Can You Start Life Over at 60? It May Be the Best Time!

It’s a question that gets asked a lot, especially by men since we’re the ones that inflict ourselves with the pressure to “perform.”

I wrestled with this question at that age two decades ago.

My simple answer is “yes” – but – – – –

– – – you may want to consider “pivoting” rather than “starting over.” “Starting over” is too heavy mentally. It suggests dropping everything you’ve done and your accumulated life experience and starting with a completely fresh slate. That’s pretty daunting and impractical.

A pivot, on the other hand, suggests a change in direction but from a base of knowledge, experience, and understanding.

We see a lot of terms thrown around these days that imply starting over: re-invention, re-careering, re-wirement, renewal. It’s a pretty popular concept as our boomer generation hurtles into their sixties and seventies in a volatile, uncertain global economy.

Reintegrate

When considering a pivot, I favor a more practical term: re-integration. I borrowed the term and idea from Marc Freedman, CEO and President of Encore.org and one of the nation’s leading experts on the longevity revolution.

Freedman makes some very valid points in his argument for re-integration (the bolding is mine):

“Isn’t there something to be said for racking up decades of know-how and lessons, from failures as well as triumphs? Shouldn’t we aspire to build on that wisdom and understanding?

After years studying social innovators in the second half of life — individuals who have done their greatest work after 50 —I’m convinced the most powerful pattern that emerges from their stories can be described as reintegration, not reinvention. These successful late-blooming entrepreneurs weave together accumulated knowledge with creativity, while balancing continuity with change, in crafting a new idea that’s almost always deeply rooted in earlier chapters and activities.”

Career- or life-pivoting has never been more common than it is today, driven by rapid technological change, increased volatility of corporate employment, global competition, and a higher-than-average entrepreneurial spirit amongst baby boomers.

I have personally “pivoted” three times since turning 60. I left the corporate world at age 60 and started my own recruiting business. That was a major pivot and came close to a full start-over. However, I found that my 35+ years of sales and marketing “integrated” reasonably well with the recruiting business because it’s a difficult business built on the ability to sell.

I then did a gradual pivot to more career coaching as a supplement to my recruiting business as I found I was more effective in a coaching role and enjoyed helping people find their way in their careers.

I pivoted again, at 77, away from recruiting and focusing more on career- and retirement coaching for people over 50. I also have discovered that I have a love and knack for writing.  I write daily and this weekly blog is now 5 1/2 years and 275 published articles old.

That pivot continues as I’m now enjoying being able to combine my ability to write creatively with meeting and helping executive-level professionals – particularly healthcare executives – develop career marketing documents along with providing career transition coaching.

I believe I’m an example of how re-integration works because nowhere along the way since age 60 was it a complete start over for me. I was acknowledging my core interests and talents and bringing forward skills and experiences that support them.

If you find yourself in what you feel is a “start over” situation, here are a few things you may want to consider:

1. Find your true self. Most people have suppressed their deepest desires and talents in favor of a paycheck, building someone else’s dream. Start your “pivot” with some deep reflection and strive to “re-discover” your true self. What are you really, really, really good at? What do you really, really, really want to do with your life? I would suggest some personal assessments such as Strengthsfinders or Enneagram or DISC to help you discover your true self. And do some serious reading such as Martha Beck’s “Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live” and “Transitions” by William Bridges.
2. Take the long view. If you are 60 and in relatively good health, you may have a runway of 30–40 years ahead of you with easily more than half of those years having the potential to be highly productive and fulfilling. Above all, don’t succumb to the cultural pressure of needing to be “retired” at 65. That number is a relic established 86 years ago for political reasons when the average life span was 62. Retirement is a killer of creativity and dreams, not to mention bodies and minds. Think about what you have experienced in terms of changes around you in one generation (18 years). It’s staggering but speaks to how much can be accomplished in a single generation. And technological changes are accelerating that. With the possibility of a two-generation runway ahead of you, the possibilities can, and should be, exciting.
3. Take a hard look at your cultural beliefs. You have some (maybe many) that are holding you back, guaranteed. Tony Robbins has transformed the lives of thousands by helping them understand that much of our lives are driven by our beliefs and many of them are harmful. Here’s a couple that I see a lot: (1) retirement is good, and I’m entitled to it. I’ve heard retirement referred to by high achievers as “the ultimate casualty”, “statutory senility” “a signal to the universe that you are getting ready to send your parts back”. Traditional labor-to-leisure retirement has few upsides and many downsides. It’s an unnatural act that goes against our natural biology; (2) you are “over-the-hill” at 60 and your brain and body are automatically going to atrophy. Totally false. We can grow brain cells until we die by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and continuing to challenge ourselves mentally through continuous learning. And we can maintain vitality and delay frailty through an active lifestyle that includes exercise and a good diet.

People are “pivoting” in large numbers and realizing tremendous successes, even in the face of these volatile, rapidly-changing times. So gather up your talents, skills, and experience and put them to work doing something that you are really good at and that society needs. When that comes together, you’ll forget all those numbers that our culture throws at us and has us second-guessing ourselves.

Good luck – pivot on!

Got a “pivot story?” Love to hear about it. Leave a comment with your story.