Age is a matter of mind. Dont give up, dont give in! You still can be anything you desire to be.Go for your dreams After a very robust interaction with an older friend who clocked 69 two months ago,it dawned on me that many people take retirement as semi-death sentence. My friend who retired years ago from the Civil Service has finalised plans to set up a cute, upscale restaurant somewhere in Surulere. He told me how a post I put up early last year on this issue helped wipe away his doubts about going into business at his age, when he should start getting ready to play grandfather. Yes, there is this common prejudice that our years for being productive are between 30 and 60 is responsible for this. But many are changing their worlds even after 70. I will keep writing till 92 years, and if by the time I am 50, writing fails to hold same appeal it has now. I will go into teaching or farming, the two professions that are closer to my mind.Or go into business. Why not! If you are over 50 and you allow the lie that you are past your productive prime, rise up and take a radical decision, you can go back to school, change to another profession, or start a business. Dont waste that wealth of experience .There is no doubt that you can change the world in that middle third of your life. But you can accomplish great things in the last third, too. To prove the point, here are a few examples of what these well-known people have been able to do in their 60s (or thereabouts): Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, was 65 when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken(KFC). As demand for his tasty chicken grew, Sanders opened a restaurant. And the rest, as they say, is history. Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 when she began writing her beloved Little House on the Prairie series. She went on to pen eight total books in the series – in addition to being a journalist. In 1954, at the age of 52, Ray Kroc opened a hamburger stand – when most people his age were retiring. Kroc revolutionized the fast-food business when this hamburger stand eventually became McDonalds. Car icon and businessman Henry Ford was 60 years old when he created the first car assembly line. At 70 years old, Golda Meir became the fourth prime minister of Israel – and the first woman to hold the post. In 2004, at the age of 82, Robert Galvin, retired longtime CEO of Motorola, started Galvin Electricity Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming and improving the nations power grid to 21st-century standards. In Nigeria, I also have numerous examples of men and women who changed their lifes story by dreaming new dreams and refusing to quit. Relax, you can still reinvent yourself. Just do it!
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:37:42 +0000
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