I LOVE GETTING OLDER  !!!!!!! 

Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, Chief General Manager,

Country Head, RH, SBIUK, London

What is the age at which we can call ourselves or someone else old? Telling a lady that she is old is as much a taboo as telling anyone else. What about announcing to oneself that ‘I am old.. I am getting older…. I should not be doing this or that?’ The general refrain is, ‘Age is a state of mind’. Sure it is, but is there any evidence? Happily, there are many.

 

In State Bank of India, more specifically in SBI UK, the number of older employees is quite substantial. Same is true of all organisations, communities and nations. With the increase in quality of life and enhanced health care, working age and span go up every year and we must pause and analyse the concept of oldness, in age and in mind.

 

Some stereotypical impressions about getting older are that one gets depressed, irritable, cranky and obsessed about digestion and such other things like attention deficit, productivity losses etc.

 

Let us examine a few of the common mis-perceptions about getting old.

 

Many of us think that as we get old, our creativity declines and we react or respond in a very set and predictable manner to problems and situations. Academic studies however point to the contrary. Artists and scholars worldwide have always been prolific in their middle ages. While in a few fields like mathematical problem solving, younger people fared better, in a vast number of other fields creative peaks happened much later in age. Creativity, where experimentation and experience is the base, generally came with wisdom and age.

 

Another common perception is that people get less productive as they get old. Older employees are asked to reskill themselves, or periodically the organizations come up with new programmes to induct new talent. Most of the academic studies have found that there is virtually no relationship between age and job performance. In jobs requiring experience, older adults show decidedly superior performance because of their maturity, balance and higher EQ. In a recent study in Industrial units, it was found that older workers committed far less number of ‘severe errors involving bigger losses’ as compared to the younger lot.

 

Old people are often known to suffer from more health related problems as compared to the young. This is related to the muscularity and flexibility declines due to lack of regular exercise, known as the key to longevity. Again studies have proven that continued health and fitness require regular moderate exercises that can easily be done by people up to the age of 75 or 80. Take for example running. It is scientifically proven that jogging at 8 to 10 KPH speed for an aggregate of about 2.5 to 3 hours a week, with at least two days off, brings the biggest improvements. Doable even by an older person like me in the wrong side of 50!

 

Another common observation is that our brains tend to shrink as we pass our prime, resulting in loss of concentration and memory, and failure to make abstract reasoning which is critical for novel ways of problem solving. Again, it has been found that most of the decline in older people is not because of age, but because they themselves thought that with age they must decline. Many of the older people when exposed to work like using i-pad, taking digital photographs, drawing or quilting rapidly bounced back in their responses and problem solving. Key therefore is- keeping your minds well lubricated and jogged.

 

So we must take these handicaps and stereotypes out, as they are either myths or work-arounds and mitigants are easily available. Then think and add the facilitators that come thick and fast as we get older. Think of the stable income, freedom from the hassles of settling down and making a family and career, re-discovering values of friendship, realizing and implementing the higher goals like community work and service etc and so on.

 

Life definitely gets better as we get older. I want all of you to age gracefully and gladly and make the most of your age.

 

Courtesy:  “We, the State Bankers”, a monthly In-house Newsletter of

State Bank of India UK Operations Edition Thirty One • December 2014