The third part of age discrimination week… the first part was the story, the second part was strategies, today is tactics:
Tactics:
(1) Awareness
Ring your own gong of “mindfulness”. Several times a day. Be mindful of age discrimination and review how it will impact your plans and programs. Financial plan. Career plan. Hobby plan. Fitness program. Education program. Skills program. Language program. Every day, several times a day, you must ask am I “on plan”. What is happening? What is not happening? What actions should I be taking?
(2) Networking
You must keep building your own bridges. Get out and talk to people. Gather data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Inside your circle, outside your circle. Inside your company; outside it. Develop a sense of what is going on. Have scouts out. Have feelers out. Be the sensor.
(3) Money
You must realize that, like in poker on TV, chips are power. The investment pyramid rests on a emergency fund and a savings layer. Don’t neglect that. When my “bridge to retirement” came up a few years short, it was my savings layer that is enabling me to cross the chasm. If that wasn’t there, with the bad market, I’d be SOL (strictly out of luck).
What are your tactics to combat Age Discrimination?
Everyone over forty should make it a point to make a new friend in their 20s every year. It will expose you to a whole new network, and help you embrace new technology, etc….