April 2007: <<< back to Downloads
In this issue:
This month’s newsletter definitely has a good news/bad news flavour about it. For a start, what a wonderful month we’ve experienced weather-wise – really fantastic for those of us who love spring and loathe winter. It’s a great time for renewed hope and optimism and new beginnings – important for us all at any time of life, but even more so now we’re in our prime. On the other hand, it’s bad news when we have to acknowledge that this maybe is a clear sign of global warming. On the work front, there was news last week of record numbers of people staying on at work past retirement age – bad news, we’re told because for women in particular, that probably reflects lack of financial provision from pensions or partners. Yet, good news too, we feel, in that it shows that we are being allowed to work longer and continue to contribute – the trend towards pushing us out of the workplace door as soon as possible is, for whatever reason, starting to change.
Good and bad are often what we find ourselves juggling with when it comes to comparing what we think we want (knee jerk reaction) to what we know will do us, and others, good in the longer-term (conscious planning). That’s certainly the process that we face when considering downshifting and green issues. This week is National Downshifting Week, providing plenty of food for thought about how we might benefit by dropping some bad habits to create some great outcomes.
And, related to that, some final good news. Apparently a survey conducted recently by the health club chain Fitness First showed that the over 50s are healthier, eat and drink more sensibly, feel better about themselves and have better work-life balance than younger people. Shockingly, the latest generation is predicted to have shorter lives than their parents due to poor diet and lack of exercise. The downside to that, of course, is that these are likely to be our children or grandchildren, so those of us who are in our prime need to set a good example and bang the back-to-basics drum in terms of eating healthily, exercising and reducing stress. As we know, it’s never too late (or too early), to start making changes.
This week (Saturday 21st to Friday 27th April) sees the UK celebrating its third National Downshifting Week, an awareness campaign designed to help and encourage us all to slow down, find great work-life balance and lean towards the green.
The campaign is spearheaded by sustainable living writer and broadcaster, Tracey Smith who, writing exclusively for in my prime, explains the important communication role she feels we can play in taking the message forward. Certainly as many of us grew up through ‘make do and mend’ childhoods, where frugality and thrift were the norm, we are well-placed to consider being at the forefront of a movement to return to ‘value’ based living, in both senses of the word.
Tracey says: “I write and comment on sustainable living and downshifting and I have often remarked on the information gap that exists between those of my generation (30 and 40 somethings) and that of our parents and grandparents.
It was my parents' generation who were seduced by the supermarket culture and the take-away/throw away lifestyle; everything quick, convenient, with timesaving gadgets galore, including the arrival of the microwave meal. Consequently, I feel there has been a great loss of information between those fabulously frugal folks who, with an upbeat nature, carved a way through the war years, surviving rationing and making good with what they had. Unlike our own throwaway society, they had to use every possible resource, being thrifty and utilising the gifts from Mother Nature herself – and of course, without the help of credit cards.
Their children didn't have to suffer such ‘inconveniences’; therefore many of their simple living tips and recipes were sadly not passed on. However, there is now a marked harking back to these sustainable lifestyle ideas and I am all for it! The more mature folks amongst us are a positive resource, fonts of great knowledge and, I believe, have a very important role in society. Where possible, we should tap this knowledge and help keep this information wheel turning.
Once people step through the door to retirement, it might be an idea to consider finding a way of bridging that information gap, not on any great scale, keeping it sustainable of course, but perhaps by giving a talk at the local village hall, or perhaps offering one at a local school. You cannot replicate life experience and with these ever changing and swift moving times, I feel simplicity could hold the key to many of the modern-day problems we now face.”
National Downshifting Week’s slow down top tips are targeted at individuals, companies, children and schools and include:
· Cut up a credit card - “Learning to live within our means is key to downshifting and positively embracing living with less is better still.”
· Plant something in the garden you can cultivate and eat - “Grow a few tomatoes or chillies on a windowsill if you have no garden; pesticide-free produce tastes amazing. It also breaks the myth that all food comes from the supermarkets!”
