Things to Do Before You're 40
My dad made a photocopy of this article in Reader's Digest back in 1985. He kept it with the intent of passing it's message to his then young son at the right time. He gave it to me about 6 years ago. I figure there is something in the article that resonated with him and possibly helped mold him before he turned 40.
I think it is a brilliant article and you should have a chance to enjoy it.
By Michael Korda, Reader's Digest, 1985
Make your own recipe for success - then sit back and enjoy it
It's a widespread assumption that work gets hader after 40. Of course, some things are harder, like getting up in the morning without aches and pains. But in most organizations work gets dramatically easier after 40.
The responsibilities may be heavier, but after 40 you should be valued for your experience, knowhow and judgment, rather than for the ability to work 18 hours every day. Most of the major rewards of success tend to accumulate after the age of 40 -- if you do the right things before that watershed birthday.
What are the right things? First of all, do your homework; learn everything you need to know about your business or profession before 40. For example, learned how to edit a manuscript, as well as the rudiments of publishing one, in my thirties. In short, I mastered my business at the appropriate age and have gone on to acquire more experience since.
By 40, Leonard Bernstein had written West Side Story and established a reputation as a brilliant composer and conductor.
By 40, Charles Bluhdorn had nursed his Gulf & Western Industries into a multi-million-dollar-a-year business empire.
Burning the midnight oil is OK at 20, maybe even 30, but nobody should have to lose sleep learning something new at 40 plus.
Second, develop your own style. Before you're 40 , learn what you're comfortable with, whether it's in the way you dress or simply the small touches that set you apart. You can experiment in your twenties and thirties, but establish your own style firmly by the time you're 40. No one appears more insecure than a man or a woman trying to redesign his or her "look" in mid-career.
Third, put your emotional life in order. It's hard enough to succeed without taking on personal problems that sap your energy and divert your attention. Besides, unhappiness is like a disease -- it gradually eclipses interest in everything else.
Of course, all difficulties can't be avoided, and one has to rise above them; but those who have managed to put their personal lives in order by the time they're 40 are generally in better shape for success than those who haven't. So if you're going to end a hopeless entanglement or get married, do it -- before the problems drag on into the fifth decade of your life, when you should be enjoying yourself and watching the investment you've put into your career begin to pay off.
Fourth, know your weaknesses. Accept the things you don't do well, can't stand, or won't do. If you're not comfortable with numbers, but enjoy creative work, don't force yourself to sit in a numbers job because it pays well or because it's what people expect. Get into the kind of work you enjoy before you're 40 or you're guaranteeing yourself an unhappy decade or two after that age -- and probably destroying your chance for real success.
Fifth, know your strengths. You'd better decide what you're good at, too, and recognize the things you enjoy doing.
When I was younger, I was often criticized for seeing both sides of a question -- to some, it made me appear wishy-washy. Now that I'm 54, however, I have long since realized that this is a valuable strength. Admittedly, it makes me a better adviser than executive, but that's all right -- an organization needs both. Whatever your role, knowing who you are and what you're good at is critical for success.
Sixth, make a start at putting away your "I quit" money. When I was much younger, literary superagent Irving Lazar once gave me a word of fatherly advice. "put away the first million you make," Well, a million dollars is more than I've been able to save, but the idea is a sound one. Nothing is so depressing as absolute dependency -- the knowledge that you can't afford to give up your job or take a risk in changing careers...that you're stuck.
Put enough away so that you have a safety net. You may never use it, but sometimes the only response to a situation is, "Gentlemen, I quit" -- and you'll hate yourself if you're not in a position to say it.
Seventh, establish a network. If by 40 you haven't built a network of friends, or at least people who rely on you and to whom you can turn, you're in trouble. These are colleagues for whom you do favours, whose projects you support, whose problems you listen to...and they do the same for you.
A network is not something you can establish overnight -- it takes decades of nurturing. In business as in politics, you need a lot of people, spread out in the right places, on whom you can depend -- because they can depend on you.
Eighth, learn to delegate. Many people don't -- or can't -- do this, and are thereby condemned to remain in subordinate positions. Delegation is half of success; a person who cannot delegate will find himself fatally handicapped. By the time you reach 40, you'd better be an expert at it, which means you have to pick the right people and trust them.
Ninth, learn when to keep your mouth shut. More careers are aborted by careless talk than by anything else. Learn to keep quiet and look wise -- people will naturally suppose that you know more than you probably do. Don't gossip, and don't talk about you plans. A reputation for keeping secrets outweighs the popularity that spreading gossip may win you. The further you go in your career, the more true this is. In higher management, secrecy is golden.
Tenth, be loyal. If you haven't established a reputation for solid, 100 per cent loyalty by the time you're 40, you'll be haunted by this defect for the rest of your career. A reputation for disloyalty is bound to make you unwelcome anywhere in business. Before 40, loyalty is its own reward; after 40 it pays off.
