Middle Age "Piles"

I realize as I continue to study the psychology of leaders, who after all are just people, I also learn a great deal about myself. The psychological hurdles that leaders of organizations attempt to jump are pretty much the same as the rest of us. One of them is the simple, yet oftentimes extraordinarily difficult, task of just getting something done.

I remember when I was a little girl I often heard my mom complain that she never got anything done. I would look around the house and I saw plenty that she had done, laundry, dinner, etc, but these things apparently didn't count to her. I recall deciding that when I was big, whatever it was that I wished to accomplish I would just do it. None of the sighing and complaining that I heard from my poor mom would be for me.

That was then and this is now. I'm no longer quite so confident. Not getting things done seems to creep up on you. Getting to be 50 years old has helped me notice the piles accumulating around me. And I am not talking about literal piles. There is that book I dream of writing, that brilliant career that hasn't quite evolved yet among other things.

I think that inertia strikes me where I feel most vulnerable. Fear of failure or lack of confidence are killers. I also get this creeping sense of impotence when faced with some of my "piles".

I think that Middle Age is the time to attack. It really is now or almost never (never say never).

Comments

[Expat on the go]

I hear you sister!

I don't know, is it because we are women that we have this fear of failure/lack of confidence?

I admire women who forge ahead and don't look back. Is it the upbringing?

I had a stay-at-home mom - as I am, and sometimes wonder if it's a disservice to my daughter. I want her to feel that it's ok to go out and knock out glass ceilings!

[mary]

I agree with you Brigitt - I have recently wondered how smart my same decision to give up my corporate career when I had my girls was. Both for their example and because of the left turn my life unexpectedly took with the divorce. Now I scramble to remake myself into a new career woman. Wouldn't it have been easier if I had never given it up?

[mary]

btw brigitt - I bombed out on you last week and didn't post a recipe for you - sorry! what did you make? I think that you may have a good idea there.