How's Your Battery

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What you pursue in the second phase of life doesn’t necessarily point to entrepreneurial pursuits. If your choice is to work within an organization and that resonates with you, then go for it. But if you choose the entrepreneurial route, a little dose of self-reflection is in order. Many of the thought leaders in the creative and entrepreneurial sectors draw a distinction between people with entrepreneurial aspirations and people with entrepreneurial behaviors. Many of us gravitate to the image of the successful entrepreneur, totally in control of his life, jet setting the world, building a positive and notable brand, and being paid handsomely for his talent. But the truth remains that this path is far from easy and demands incredible hustle and extremely long hours. To be honest, I’m not convinced that a lot of people have the guts and stamina to pay the price to walk this path. In context of us older professionals, maybe the challenges are even greater given our clocks move slower.

We all have unique strengths and there may be skill gaps we need to fill if we are to be successful entrepreneurs. We don’t have to be solopreneurs and finding partners who can compliment our strengths and weaknesses might be a logical strategy. This still begs the question; do we have the battery power to build a new career in our second phase of life? I don’t know about you but I’m not ready to admit that I can’t keep pace with people younger than me. Hell No! Even if it kills me, I won’t back down. But there are certain realities that we have to admit. First, we have to take care of ourselves and be more diligent at it than the younger population. Eating right, exercising, limiting our consumption of alcohol, and getting a good night’s sleep are foundational to our future success. Second, we have to continually feed our brains with relevant information and trends. We need to be as conversant in culture and technology trends as the younger population if we are to remain relevant and effective in positioning new products and services in the marketplace.

The thought that us older dudes are just not relevant anymore and that the new world is for younger players is a bunch of crap. There is nothing that motivates me more than the possibility of out hustling, out innovating and out selling some millennial. But if we are to realize this possibility, we have to constantly work to manage our battery strength. We have to live and work smarter and believe that our experience and knowledge will more than compensate for any physiological deficiencies that are a consequence of our longer years on this planet. I just won’t admit that these physiological markers exist. Hell No!

#Battery