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SENIOR REINVENTION – Rules and Guidelines

January 3, 2013 in Personal Growth, Senior Reinvention, Seniors Changing Careers, Uncategorized

As seniors, we have the life earned ability to look back at years of experiences, education and decisions. Good and bad, these are all part of the events that have shaped our lives into who we are today. Many of us are pleased about where we are in life and many of us wish that we had made better decisions. Some of us have regrets about things we did and others of us have regrets about things we did not do. In all cases, we are probably thinking about how we are going handle life and all its changes - now that we are seniors.

Here are some rules I have learned over the years that may help many of you regardless of where you are on the comfort scale. I am following all these rules to one extent or another. Some I have been successful at following, while others I am working hard to complete. I hope they help you, too.

PERSONAL REINVENTION RULES

  1. KEEP WORKING! Don’t fall into the “Retirement trap” prematurely, only to find that life stops and you cannot get back on the train.
  2. GET RID OF DEBT! Credit card debt, property debt, personal debt, etc. all have a damaging affect on your life at anytime. At no time is this debt more damaging than when you are in your senior years, running out of time and less possible ways to generate income.
  3. REDUCE EXPENSES! Get rid of the big house, second home or property that continues to eat away at your financial base. Anything with an association fee, taxes, or upkeep maintenance will only add to your frustration after suffering loss of financial resources.
  4. STAY EDUCATED! Continue your education on new technologies and advancements associated with more efficient living. Make “computer” you middle name. Learn how to communicate with your friends, family and other advisors while away from your home. If you are not computer or communication savvy, get with it. “I’m too old” or “they frighten me” are sorry excuses for avoiding what you need to be doing for yourself.
  5. REMAIN INDEPENDENT! Stay living on your own for as long as possible. This does not mean avoiding being with family but it means keeping your own space and plenty of it.
  6. KEEP NETWORKING! It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, if you do not develop and maintain a network of contacts, both personal and professional, you will miss the very things that will help you the most. We are not islands. Life is too short to keep inventing a new wheel when others have already created a new one and moved on. You need to stay up to date and the best way is by networking and talking.
  7. AVOID PITY PARTIES! The worse thing you can do when you are being challenged is to encircle yourself with other people in trouble who are not afraid of dumping their problems on you. This is a killer! Pity parties accomplish only one thing…Misery! Misery loves company but does not love moving on. Get with positive people who are going forward.
  8. TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY! Regardless of your success or failure, the tendency to look back at past mistakes or wrong decisions is only human. However, looking back and using either success or failure as a measurement for going forward is akin to driving 70 mile per hour while looking in the rear view mirror. You can see where you have been but you will never know what you are about to hit until it is too late.
  9. STOP BLAMING OTHERS! Unless someone held a gun to your head when a decision was made, you cannot blame anyone else for your situation in life. While taking personal responsibility involves the ability to forget, the ability to stop blaming others involves the ability to forgive. Not forgiving is a trap and a deep hole that only gets deeper as time goes on.
  10. NEVER LET AGE SLOW YOUR THINKING! Getting older has its detractors. Teenagers think twenty somethings are old. Twenty somethings think forty year olds are “stuck in a rut”. Forty year olds think sixty year olds are old fashioned. And Fifty year olds think that Seniors are “out of touch”. The truth is that age is nothing more than an attitude and it has very little to do with life at hand.
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