My 49th birthday, which I celebrated two weeks ago, has created a shift in how I view my life. I’ve suddenly recognized that I now think about how my decisions contribute to building the quality of the life I have left. Like Bonnie Raitt wrote in her song, Nick of Time, “Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.“

I haven’t gone so far to think of myself as an old person. Rather I am feeling a certain vulnerability in the fact that I am getting older. In a society where cultural and technological revolutions tend to be birthed by the youth, how does an older professional stay competitive?

5 Tips for Success at 50+:

1. Don’t let age be an excuse to stop reaching and growing.
2. Keep an active career and life vision. Buy into the idea that 50 is the new 40, and consider that your career likely will be 10 years longer than you expected when you started out.
3. Keep current with the latest business technologies. Commit to embrace the latest trends in connectivity, regardless of how overwhelming they may seem. Remember that fax machines were at one time foreign devices.
4. Don’t assume the younger person has a better shot. The most important decisions are best made by the wisdom that comes from years of life experience.
5. Keep in healthy shape. Don’t allow your physical presence to come across as a liability.