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Summary

• Age has less direct impact on career than most people believe, but mindset about age has a huge impact.
• Think you're too young to be successful in your career? Your not.
• Think you're to old to be successful in your career? You're not.

Full Transcript

Let me ask you a question. How old are you?

I've coached a lot of people with career stuff. I've coached people in high school, people in college, people recently graduated from college, people who were maybe just into their first job, all the way to people who were like 80 and 90. And it never ceases to amaze me the impact that one's own idea about their age has on their career.

For example, I was recently talking to somebody who was probably mid, maybe early sixties, had finished a long career in one place and was just on the verge of trying to figure out what they were going to do next. A lot of their mindset just was really held back by, they thought they were just really old.

Now at the same time, I recently was talking to somebody who was four months out of college and had already done a bunch of really interesting things pretty much looking to get started on a career. And they were convinced that because they'd been four months out of school and hadn't really found their footing that life had passed them by and they were kind of of a failure.

And then at the same time, I've worked with a person in particular who's like 86 and this person is in it. I mean, they're still playing, they are making impact and they're pretty far up there, but you would not know it as this person has not stopped. And it's actually pretty impressive to see them go. They have the energy of someone much, much, much less their age, but you wouldn't really know what their age was unless you just happened to know, especially based on the impact that they were making.

So I'm not trying to like make a Depends commercial here, revisit the movie "Cocoon." If you don't know, Depends are uh, basically adult diapers, adult "under garments." Their motto is, "you've got a lot of living to do!" I'm not trying to make that point.

But what I am trying to point out is that, in your career, the way you think about your age really matters a ton both ways. Whether you think you're too old or whether you think you're too young: it doesn't matter. The way you think about your age has an impact on your career and that impact is pretty much your choice, which means that if your attitude about your age is holding you back in your career, you can totally change it. And you should. Here's some thoughts to help you do that.

The funny thing about age is we all assume that if we're like 20, we've got someone in the neighborhood of 60, 70, 80 years left to live and if we're maybe like 60 or 70 that well, maybe things are wrapping up. It's worth considering though that, not to be morbid or anything, but the 20 year old could get hit by a bus tomorrow.

On the other hand, the 50 year-old could live another 50 years, which means they haven't even completed half of their adult years yet at the age of 50. So this notion that tomorrow is guaranteed...it's not.

Sure - age can impact people's health and certain things. But it's probably a less valuable predictor in terms of what one's working future is that most people give it the power to be.

Especially when it comes to early professionals, so many in their early twenties are convinced that they've just missed the boat, that they're too old, that they're not making enough progress. You know, the stereotype of young people today of course, is that they're entitled, right? They, they want to get promoted after 10 minutes after starting a new job. There's reasons for that, like people such as Simon Sinek have described: for example how young people are accustomed to accessing everything on demand and immediate delivery is the norm of the age we live in. You know, George Bernard Shaw explained how, "youth is wasted on the young." I think that could apply here when it comes to career stuff in the sense that people who are just starting out their career, who are young, who maybe don't have a ton of responsibilities, they don't have a mortgage, they don't have big families with lots of mouths to feed, yet they worry. Again, everybody's situation is different, but in general that tends to be the case. I think sometimes youth is wasted on them because instead of using those advantages, the flexibility of time that they have and the fact that they can live lean, they don't have a lot of huge commitments yet in their life, they worry their career isn't moving fast enough.

So what I would say to our younger viewers out there is don't let your anxiety about your future get the better of you. Right. Don't play into that stereotype that you know, that is, most people give Millennials the idea that they're entitled or they have to get promoted so quickly that they're not willing to put in the work. Put in the work, show respect for people who've paid their dues and been there a while. It will serve you. You've got more time. You know, we just talked about getting hit by a bus, but in general, you've got more time than you think. Your life isn't passing you by. You're not old, you're not old, and you're not young either, but you're not old.

And for those of you who are a little bit up there, maybe like myself, I'm 46 by the way. But I'm not young or old (and neither are you). So for those who are worried that they're too old, let me just throw a couple of historical examples at you that might blow your mind. 

Julia Child, the famous chef she wrote her first cookbook when she was 50 years old. Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, franchised the first Kentucky Fried Chicken (aka KFC) when he was 62. Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's, started his first McDonald's when he was 52. There's recently a movie about that, that, that showed it. He thought his career was over and then McDonald's happened. Grandma Moses started her prolific painting career when she was 78. So this notion that you're too old to start something? Yeah, that's horse shit. Don't tell yourself that. And don't let anybody else tell you that.

How you think about your age can either lift up your career or press it down. So whatever age you are, physically, mentally, whatever. I hope that these thoughts have, uh, have convinced you that you shouldn't let your age have that great an impact on your career or your ability to win at work.