72 SECOND HALF
OVER
Throughout history, only one in ten people could expect to live to
65. It is hardly surprising therefore that the psychology of our society
has developed over many generations so that we have now
unconsciously conditioned ourselves to believe that we work until
our 60s….go into rapid decline…. then die. This is despite the
evidence of our own eyes and personal experiences these days.
THE
As individuals, our mental models are built consciously and
unconsciously upon role models, particularly those formed in
childhood and youth. Our rational adult minds know full well that
increased longevity nowadays has not just added years, but has
added fitness, health and vigour to those years. Increasingly we see
headlines such as, “60 is the new 40”.
HILL?
And yet our mental images, and the self-limiting beliefs that arise
from them, tend still to focus on the long outdated role models we
bring from our earliest years: our grandparents and their peers.
Obstacles of our own creation
Age-ism is the only form of discrimination to which we all eventually
fall victim. And as a large percentage of the general public have
conscious or unconscious conditioning around what people in their
Second Half can or can’t, should or shouldn’t do, it stands to reason
that, once we reach our 50s and 60s, we may also (still) be carrying
Don’t you believe it! In her new
around those assumptions in our own heads unconsciously, even
book, Julie Perigo looks at why
though we have reached that age ourselves.
successful older executives find
So it is important to question oneself . ‘How much do I believe that
someone in their 60s does not have the energy to run a company /
themselves floundering as they
join a new business / be a credible leader?……because I am that
near the end of their main career.
person now, and I may be prejudiced against myself’.
And how, with a bit of effort, they
TEST YOUR OWN AGE-ISM
can still have the time of their lives.
• What does a person of 50 look like? Of 60? Of 70? Beyond?
• How much do the images which come to mind match
today’s reality?
• What observations can you make about your thought
processes in conjuring up those images?
• What do you think about life and careers for people in their
50s? Their 60s? Their 70s? Beyond?
• Where do those ideas come from for you?
• Are you happy that they reflect your real feelings – and reality?
• How do you think the thoughts above impact, consciously or
unconsciously, on your own assumptions about yourself in your
own Second Half?
Embracing the Extended Career
The focus is moving away from the ON-OFF button of traditional
retirement to one’s Extended Career. There are new trends which
see professionals go through two or three mini-retirements between
their 50s and 70s. For some it is into serial project work, and this has
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