better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

How Old Are You Now?

19 April 2015

One of the great discoveries of adult life is that we don’t get old, we just grow older. Therefore, our mindful age might be (and often is) quite different from our body age. 

During the day we are a sober suited business professional, acting responsibility and being ourselves as a 46 year old (in my case) business coach. In the evening however we might (hypothetically) be happily strumming our ukelele and singing along like a carefree 18 year old (ok, I admit, that’s me again).

It’s helpful to stop and think about how old we are feeling when we are stressed, or have have a difficult decision to make. There are times when we feel young, vulnerable or confused and when this happens our thinking processes can become contaminated with old fears and old ways of reacting. Although we think we are thinking clearly, the reailty is that actually we are dragging old ways of responding into the current situation.

Whilst it’s great to be young again at a party, it’s not helpful to have clouded and reactive thinking when we need a clear and reasonable outcome.

One way to keep ourselves grounded is to remember that we don’t have to like the problem or the situation, we don’t have to agree with it …and we can choose to focus on the facts and the options and take time to arrive at a genuinely well-reasoned outcome. 

Another way to stay grounded is to pause and ask ourselves ‘how old do I feel right now?’

If the answer is an unhelpfully young age, then we can take a break, talk to a friend, or write out the problem (so we can see it clearly in front of us). 

We can choose to be the age we really are. We can enjoy being the age we are. We can choose to think clearly.

So, how are you now?

Next week: A sales skill we sometimes forget