· Contact local food producers and re-think your vending machines at work – “Low mileage food and drinks and Fair Trade and Organic treats in the workplace…whatever next!”
· Book a half-day off work to spend with someone you love, no DIY allowed - “How can we have ‘quality time’ with great people, if we spend so much of it chasing the money? Money can’t buy you time.”
For further details and Tracey’s fantastic Downshifting Manifesto see www.DownshiftingWeek.com
An Office of National Statistics report covering the three months until the end of February has revealed that record numbers of people are now working beyond state pension age. 1.2m are still in employment, with a particularly sharp rise being seen for women, of whom a record 800,000 are now working over the age of 60. Analysts report that this is due in part to the fact that barely 40% of women at this age have a company or personal pension – either because they haven’t worked or because they have divorced or been widowed and lost entitlement to their ex-husband’s pension.Adding to this is the fact that due to lack of qualifying years, just 30% of women are entitled to a full basic state pension at 60, compared with 85% of men.
Of course, this latter statistic is extremely bad news, but overall, this is only one way of looking at the figures. Although it’s true that many women (and men) are having to work longer for financial reasons, it is also the case, we believe, that many are choosing to work longer. 60 is by no means old, so for those who wish to continue to work and contribute far beyond this age, the fact that the figures are rising is, in this context, a positive development.
We believe, and support the idea, that in years to come we will see the abolition of ‘retirement ages’ and huge numbers of people working well into their seventies and eighties – because they choose to, rather than have to. However, in order for this to be a positive step, it will mean employers and employees reconsidering their feelings and attitudes towards ‘work’ and what it means and represents, well in advance of the traditional retirement cut-off period.
Are you over 50 and still working? If so, how is it for you? Currently we’re putting together the draft of a new book which we hope to see published by the end of the year. Provisionally entitled ‘New Tricks – winning in the workplace over 50’, it is, as it says on the tin, a practical handbook about how to make the most of work, employment opportunities, and yourself, when you’re over 50.
What we need are examples and quotations from in my primers about their feelings, attitudes and experiences of working life and we would welcome your contributions. Please don’t think that your views aren’t important or your experiences insufficiently exciting; we need real life views on such matters as promotion, training, working with younger people, personal development, work-life balance, mentoring and any number of other issues. Perhaps you feel that working over 50 isn’t any different at all to working at any other time of life, and if so, let us know that too.
Please contact us if you would be willing to help and could spare some time for a brief chat on the phone, or alternatively, you can contribute by email.
You can’t have failed to have heard about coaching. Articles, TV programmes and advertisements for life, business and executive coaching abound. But what does it actually involve? What can it really do? Is it worth the money? And, as an in my primer, is it worth taking seriously?
First of all, coaching isn’t counselling, or therapy, both of which deal with past experiences and/or the psychological problems which may be affecting individuals’ everyday lives. In contrast, coaching is a very positive process that works through the coach helping and supporting you to clarify your goals, decide the steps to take to achieve them, be clear about what, or who, might hinder you, be sure that you’re pursuing the right goals, and maintain the motivation to keep you moving in the right direction.
Looking at this list, you may well feel dismissive, ‘I can do all of that for myself’. Well yes, we all can – the problem is we often don’t, or don’t keep it up. That’s why coaching can be a hugely successful breakthrough for any individual who wants to make some changes, but is struggling with finding focus, resolve and self-belief. Even one session can make a significant difference to how you see things and how you see yourself. It is certainly worthwhile for any in my primers who may believe that they’re too old to break the habits of a lifetime, or lacking in confidence to try something completely new.
