Is Success Is Ageist?

Allow me to get a little philosophical…

And while I’m at it, disprove a common misconception about success.

You see, I got an email from someone who had just subscribed to Shortcut Bulletin and received my free goal setting guides…

Rather than having a read through them and following my advice he replied to me along the lines of…

“I’m 71, I’m too old to do this now.”

Hmmm.

I don’t agree with that. Not one bit.

I mean, the fact that he’s online searching out opportunities makes me think this guy has a lot of oomph left him in yet.

To be fair though, I can see why he might be thinking along those lines.

But I know readers of the Bulletin cover a vast age range.

It might be that you’re still relatively young, looking to get your foot on the entrepreneurial ladder early on…

Or it might be that you’re a little later down the line, wishing to back-up what you’ve already achieved with some extra challenges and some extra cash.

Fact is it really doesn’t matter.

See, I go to a lot of seminars and what’s always most striking to me is the wide ranging ages of all those in attendance.

Still, I do think success is ageist…

But not in the sense of ‘physical age’.

No, success couldn’t give a damn how old you actually are.

But it does care how old you are ‘mentally’.

As soon as you start thinking ‘I’m too old to be rich now’ or ‘I missed my chance’ then you might as well wave goodbye to any hope of success.

You see, for me, the common ground that unites everyone when you attend these things is not that they have any natural talents, special skills or overly large helpings of luck…

It’s that everyone has a young and hopeful mentality.

Of course, as you get older, it’s natural to become more cynical, more contrarian, more accepting of missed chances. But this isn’t an inevitable decline.

It can be avoided.

Hey, I don’t for one minute pretend that keeping a young mind is effortless – just like it takes effort to stay young and fit physically, you have to work at staying young and fit mentally.

But unlike physical exercise, mental exercise is a lot easier and a lot more fun.

An easy way to keep a young mind

Though it does take some effort, keeping your mind young and healthy is simple…

It’s just a case of developing a new habit.

And that habit is to read, watch or listen to something new every day.

That’s it.

There’s no need to make it any more complicated than that.

You see, by exposing yourself to new culture and new ideas on a regular basis, you’ll avoid developing a repetitive and reductive mindset.

Instead, you’ll develop an inquisitive and expanding one!

Exposing yourself to something new every day might sound like a lot of work…

But it’s not.

All I’m talking about here is listening to a new song by a musician you might not have listened to before…

Looking at and considering for a few minutes a painting by an artist who you might never have heard of…

Reading an article or a chapter of a book by an author you wouldn’t normally give a chance.

It’ll take you about fifteen minutes each day and I honestly believe you’ll thank me for it.

Because by exposing yourself to this new culture, to these new ideas, what you’re actually doing is ‘working out’ your mind.

And the results will be almost instantaneous…

You’ll start thinking about things differently.

You’ll look at things from a different angle.

And where once you might have thought something impossible, your increasingly inquisitive and expanding mindset will no longer think that way.

And I believe having a more open, inquisitive and stimulated mind that is welcoming of any possibility…

You’ll find you have much greater success in everything you do.

Category: Business Success