Focus: Purpose What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Tools, tips and tricks to help you live a BIG Third Act!

Photo by Roman Mager on Unsplash

You’ve had an awesome life! Act One was figuring out what you wanted to be when you grew up (or not) and Act Two was rubber meeting the road. You figure Act Three will be the much deserved “wind (or wine?) down.” And that’s great! Good for you! Remember Act Two? Maybe you’re still living it. It was a couple of fits and starts, probably, until you settled into what would become your life. You dug into your career or had your family. Once you were settled in, you really started making things happen. You contributed to the industry and the world and got promoted and recognized and even helped mentor others so they, too, could be productive and contribute. You grew a kid (or more) from infancy through adolescence and into adulthood, so they could be productive and contribute. The “meat” of the career was probably about 30 years. Taking the kid into adulthood probably took a good 25 years, and growing an entire brood might have been closer to 30. And now..? You have about 25 or 30 MORE years at your disposal. I’m not telling you this to make you feel exhausted (though it might). I’m telling you this to illustrate just how LONG that wind down is going to be and maybe encourage you that you can think BIG in this next act, if you want to. Did you always want to be a psychologist, but ended up being in sales? Maybe you thought being a guitarist would be amazing, but your parents weren’t sure that would put food on the table. Sailing around the world would be cool, if you weren’t so busy going to work every day and helping your kids with homework. Don’t limit yourself to fishing and golf in this next act unless that’s what you really want to do. (Even if that’s what you want to do, I encourage you to spend some time contemplating the other end of the spectrum. At a minimum, it could lead to you taking a really interesting forensic science course at the local junior college - or some damn thing. ) You have time, and energy, if you’re keeping up on your wellness routine! What dreams do you have?

Need a role model? There are plenty!

Colonel Sanders didn’t become the chicken king until he was 65 years old. He owned a motel with an attached restaurant for his first career. He did go into an adjacent career with his chicken empire, but he started it with a spice blend that he began developing in his sixth decade.

Laura Ingalls Wilder didn’t publish her first book until she was 65. Which of us didn’t either read or watch Little House on the Prairie when we were young? She delighted the young, though she, herself, was not. She was able to publish 12 books in her distinguished Third Act career.

Tim and Lisa Zagat had their careers as corporate lawyers, until they were in their 50’s and their travel guides started getting so popular they had to quit their day jobs for their gig. Google bought Zagat in 2011 for a cool $151M. Not a bad gig!

How about Julia Child? She worked in media and advertising - and secret intelligence for goodness sake - before she wrote her first cookbook at 51.

Then, there’s the mother (or grandmother) of all Third Acts, Grandma Moses, who didn’t pick up a paintbrush until she was well into her eighth decade on this earth!

Where to start?

Colleges and universities are getting wise to the fact that Third Act students are the student body of the future. Many offer online courses that are taught by their best professors. I actually took one from MIT when the pandemic started called FinTech: The Shaping of the Finance World. (Nerdy, I know…) And, it turned out that President Biden appointed the prof as head of the SEC! I felt like I knew him. Most of the Ivy’s (like Harvard and Yale) and lots of other universities have these courses online. Just Google “[name of college] opencourseware” and they’ll pop right up. You can’t, necessarily, get a degree from them, but you can often take all of the classes needed for one.

If you want your degree, there are at least 10 colleges that offer free tuition. Many, but not all, have residency requirements. But, hey, if you’re gonna downsize and move anyway…

Penn State’s GO-60 program is an opportunity for tuition-free learning. It is aimed at retired adults age 60 and above who are residents of Pennsylvania and employed no more than 20 hours per week.

Through the Golden ID Card Program, the University of Maryland at College Park waives tuition for students 60 years of age and older. Some other fees apply, however.

The University of Kentucky offers the Donovan Fellowship tuition waiver extra-special. It is only available for adults age 65 and up, taking academic classes.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a research pioneer, offers nearly 5,000 courses in more than 150 undergraduate programs alone. If you are 65 or older and a resident of Illinois, you can apply free of charge if your annual household income is below a certain threshold. 

The University System of Georgia sponsors a program opens Georgia Tech’s graduate-level courses to seniors where space is available. You must be able to prove that you are at least 62 years of age, a resident of Georgia and legally in the United States.

The University of Delaware’s Over-60 Tuition-Free Degree program offers any Delaware resident age 60 or older the opportunity to further their education. 

State law requires the University of Connecticut and other state higher education institutions to waive tuition costs for older students. To be eligible, you must be a resident of the state, admitted to the university and 62 years of age before starting classes.

If you are at least 60 years old, a resident of South Carolina and not employed full-time, you are eligible for Senior Citizen Enrollment at Clemson.

The University of Arkansas offers its local silver foxes the opportunity to become “Senior Razorbacks.”

The CSUs (California State Universities) offer a waiver program. These waivers may be granted to qualifying students at the campus president's discretion. 

Didn’t see your state? This article will give you the lowdown for opportunities in every state.

And, don’t forget, you can go back to school ANYWHERE if you don’t mind paying the tuition!

I hate school!

What if you already have the degree, you just never used it, or want to do something that doesn’t need a degree?

Well, there are a couple of people who literally wrote the book on growing a second career after age 50.

Second Act Careers is written by a woman who has done a ton of research on the subject and owns a business helping people find theirs. She takes you through everything from the types of opportunities available, like getting paid to travel and starting an information business to ways to determine which career is right for you. It’s an easy read and will give you LOTS of fodder for thought.

My favorite book on the subject is called Comeback Careers. I like it because it takes a look at real life people who did real things in their second careers. Not Colonel Sanders. More like the guy down the street that opened the flower shop. It’s written by Mica Brzezinski and her sister-in-law who is working on finding a second career herself.

What else can I do?

It doesn’t have to be a career that you’re targeting. I’ve known people who had big dreams of doing things like Iron Man Triathalons or visiting every state in the union. One person I know loves to build furniture with her husband. They are in their 60’s and are looking at hiring a few craftsmen and opening a business creating custom high end period furniture for museums and state houses and the like. Cool!

I encourage you to do some big thinking about things that may have slipped through the cracks. The world (and 25 or 30 years) is yours for the taking!

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Actions To Build Confidence

Tiny: Go online to one of the open courseware sites and browse. Does anything look interesting?

Bold: List all of the careers that you thought might be fun as you were going through your First and Second Acts. Brainstorm everything! Just because you write it down doesn’t mean you have to do it! … but you could…

Audacious: Take your first step. Take an online course or a course at your local college or junior college in a subject that interests you.

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Do you agree with this post? Or are you skeptical that you have time or bandwidth or energy to make this happen? Maybe you are concerned that your gray hair will make it harder to be taken seriously in a new career? I’d love to hear all of your feedback!