Now For Something Completely Different
Sometimes people like to leave one career and move on to something completely different. This particular strategy can be very exciting, but change is not for everyone.
If you want to be good at something you first have to be willing to be bad at it. Older adults have a difficult time embracing that fact. As baby boomers we fit in that category. This can be the big problem for anyone of our generation who wishes to take on a new endeavor, and not without reason.
You may think you have a passion to be a boat builder, but if you’ve been an accountant all your working life up to now, you have much to learn. It will cost you, too. There is the time and the money, but the hardest obstacle will be in your head.
I’m not saying that the financial costs of beginning a new career can be insignificant. There are the actual costs of instruction and the time you will spend learning. If you enjoy educating yourself then you’re ahead of the game. You will have to cope with the criticism of others and integrate it into you work.
The difficulty for an older person is that they don’t want to look or feel foolish. When you’ve reached your late fifties or early sixties you generally feel that you have some competencies in life. You’ve been through all those feelings of inadequacy and don’t really relish the idea of re-experiencing them again. As boomers that would be our challenge.
Your health, family situation, finances all impinge on your ability to take up something out of our experience, but our fear of looking foolish is the big hurdle. So, how do you do it?
The first phase is your personal commitment. Woody Allen said “Eighty per cent of life is showing up.” The percentage might be off, but if you show up again, and again, and again you will begin to learn. You will develop some competency. After awhile you will no longer be the “new kid”.
The frustrations of incompetence will be there. Children quit trying when they fail because they cannot see the path to success. Presumably, you are an adult. Those who do not fail do not do anything new. Failure is the way of the world, deal with it. How do you deal with it?
You should know that mistakes have much to teach us. If someone is good enough to point those out to you use it as an opportunity to learn. Thank your critic. You have failed to see something that the critic sees. Ask your critic questions about what is wrong and how you can improve. Use your mistakes.
Persistence, an open mind and the ability to use their mistakes are the attributes old dogs must have to learn new tricks.
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POSTED IN: Being A Boomer, Boomer Talk, Mindset
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