It’s never too late

8 July 2009

We’ve got the top tips on how you can get past the excuses and do that thing you’ve always wanted to do.

We’ve all heard the sayings – it’s never too late, there’s no harm in trying, what have you got to lose? But how often do we let them wash over us and think they’re meant for someone else? Well they don’t have to be. We’ve got the top tips to get you over the starting block and on your way to achieving the things you’ve always wanted to do.

Have you got something tucked away in the back of your mind that you’ve always wanted to do? Why is there always some excuse standing in the way? According to Performance Psychologist Sarah Brzezawski, too often we catch ourselves out before we even get started. “We tend to look around and say ‘I could never do something like that’, when we should be saying ‘why not?’ and giving it a go.”

Age is no barrier
Take swimmer Margo Bates, for example. Five world records, 15 Australian records, 181 gold medals. Sound like a World Champion? Definitely. Only thing is, Margo is 97 and until ten years ago, had never swam a lap of the pool!

“I was 87 when I started and I could barely even dog paddle!” Margo says. “After 6 weeks, I hated my coach and the pool and there wasn’t a part of my body that didn’t ache!” But with her ‘Double D’ or ‘Dogged Determination’ plan in place, she persevered and within a year, she was competing around the world on the Masters circuit. She’s been everywhere from Alice Springs to Canada, and even though she’s sometimes the only competitor in the 95-99 year old division, she insists there’s no chance of retirement.

“Don’t talk to me about old, unless there’s a ‘G’ in front of it.” And rightly so! Despite her eyesight failing, she carries on training three times a week, getting ready for the World Masters Games in Sydney next year. “I want to keep going until I’m 102 so I can set the record for the oldest swimmer ever at a Masters.” All of this, and she insists she is 'just an ordinary Great Granny'. “Never let age stop you from doing anything,” she says. “When someone tells me I can’t do something, that’s when I say I can, or at least I’m going to try!”

Find your passion
Not all of us aspire to win a gold medal or break a world record. It’s about finding your own unique passion or what makes you tick. For Mary Gallagher, it was the computer that made her ‘click’. At 75, she asked for a type-writer for her birthday, but was handed a computer instead. “I was too afraid to even go near it at first. I thought I could bring the whole house down, lights and all, just by looking at it the wrong way!” Still, she enrolled at the ‘Seniors' Computer Club’ at her local library. Now Mary is not only typing ‘with more than 2 fingers’ - she's on the internet and chatting to her relatives back in Scotland.

When Colleen Davron, 76, took up tapestry, she never thought it would take her where it has. Not only has she run workshops at craft shows around Australia and judged at the Royal Easter Show, but she’s also travelled to China to learn a new type of stitch. “Some people thought I was mad, going all that way, but it’s what I love to do!” So much so that she’s off to do more classes in Italy this year.

The turning point
Often the decision to change requires a turning point. For Rodney King, the turning point was literally a low point. At 36, he weighed 160kg and had been seriously overweight for 20 years. He always knew he had to do something about it, yet it wasn’t until he was out for dinner at a restaurant and felt his chair sinking under his weight that he knew he’d run out of excuses.

“I knew once I got over the initial hurdle of starting I’d be right,” he says. He joined Weight Watchers, started walking each day, and spurred on by the support of Meetings, the weight started to come off. “I was aiming to lose 75kg but I never put that figure up in lights. Instead, I broke it down into 5kg intervals and just kept chipping away week by week.” Eleven months later he’d made it all the way and is now 85kg!

According to Sarah Brzezawski, breaking your goal down into small achievable steps is the best way to get there. “Goals may seem distant and overwhelming at first. If you’re starting at A, and want to get to Z, you need to work out what your B, C, D etc... are. Then you can start taking the steps to make it happen.”

What are you waiting for?
As simple as it sounds, if we don’t make changes, nothing will change. If you just talk about what you’d like to be doing, but don’t actually do anything about it, things will stay the same. So try something, anything; if it doesn’t work, you can always try something else! Goals aren’t set in stone. As Margo Bates says, “All you can do is try. You need to use your backbone, not just your wishbone!” For her, the starting blocks are a bit high now, so she dives in from the deck instead. It really doesn’t matter how you get there, just get in any way you can and have a go!