Age Is No Barrier!
It always amazes me when people think that chronological age has anything to do with anything. Once you are an adult, say voting age, how old you are is completely irrelevant.
Some people I know are reluctant to have friends who are more than a few years away from their age – how limiting! I have really close friends who are half my age and others who are nearly twice my age.
Many people put an age limit on particular activities. How often do you hear “Oh I’m too old for that”, or “That’s only for young people” or “I’m getting close to retirement age” or “At my age I think I’d better slow down”. Or perhaps worse “I won’t be able to take that step until I’m much older”, or “People don’t achieve that until they are in the 50s or older.”
These statements are all limiting. Your chronological age is completely irrelevant to everything.
Critical Principle 13: Your chronological age is completely irrelevant to everything.
Let’s look at some examples:
Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa at 75 years of age.
Fauja Singh ran a marathon in 2009 aged 98.
Ronald Reagan became the governor of California at 61, and became US President at 69.
Gandhi was 61 when he and his followers marched 240 miles in 24 days to make their own salt from the sea in defiance of British colonial laws and taxes.
Benjamin Franklin played an instrumental role in drafting and signing the Declaration of Independence when he was 70. At age 81, he signed the Constitution of the United States of America.
Frank McCourt, the author of the bestseller “Angela’s Ashes” first began to write in his sixties.
Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales between the ages of 54 and 61.
Germany’s greatest literary figure Johann Wolfgang von Goethe completed “Faust” in his eighties.
Sir Winston Churchill was 66 when he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman until he met the McDonald brothers. In 1954 at age 52 Ray Kroc opened his first McDonalds restaurant. He was reputed to be worth $500 million when he died.
Burt Munro was a New Zealand motorcycle racer who set an under 1000cc world record at the Bonneville Salt Flats (USA) on 26 August 1967. This record still stands today. Burt Munro was 68 and was riding a 47 year old motorbike when he set his record.
At age 69 Claude Monet completed the water lily painting, Le bassin aux nympheas. The painting sold for US$61 million in 2008.
Leonardo Da Vinci completed the Mona Lisa when he was 53. Walt Disney didn’t open Disneyland until he was 54.
Jessica Tandy won an Academy Award at age 80.
No matter how “old” you think you are, your chronological age bears no relationship to what you can achieve. In fact we should be expecting to do more, achieve more, and impact the world more, the older we get. If you are just starting out in life, you need to remember this. Set goals for the next five and ten years. But in the back of your mind remember as your life progresses you should be achieving bigger, greater and more significant goals – and definitely not smaller and less significant goals.
In fact, a recent study by Professor Mark Hart and three colleagues at Kingston University Business School found that older entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed in business than their younger counterparts. The study showed that people between 50 and 65 are less likely to fail in business, because they generally have more self-confidence, get better treatment from the banks and have extensive experience, business contacts and assets. The report stated: “Starting or buying a small business could be one dream older people could fulfil once they have the time and resources to choose for themselves.”
I like a point made by Jack Canfield in his wonderful book “The Success Principles”:
“In the venture capital industry, a new statistic is emerging. If the founding entrepreneur is 55 years old or over, the business has a 73% better chance of survival. These older entrepreneurs have already learned from their mistakes. They’re simply a better risk because through a lifetime of learning from other failures, they have developed a knowledge base, a skill set, and a self confidence that better enables them to move through the obstacles to success.”
You should keep this in the back of your mind as an option for the future. Your learning experiences (failures) now are preparing a foundation for your future successes.
Also of course, youth is no barrier.
Paul Getty made his first million dollars at age 24.
Budhia Singh ran 40 miles (more than a marathon) in 2006. He was four and a half years old.
Bill Gates started Microsoft when he was 20 years old.
Christopher Paolini became a New York Times Best Selling author at age 19 with his first book “Eragon”.
Michael Dell started Dell Computers when he was 19 years old.
Marjorie Gestring won an Olympic gold medal in diving at 13 years of age. Steve Jobs started Apple when he was 21 years old.
Lawrence Bragg was 25 years old when he received the Nobel Prize for Physics. Tatum O’Neal won an Academy Award at age 10.
Your age is completely irrelevant. It has nothing to do with your health, your wealth, your level of achievement, your friendships, or the activities you choose to do.
Birthdays are fun. You get to celebrate with your friends, eat cake and get presents.
But that is the only thing birthdays are for. Never define what is possible or permissible by how many or how few candles are on your cake!
Also, the concept of “retirement” should not be part of your vocabulary. If you are in a job that requires you to retire at a particular age, start looking for an alternative.
You should aim to do what you love until they carry you out in a box. If you are doing what you love there is no reason to stop doing it.
It is very important to watch your self talk as you go through life. I’m sure we all know people who literally say “I’m getting old”, “I’m not as young as I used to be”, I can’t keep up like I used to”, “At this time of my life it’s time to slow down”, “We’re all slowly dying after age 25”. These are self-damaging negative self talk statements.
Your body and your nervous system absorb these words and slowly make them a reality! I deliberately do the opposite.
Two of my favourite self talk statements are:
“I’m healthy and young.”
And
“My cells are regenerating and keeping me young.”
I also like statements that empower you on big scary birthdays: “40 is the new 25.”
“60 is the new 40.”
“70 is the new 50.”
Whatever words come out of your mouth, or whatever thoughts you think about age, make them positive and energizing.
Oh I should also add that my goal is to live in a healthy and energized state until I am 125. I tell myself this every morning, and I tell anyone who is interested.
Because of this, my mind and my heart and my body are recruited into the process of keeping me young, healthy, and energetic.