser.
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