Risk of being Penniless at 65!!

When I heard him at the end of the third webinar, I was pretty surprised.

A person with distinguished background.

Worked at UNICEF, and

contributed in so many policy drafting

At the Central Government level;

finds no taker the moment he turned 65.

That is the age when even a consultant gets retired,

That means, he loses all opportunity to be a regular consultant.

That also means,

No money unless he turns to be an advisor.

He had been chosen as a moderator, by the highly ranked officials.

He was asked to play a facilitator.

He presided at policy workshops..

But without any compensation.

He kept on accepting these assignments with a hope to have a breakthrough for his second innings.

Both daughters in high paying jobs, and supporting the family.

But they are in marriageable age.

Old fashioned, he would not accept the support from daughters once they are married.

So the daughters have started saying that they are not interested in marriage.

Understandably, as a father, he has got just a year or so to figure out as to how he is going to manage when the daughters married off!

; you are pretty enterprising .. he started the conversation

I was listening.

I went down the memory lane as my father retired with 70% of his pension stopped because of a complaint against him, which could not be resolved till more than 15 years after his retirement. I used to be angry at the Government that if a courageous person and proactive person like my father could not be protected, then how are we any better a time than the British Raj?

“Do you have a solution for my problem?” he asked.

And I paused for a moment, still in my thoughts about my father and his predicament till about 10 years back.

He opted for consultancy then, and I knew not all assignments paid him in a timely manner, but ultimately they paid, because papa always emphasized on results, because fo his deep conviction around whatever he did.

I outlined few questions about results, and asked my client for his confirmation.

Then I asked him to outline 4 areas where he can contribute if given a chance.

He said yes to all.

Which implied that he was good to go.

So where was the problem? He was confused.

I wanted him to understand the fact that he had not spoken, thought or outlined results.

Because he thought that everybody knew what results can be brought about.

And also, I could sense that he has started resisting my argument.

If so, I asked , - why would they choose you and not somebody else?

Moreover, I said, that they would politely turn him down with some excuse.

Which he wouldn’t be able to refute.

This set him thinking.

Then he asked, as to what guarantee is there that they will consider if a Result is specified?

Ah. The world is looking for result.

Some kind of result.

The moment one talks of result, one tells them about a timeline to achieve the result, hence it will not be indefinite.

And there lies the assurance.

That money time and effort will be minimized.

And if he started by saying that he will return the retaining fees if the result is not achieved within the timeline, then

It will give a ground to stop being apprehensive and

Give the courage to go ahead with the experiment.

By the way, what choice did my client have at 65?

A lot of old thought process need to be shaken off if he had to prove his competency for a challenging task,

Rather than

Asking for a favour to be given an assignment,

I have not yet told him my father’s story, and why I am convinced that it works.

I also haven’t yet shared with him about my personal story about how I escaped the shackle of circumstance which was about to drown me

And I haven’t yet elaborated to him that unless he walks the path of results, he would be risking his self respect.

Putting his dignity at jeopardy!

Join my journey, if you want a solution well ahead of time, by registering into my webinar for free at https://bit.ly/3U3JTlm

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