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BE-attitudes for Workers Over 40

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Mature business executives

  1. BE ENERGIZED – Keep your activity levels high. Now is NOT the time to become lethargic or complacent. The people who report to you model themselves after you. The more you accomplish, the more they will accomplish. The harder you push yourself, the harder they will push themselves. Younger employees are sometimes seen as being more energized than older employees – prove them wrong. Exercise daily, at least 30 minutes each day. Watch your diet and your weight.
  2. BE A MENTOR – You have a responsibility to train and motivate the people that work for you. The knowledge you possess is not your own. It should not be guarded and kept secret to increase your job security. The more knowledge you give away, the more that will come your way. You will be seen as the “go-to guy” and a subject matter expert on a wide variety of topics. Your younger employees will respect and appreciate the knowledge and experience that you possess and will tell others of your accomplishments.
  3. BE A STORY TELLER – People want to learn from your experience. Over the course of your career, you can probably recall all sorts of situations where you, or someone you know, had faced adversity and overcome it with a brilliant idea. That kind of relevant experience is what makes older workers valuable for the organization. It’s particularly encouraging when younger people are caught in the middle of projects that have stalled, derailed or been hijacked. They need words of wisdom in an anecdote they can understand.
  4. BE A DOER – Just because you’re in management, doesn’t mean that you should bark orders through a bullhorn while your underlings carry out your wishes. Good leaders are in the trenches, working side-by-side, to get things done and the ball into the end zone. Your superiors will appreciate that closeness with your team and you will appreciate the knowledge you gain from being in close to the action.
  5. BE A LEARNER – Whatever your age, whatever your industry – the minute you stop learning, you start losing a tactical advantage over younger employees. Don’t be bypassed by technology. Don’t be put out to pasture for hanging on to an aging skill set. Take on online class. Buy a book and self-teach yourself something new or enhance your knowledge in your chosen area of focus. Don’t fall for the old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.
  6. BE ENCOURAGING – Far too often, I see people who are discouraged and losing their way in their careers. Be there to listen and guide people through difficult times. Make sure though, that person is really following their calling and not just working a job. If you do what you love, you’ll never work again. If they aren’t following their calling, you should encourage them to follow that call and then they will find happiness and fulfillment.
  7. BE A LEADER – By far, the most inspiring thing an employee can be is a leader. But are you a leader? Do people follow you? Are you resting your laurels on a job title or do people really believe in you? You have to be the kind of person they want to be. You have to be someone they look up to.
  8. BE FEARLESS – My favorite saying is what I try and live my life by – “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”. You have to believe in yourself to the point where you become invincible. When I stepped off of Parris Island quite a few years ago as a young Marine, I felt bulletproof. In many ways, I still feel that way!

10 Tips to Turn on Your Beast Mode

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best-mode.linkedin

1) Be positive – Part of having a winning day is that you think like a winner. Don’t project negative thoughts into your day. Rather than envisioning negative things happening in your day, concentrate on the opportunities that lay ahead and how you might be able to take advantage of the moment. With a positive attitude, comes confidence. People feel secure in what is said when it comes from confident people.

2) Welcome change – Change is not your enemy. Change is your friend. People need someone to guide them through change. You want to be that pathfinder! Leaders lead from the front. You have to embrace and own change in your organization. Then, whenever change comes, you are seen as the “go to guy”.

3) Rest and exercise – You should sleep a minimum of seven hours a night. Every day is a journey and you wouldn’t start a journey with a half a tank of gas, right? Exercise not only burns calories and tones your muscles, but it also gives you energy to help you last a full day. Try to exercise one hour a day five days each week.

4) Don’t fear failure – You’ll never be able to swing at a ball if you don’t get off the bench and step up to the plate. We know that look from our peers that means, “Why in the world did you take on THAT project?”. Don’t be afraid to stick your neck out or reach out of your comfort zone. It’s only when we try new things that we have the opportunity to learn. If you pass up opportunities, you’ll regret it in the long run.

5) Don’t place blame – It’s not important who’s fault it is, what’s important it that the lesson is learned to prevent it from happening again. If you do feel it’s necessary to speak to an individual, make that a one-on-one meeting rather than in a group setting. If something is your fault, claim it so others won’t feel they need to share the blame. People respect others when they own up to their mistakes. Make sure you include the preventative measures to prevent reoccurrences!

6) Schedule everything – Put everything into your calendar. Place personal events into a personal calendar, family events into a shared calendar and work events in a work calendar. Meetings REQUIRE an agenda. Configure your devices to show all the calendars (they’ll do this and give them different colors) so you can see at a glance what your day, week or month looks like. Schedule tasks that you need to do each day. If you do a lot of project work, you may find it more helpful to use a tool like Asana rather than a simple calendaring program.

7) Focus like mad – Don’t be distracted by phone calls, texts or emails. Don’t be that person with their head stuck in their phone! Schedule a time to make and return calls, texts and emails. You’re more productive when you are doing these in bulk rather than trying to multitask. Be on the lookout though for things that might notify you that you need to handle something right away. Unless it absolutely urgent, continue on with your task at hand and take care of it during your scheduled time for that activity.

8) Be punctual – Be on time for meetings and expect others to do the same. The same applies to scheduled calls and web appointments. Keep meetings going smoothly by providing an agenda for meetings. Once you’ve finished the agenda, end the meeting. Don’t give in to “what do you guys want to talk about now” just because there’s twenty minutes left. You have important things to do! Move on to your next scheduled task.

9) Stick with the winners – Surround yourself with positive people who have lots of energy. If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Seek out mentors. People who can help you get to the next level. In the same token, look for people that you can mentor. Helping others achieve success can also help you achieve success.

10) Learn to say NO – You cannot do everything. You don’t have the time, talent or desire to run yourself ragged trying to do it all. You cannot be all things to all people. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Good time management means understanding the time it tasks to complete your tasks thoroughly and allow room for critique and follow-up. Saying no isn’t a negative and sometimes saying NO means “not right now”. Let the person making the request know that you are interested in what they want done but that you don’t feel that you have time in your schedule right now to do the job well and they would be better served asking someone else who can complete their task within the given time frame.