Success after 50 – we can do it!

Don’t listen to anyone who says that, as you age, you achieve less, or that all your wins are behind you. There are countless examples the world over of people going on to do great things after 50, from building or sustaining thriving businesses, or writing incredible books or travelling the world and producing a show about it.

In many ways, I believe it’s about finding your niche, and more than that, about your passion and self-belief. Fortunately, I’ve nurtured abundance in these domains since I first arrived in Australia as a child migrant from Chile.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, “psychologists have long known that success is fuelled by grit, passion, and a growth mindset—a deep-seated conviction that you can excel at a new pursuit.”

Let’s think about each of those qualities for a moment. Grit is a combination of perseverance and determination, and the good thing is that it rises through middle age and peaks in our seventies, as do several other useful intellectual traits.

Passion peaks early, in childhood, but we can train ourselves to develop this sense of excitement at the world, our ideas or our hobbies (and businesses) throughout life.

Determination is cousin to grit, and we all need it to succeed at anything. If we gave up after the first hurdle, we’d be stuck in a quagmire of self-doubt.

The article, The Psychological Formula for Success After Age 50, discusses research into cognitive skills over time. This shows that, while mental processing speed may decline by our thirties, our emotional perceptiveness, vocabularies, comprehension, and aptitude for numeracy keep climbing until at least midlife.

Although our short-term memories might not be as sharp, our accumulation of facts and knowledge peaks around retirement age.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s advice resonates with me and I want to share it here. I embrace all of these ways to stay agile – mentally and physically – and to keep reaching for the stars as I get older.

1.    Make it meaningful – do what you enjoy and say goodbye to the rest, if you can. Look for a job or a project that interests you.

2.    Keep moving – our bodies need to move and stay active, especially as we age. Studies show that successful older people get their hearts pumping every day.

3.    Nurture your weakest trait – whether it’s passion, grit or determination, you can fight a weakness by surrounding yourself with positive people and applying deadlines.

4.    Learn new things and enjoy balance – our brains respond to new stimuli and learning completely new skills earns us bonus points.

What’s your secrets for success as you age? I’d love to see your ideas in the comments.

Remember, #togetherwecan.

Marcella.