What and why should you study after 45, 55, 65 years

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Changing the field of activity at the age of 50 seems fantastic to many. In fact, this is not the case. You will probably never have as many opportunities for effective learning as during this period.

Age and competencies

It turned out that the level of competence of people is unevenly distributed by age. It would seem that the older a person is and the longer he has been engaged in his profession, the higher the competence should be, the better the results and the louder the success?

However, this is not observed in all professions. Perhaps only in some areas of art: painting, music, sculpture, literature, partly in directing, in crafts, martial arts, and even then on condition of continuous practice and close involvement in the real industry.

In all other professions, there is a completely different distribution of competencies by age, with the peak occurring between the ages of 30 and 40. At this time, people are actively immersed in real projects and are less involved in management.

After 40 years, many move from direct professional activity to management, which inevitably reduces competence.

Some at the age of 30-35 create their own business, go to freelance, as a result of which they have to pump up marketing, sales, accounting, business organization. There is less time left for professional growth.

Individually, this age range in the distribution of competencies is highly industry-specific. There are industries, for example software development, where the rate of change is so high that the peak of competencies falls in the range from 25 to 35 and does not grow much, because technologies, tools and frameworks are actively changing. There are industries where the rate of change is lower, so the peak of competencies shifts closer to 40–45, sometimes to 50, which is already a rarity.

But one way or another, there is a significant number of people over 45, 50, 55 years old who have a serious problem: they have changed many professions, but all these professions have become obsolete to one degree or another. As a result, such people are in a kind of illusion.

They keep thinking that they are still professionals in these industries. Compared to beginner amateurs - yes, but for the requirements of the modern market - no longer!

This means back to school! 45, 50, 55, 65 - this is the range when you can and should acquire a new profession, open up new horizons and opportunities. Why and why is it needed?

Why study

Bad news first

If you are professionally illiquid, then you are in for an unpleasant prospect. You can keep servicing increasingly simple processes, and you will most likely be laid off within 10-15 years. It is difficult and almost impossible for you to compete with the next generation in the 35–45 age range. Moreover, the robots are advancing. Therefore, we will not discuss further why this is necessary: it is already clear. Let's talk about the benefits of getting a new profession.

Good news: we have a lot of them

1. Oddly enough, people do not get stupid with age, but get smarter. This is a proven fact. You can learn 10 to 20 times faster, especially in complex subjects and skills. Yes, teenagers will outrun you in computer shooters, but they won't even come close to understanding complex concepts that you intuitively understand instantly. Why? Because your erudition, contextual spaces, ability to operate with categories and connect concepts is several times higher at this age. And further they will increase if you take care of this in advance.

2. You read faster and, most importantly, understand faster. If it takes a young person several years to enter the profession, it will only take you a few months if you do it with the same intensity. Many over 45 are afraid to study because they are used to thinking that it takes a very long time.

These are children who study for a long time, and adults study 100 and 200 times faster. Now you don't have to be afraid.

3. You see new opportunities faster when you connect with new knowledge. Why? Because opportunities are the flip side of problems, and you see them and are able to recognize them more and better precisely because you are more experienced and sophisticated in life. The problem with aspiring startups is that they quickly gain expertise in technology, but they lack the knowledge of life and understanding of the problems. Therefore, new knowledge will give you 10–20 times more opportunities than young people.

4. You renew your brain, and it starts to work 3-5 times more efficiently. Because the brain, like any organ, works the better the more often you use it. Learning and solving new problems is the best way to update. If you want to understand how this mechanism works, read the short article "What is Learning from a Neurophysiological Perspective?"

5. Intensive training dramatically reduces the likelihood of age-related dementia, about which it is too early to think before 40, and after 55 it is not too late. For more on this, see my TED talk, "Drug-Free Approaches to Active Aging."

6. New learning means new contacts, new horizons, new meanings, new countries. Children and everyday problems in the past.

The second youth has come - it's time to discover the world, get new sensations, new experiences. This is just the beginning.

Feel like a young person again, a student again, leave the constraining role of an experienced person. Experience is needed to help you, not to limit your growth opportunities.

What to learn

The general approach is based on two simple criteria.

1. What do you like, what is passion for?

Often times, people make mistake # 1: You get fun with a lot of things that you know and have encountered in some way. But there is a lot of everything. Much more that you don't know and that would probably push you a lot harder. In order not to make this mistake, you need to read more different industry press, go to events from different areas, far from your everyday life.

Mistake number 2: choosing a profession. A profession is just a tool for achieving and realizing your desires, the idea of success. Therefore, first you need to understand what the picture of the success, the experience that you want to get looks like. What the role you want to play looks like. Once you understand this, everything becomes much easier with the choice of profession.

2. What promising and intensive development will take place over the next 5–8 years?

The calculation is simple: it will take 5-7 months to study, about 7-9 months to enter a new field and emerge on the edge (remember that you do this faster than young people) and about 5 years of unlimited professional, social and financial growth. Then, most likely, either a transition to a higher level - management and business - or again a change of direction.