Coaching originated in sports coaching and, as in that field, the coach’s emphasis is on providing you with a source of encouragement and support as well as a ‘mirror’ for your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. There are a plethora of issues to which coaching can relate and many different reasons why people find it a highly effective, groundbreaking process. However, coaching isn’t for everyone and there are three golden rules that you have to accept for it to be successful. You must:
- Take the time to understand what coaching is
- Really want to be coached, and want to change
- Be prepared to work towards achieving your goals outside the coaching sessions
This month sees us launch our new, one-to-one coaching service led by Dianne Bown-Wilson, a fully trained and accredited business, executive and life coach who has many years’ experience in dealing with a wide variety of coaching issues, including work-life balance, personal development, financial management, self-esteem and confidence issues, career change, and personal issues such as appearance, presentation and communication skills. For more details contact us or click here to see our fact sheet on coaching.
Many small businesses share a common tale of woe known as ‘When it all went wrong with the external advisor’, a saga of how what should have been a straightforward project went wrong, wasting time and money and causing enormous frustration and disappointment. And it was all the consultant’s fault!
Yet there’s no getting away from the fact that every small business at some time or another will need to use external consultants – whether for marketing, health and safety, management development, restructuring, or a plethora of other issues.
Our new fact sheet – Choosing and using Consultants provides useful advice on avoiding the pitfalls and ensuring that your experience is as straightforward and beneficial as it should be – for all parties concerned. Click here to read more.
Wild Hogs is hardly a revamped Thelma and Louise, or indeed any other first rate road movie, but at least it acknowledges that mid-life crises are experienced by mid-lifers instead of thirty five year olds, and that at this age, some of us are no more sensible and together than we ever were.
The film is a new comedy adventure about a group of middle-aged friends who decide to pep up their routine suburban lives with a freewheeling motorcycle trip. When this mis-matched foursome (comprising John Travolta as a bankrupt businessman, Tim Allen, a bored dentist, Martin Lawrence, a hen-pecked plumber, and William H Macy, a virginal computer nerd) set out for a once-in-a-lifetime experience - they encounter a world that holds far more than they ever bargained for. "I thought we were doing the wild and free thing," Bobby (Martin Lawrence) comments about the motorbike trip he and his three friends are taking across the US from Cincinnati to Los Angeles. "More like the old and lame thing," retorts Doug (Tim Allen). Swapping their suits for leather jackets, and crawling off the couch to straddle the saddle, they rev up their Harley Davidsons (hence the title) and agree to spend a week burning rubber.
Although the film has received decidedly mixed reviews, it might be worth checking it out to see how much you agree with the approach and how much you can take of the fairly corny humour. Go on – it might make your own life seem so much more together - and make you think again about ordering that Harley.
Choices for later life – making the most of life after 50 by Marie Lacheze, Piatkus Books, 2007
Management trainer, Marie Lacheze here uses her business experience to uncover the real issues that people face in later life, stressing the need to square up to them, assess the options and make timely, honest choices. The book is structured over four sections, Our Bodies, Our Minds, Our World and Our Money and wide-ranging topics include deciding where to live, managing your finances, dealing with elderly parents, living alone, balancing friends and family and dealing with past regrets.
The style is practical, insightful and objective in tone. Rather than advising, Marie focuses on establishing clarity, and concentrates on identifying practical, applicable and realistic choices, avoiding value judgements and theory. She summarises her intent as ‘providing a sense of direction rather than specifying a particular path to be followed’.
Marie certainly understands the over 50 market and the issues that relate to our unique identity. She comments: ‘Whereas before we were all but invisible, we now appear to have become newsworthy. [However] there is great ambiguity in others’ perceptions of us. They are not quite sure how to place us; we’re obviously not young, but not really old either. They can see we are no longer in the first bloom of youth (or even the last for that matter!), but we are not yet bent over a stick, completely deaf or whatever other negative perception they hold of the elderly. They can’t put us into a category because we don’t fit into any category that has been officially recognised and named. Indeed, ours is a generation for whom no appropriate designation has been found. … In order to achieve any degree of self-esteem and confidence we will have to find a name for ourselves that encompasses the specifics of our age group.’
Definitely a worthwhile and thought-provoking read for tackling the challenges ahead.