And always, keep your sense of humor. This side of heaven, nothing lasts for ever, not even success!
I think it is a brilliant article and you should have a chance to enjoy it.
By Michael Korda, Reader's Digest, 1985
Make your own recipe for success - then sit back and enjoy it
It's a widespread assumption that work gets hader after 40. Of course, some things are harder, like getting up in the morning without aches and pains. But in most organizations work gets dramatically easier after 40.
The responsibilities may be heavier, but after 40 you should be valued for your experience, knowhow and judgment, rather than for the ability to work 18 hours every day. Most of the major rewards of success tend to accumulate after the age of 40 -- if you do the right things before that watershed birthday.
What are the right things? First of all, do your homework; learn everything you need to know about your business or profession before 40. For example, learned how to edit a manuscript, as well as the rudiments of publishing one, in my thirties. In short, I mastered my business at the appropriate age and have gone on to acquire more experience since.
By 40, Leonard Bernstein had written West Side Story and established a reputation as a brilliant composer and conductor.
By 40, Charles Bluhdorn had nursed his Gulf & Western Industries into a multi-million-dollar-a-year business empire.
Burning the midnight oil is OK at 20, maybe even 30, but nobody should have to lose sleep learning something new at 40 plus.
Second, develop your own style. Before you're 40 , learn what you're comfortable with, whether it's in the way you dress or simply the small touches that set you apart. You can experiment in your twenties and thirties, but establish your own style firmly by the time you're 40. No one appears more insecure than a man or a woman trying to redesign his or her "look" in mid-career.
Third, put your emotional life in order. It's hard enough to succeed without taking on personal problems that sap your energy and divert your attention. Besides, unhappiness is like a disease -- it gradually eclipses interest in everything else.
Of course, all difficulties can't be avoided, and one has to rise above them; but those who have managed to put their personal lives in order by the time they're 40 are generally in better shape for success than those who haven't. So if you're going to end a hopeless entanglement or get married, do it -- before the problems drag on into the fifth decade of your life, when you should be enjoying yourself and watching the investment you've put into your career begin to pay off.
Fourth, know your weaknesses. Accept the things you don't do well, can't stand, or won't do. If you're not comfortable with numbers, but enjoy creative work, don't force yourself to sit in a numbers job because it pays well or because it's what people expect. Get into the kind of work you enjoy before you're 40 or you're guaranteeing yourself an unhappy decade or two after that age -- and probably destroying your chance for real success.
Fifth, know your strengths. You'd better decide what you're good at, too, and recognize the things you enjoy doing.
When I was younger, I was often criticized for seeing both sides of a question -- to some, it made me appear wishy-washy. Now that I'm 54, however, I have long since realized that this is a valuable strength. Admittedly, it makes me a better adviser than executive, but that's all right -- an organization needs both. Whatever your role, knowing who you are and what you're good at is critical for success.
Sixth, make a start at putting away your "I quit" money. When I was much younger, literary superagent Irving Lazar once gave me a word of fatherly advice. "put away the first million you make," Well, a million dollars is more than I've been able to save, but the idea is a sound one. Nothing is so depressing as absolute dependency -- the knowledge that you can't afford to give up your job or take a risk in changing careers...that you're stuck.
Put enough away so that you have a safety net. You may never use it, but sometimes the only response to a situation is, "Gentlemen, I quit" -- and you'll hate yourself if you're not in a position to say it.
Seventh, establish a network. If by 40 you haven't built a network of friends, or at least people who rely on you and to whom you can turn, you're in trouble. These are colleagues for whom you do favours, whose projects you support, whose problems you listen to...and they do the same for you.
A network is not something you can establish overnight -- it takes decades of nurturing. In business as in politics, you need a lot of people, spread out in the right places, on whom you can depend -- because they can depend on you.
Eighth, learn to delegate. Many people don't -- or can't -- do this, and are thereby condemned to remain in subordinate positions. Delegation is half of success; a person who cannot delegate will find himself fatally handicapped. By the time you reach 40, you'd better be an expert at it, which means you have to pick the right people and trust them.
Ninth, learn when to keep your mouth shut. More careers are aborted by careless talk than by anything else. Learn to keep quiet and look wise -- people will naturally suppose that you know more than you probably do. Don't gossip, and don't talk about you plans. A reputation for keeping secrets outweighs the popularity that spreading gossip may win you. The further you go in your career, the more true this is. In higher management, secrecy is golden.
Tenth, be loyal. If you haven't established a reputation for solid, 100 per cent loyalty by the time you're 40, you'll be haunted by this defect for the rest of your career. A reputation for disloyalty is bound to make you unwelcome anywhere in business. Before 40, loyalty is its own reward; after 40 it pays off.
And always, keep your sense of humor. This side of heaven, nothing lasts for ever, not even success!
posted by Jide Onakoya at 8:36 AM
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