Episode 111: Age Is Just A Number: A Short Reflection on Birthdays, Growing Older and Feeling Young-At-Heart
It’s a special Quick Tip episode as Fiona gives a short reflection on today, her 41st birthday, about growing older yet still feeling young at heart, and how age shouldn’t define what you do or don’t do in your small business. In this episode, Fiona shares a great poem about how age is just a number.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Reflection on Growing Older
Youth by Samuel Ullman
Conclusion
Links/Resources Mentioned in this episode:
Episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to Episode 111. I am excited because if you're listening to this in real time, this is coming at you on Tuesday, the 29th of June, which just happens to be my birthday.
So today, it's a tip episode - that means a tip, tool or tactic. And I want to talk about something in relation to my birthday. So let's go, shall we? All right, so if you're listening to this in real time, 29th of June, I will be 41 years old and I know for some of you listening, that will be so old and for other people, you might think, oh, that's young. It really depends, I guess, how old you are to what you think.
I remember thinking people in their 40s were like ancient. And now I'm like, oh, gosh, shouldn't I be wise by now? Shouldn't I know more stuff than I do? Shouldn't I have more confidence and courage? But I think that we are perpetually learning. And, you know, I remember having conversations with my dad and he was in his 80s before he left us in 2019. And I'd say to him, do you feel like you're in your 80s? And he's like, absolutely not. I feel like I was 40. I looked in the mirror, I blinked and here I am and I'm like, that's how it feels. It just feels like life gets faster and faster.
But today I wanted to talk about age because I think obviously it's my birthday, but also because I work with people quite often. I work with a full spectrum. I work with probably the youngest person that I've worked with is seven. I think she's 18 now. This young man actually did some pro bono work with her. She's just going to take over the world with, like climate change and so many amazing things. And then I have clients in their 60s and I love it because a lot of the same problems come up, whether you are 60 or 26. And I feel like sometimes within society we've been taught that, oh, no, you can't do something new after this age or you're not going to be good at technology because you're in this generation or on the flip side, you're just going to have it so easy because you're in that younger generation and you just must know how to do everything from scratch, especially when it comes to technology. And I think we can often get sucked into believing that an age equates to this or that.
So today I wanted to share a tool. I guess you could also say it's a tip, but probably a tool. And this is actually a poem. And I know it's a little different, but, you know, if you're listening to this, if you followed my work, you know that I'm a big fan of quotes. I started my career as a journalist. I'm very much into the written word. And I thought today that if you are struggling with age or if you're thinking about, oh, I can't do this or that, or it's too late for me or I can't flip direction because, you know, I'm going to be this old or even if you're thinking, can I keep doing what I'm doing because of whatever age or milestone birthday you have coming up?
I thought I would read out this poem because for me, I have looked at this poem many times over the years, but I think the older I get, the more meaningful that it is. And I think when it comes to small business, age really is just a number. Anything is possible. And if you don't believe that, definitely Google people who started businesses over 60 and you'll find some incredible people out there in their 70s and even older that started businesses. And the poem was actually written by somebody who was 78 years old when he wrote it.
So the poem is called Youth. It's a very famous poem, and it's by Samuel Ullman. So I'm going to read it out. And yeah, just take a minute if you can close your eyes and just really hear the words that are coming at you. Youth by Samuel Ullman.
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.
So that is the poem by Samuel.
And of course, we'll link to that in the show notes, but I really just think I read it in my late 30s for the first time. And the older I get, like I said, the more that it just makes sense. If you have the energy about you, of someone who's curious, who looks for things, who can find positivity in really crappy situations, who can laugh even in, you know, the face of really hard times, but also equally can let down their guard, be vulnerable, let the tears flow and be seen, then you're always going to be young at heart. It's more when we tell ourselves I can't do this, when we put limitations up, when we put blocks, when we get defensive, and when we don't try to find the path forward, we just say, this is it, I'm stuck. This is the only thing I can do. This is this is it. This is where it finishes. Then we're already old in our mind and it doesn't really matter what age we are. We've already set these limitations and said that that's it. That's where the living finishes and that's where curiosity stops.
So I know that's different to my usual quick tip episodes, but I think that so many of us can treat birthdays or treat milestone events like the end rather than just the beginning. I mean, how powerful that in my case, I have 41 years of experience behind me, 41 years of learning about people, of understanding, people, of understanding myself to bring into my work to help other people.
So that is it for today's Quick Tip episode, really, to consider if you are ageing prematurely in your mind or if you are staying curious and kind of young at heart and the way that, you know, children, when you watch them, they're really curious. They explore. If they can't do something, they just keep trying different avenues until they get it.
I've got a toddler who does that all the time. He'll, like, get on a bike. The bike's too big. He realised that his feet don't hit the pedals. He'll do something else. He'll get off the bike. He'll move it a different way. He'll do something else. He'll try a different thing. And I think sometimes when we grow, we forget to have that kind of childlike curiosity. That's really what it is, courage. So that is my hope for anyone listening to this that needs to hear it. Age is just a number.
So that is it for this Quick Tip episode. As always, you can find the show notes and you'll find a full transcript, including that poem by Samuel Ullman over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/111 as this is episode 111. Thanks for joining me on my birthday. See you later. Bye.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
