Too old to start something new?

Daniel Brown
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

I’ve recently been mentoring some wonderful individuals full of energy, ideas and vision. It has been a pleasure to be a part of their journey so far and I’ve learned a lot and taught a lot.

One important take-away I have from my mentoring is feedback. It is my believe that feedback is never one-sided and should never be one-sided. Feedback is reciprocal.

“two men in suit sitting on sofa” by Austin Distel on Unsplash

My mentoring style is based on collaboration and a lot of communication. We talk regularly over a tea, coffee or three, perhaps go for a stroll.
And we reflect on each of their steps, each idea and each vision and decision made, taken, had and held along the journey so far and create the same for the future. And my mentees are free to ask me the same things. I do not shy away from answering because mutual trust is -like freely giving knowledge, like reciprocal feedback- part of the mutual journey. And it’s one of those questions that I was asked in one of those conversations that caught me off-side:

When are you too old to start something new?

And that surely is a strange question from a twenty-something to a thirty-something (closer to 40 than 30 ;) ), and yet it is also a very valid question.


Since starting to explore such topics like Entrepreneurship, building sustainable products and business, things like Bootstrapping and Design Thinking, I’ve come across so many examples of people of all ages starting to create a business at any age. There is no boundary or magic line in the sand that will keep you from starting something new.

As said, I am closer to forty than to thirty and my mentee’s question sparked a round of retrospective for me first. How often have I started something new in the past 25 years for example? When did I set a new course in my life?

Actually quite regularly, yet from a safe base. All new starts were made when all requirements and conditions were -actually- good to perfect and nothing could endanger the new start itself.

Even now, while working 40+ hours a week for a Startup and having created a small somewhat successful side gig as a consultant, I love that sense of security, that is offered by a safety net of regular paychecks, health insurance and pension funds.

Who doesn’t?

Yet this question is like an itch that I can’t cure really. And the best answer I’m able to come up with is:

“There’s no age limit. In my opinion, there’s just the question if you want to start or not.”

What’s your take?

Daniel

Daniel Brown

Written by

“Love people and use things, the opposite never works.” — Joshua Fields Millburn, The Minimalists / Product Specialist/ Consultant / Mentor

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