BOOMER MISTAKES TO CLEAN UP

Baby boomer mistakes? What mistakes?

In some circles everything boomer related is a mistake.

This isn’t that circle.

Instead, I’ll look at common mistakes and regrets to avoid.

This is for younger generations.

Career Advice:

This came to me on a three day bus ride from NYC to Portland.

I was moving back to my home state during an airline strike.

Bus service in 1979 included a $100 ticket to anywhere.

You couldn’t go much further than Manhattan’s west side to Portland’s northwest neighborhood, so I got my moneys worth.

I’d left Oregon on the love train and came back on the love bus. Both were motivated by lovely women.

In my mid-twenties, I’d decided to do something Oregon-centric, something special to Oregon.

The fantasy of working in the woods, or on the sea, was no fantasy if you grew up in North Bend, Oregon.

Besdes, I’d already worked in a veneer mill in Coos Bay and a fish packing plant in Charleston, so that was close if you never talk to a logger or fisherman.

I wanted to do something that was Oregon, that screamed Oregon out loud.

It turned out to be an Oregon history museum job that started out as a six month temp.

Twenty years and four jobs later I walked out.

I came in toward the end of an Old Boys Network staff where everyone was promoted within and stayed forever.

At the end the museum became a stepping stone for career shoppers to check a box.

Leadership defaulted from one retread after another who contracted work out instead of keeping it all in-house.

Boomer Mistakes Pinpointed

If your career goals include working with smart people motivated to put their best effort forward, be cautious.

Take a look at management.

How long has the big boss been on the job?

How long will it take for you to be the big boss? Get promoted? Make more money?

Is it family friendly with paid time off for new parents? A 401K? Do you see role models and mentors?

Every success feels like an individual effort, but no one does it alone.

For every punk who shouts out, “I made this by myself,” there’s a mom and dad who know better.

Make your parents proud and do good work with good people.

If that doesn’t sound happy, you might want to look happy up.

Save For Retirement

If retirement sounds far, far, away, try to remember it comes up faster than you think.

One day you’re 35, at the top of your game and killing it, the next you’re 55 and wondering what’s next.

If you get married along the way, avoid spouse anxiety by signing up and contributing to a retirement account.

The money you put aside today grows and grows if you work with it.

Big baby boomer mistakes happen with poor planning, falling for ‘get rich fast’ schemes, and running up credit cards.

Everyone is a friend until you fall off the edge. Then it’s all you, brother, and you might feel like you’re too old to make new friends.

This is when you better understand social isolation, homelessness, and rejection.

Better to understand it sooner than later and work to make a better life for you and your loved ones.

The world has it’s fill of bitter old people who feel like they’ve been robbed.

There’s no shortage of con men who pledge to solve your problems if you vote for them, contribute to them, wear their hat, and shout their name.

That’s not you.

Travel Light, But Travel

Boomer mistakes get compounded with unrequited wanderlust.

As a kid in North Bend, Eugene was the big city, Portland was a megalopolis. Way too big.

Then I met a grown man from Coquille.

Upon our first meeting he said, “You grew up in North Bend, huh? City boy.”

Coos Bay/North Bend was where he and his pals called The City.

He proved that one man’s small town is another man’s city if he comes from an even smaller town.

There was once a time when living in town was proof of failing. Farmers came to town for supplies, loggers for beer, fisherman to fight.

Saturday nights were big.

If you want to expand your horizons, take a trip. Fly out of the country, or drive across Idaho.

Set a travel goal. Find a foreign food restaurant with the food you like, then go to that country.

If you’ve got a thing for Thai food, you know what’s next: Thai street food from a street in Thailand.

Adjust your travel plans based on health because you eventually age out of travel.

My mother in-law wanted to go on an African safari in her 80’s.

We convinced her it was too much to do at her age. She didn’t agree, but decided not to go.

It was a warm-up exercise for when she would need to stop driving.

How To Avoid Common Boomer Mistakes

Know your strengths.

If your job takes a downward turn, do you stay or do you go?

Keep building skills and networks to stay ahead of the curve.

One of my favorite guys has it down.

He’s been working on his career from the day I met him, but you’d never know it.

Every start-up needs a guy who’s been there, and he’s that guy.

From his own entrepreneurial roots to the executive level, he’s a master communicator to young people in the workforce.

He knows what the workers want, what companies need, and finds the sweet spot for maximum benefit to both.

That’s the task set before all of us. Build your education, improve your skills, and apply them where they best fit.

If you work someplace that could be better if they followed your advice, you could be right.

Any you may need to start your own company.

Or, write a blog like boomerpdx and be the King Of The World between 5 and 11 every morning.