Dame Helen Mirren has been sharing her views on ageing with advice for younger people to make “little changes now to help them later in life“. The 79-year-old Oscar winning actress and Age UK ambassador said that;
“It’s never too late to start doing something, so why not give something a go while you’re younger?”
Why wait until you are retired?
Not everyone who comes to me for advice and coaching is approaching their retirement – many are already well and truly there. One of the major causes I see for those in unfulfilling retirement stems from them not thinking about retirement as a new stage in life. Many people retire away from something, usually work, but don’t really know what they are retiring into.
This can lead to retirement being defined by what you left behind, not what you want to do or who you want to be in the future. So that means they don’t do the prep for retirement (such as learning something new, or establishing an exercise routine) and then expect it all to just happen when they retire. After all, they will finally “have the time”.
Instead, early planning should be woven into the fabric of your own routine long before the day when you pack up your desk or walk through the school gates for the final time. So you can start to enjoy your retirement right from day 1.
Just do it
Athletics brand Nike hit the nail on the head with their simple and effective slogan. If you want to do it, do it now. Many people wait to take up a hobby or sport or activity when they retire.
- The upside is that it’s something new to learn and enjoy.
- The downside is that if it is something you’ve never done before, you may be frustrated by your progress, even with lots of time on your hands. (Or that the time you need to devote to it might turn your fellow retired partner into a golf widow/widower overnight!)
The truth is, as Dame Helen said:
“Getting older will come with its complications – specifically there will likely be aches and pains along the way.”
So, if you start learning fencing in your 50s, for example, you’ll already know the aches and pains of it, but also know the enjoyment before your knees start protesting too much!
Use it or lose it?
The good news is that our cognitive abilities, unlike our physical, don’t necessarily decline as we age. Past wisdom was that we reached our peak brain power in our late twenties, and it was pretty much downhill from then on.
That is no longer the case:
“Scientists now see the brain as continuously changing and developing across the entire life span. There is no period in life when the brain and its functions just hold steady. Some cognitive functions become weaker with age, while others actually improve.” (5) (Harvard Health, 2017)
There is also much evidence that keeping the brain active as you age helps retain cognitive function for longer, slows the rate of decline and even delay the onset of dementia for those at risk. (For a summary, see our previous article “Why every retiree should learn new skills in retirement” )
Old dog, new languages
The old maxim therefore of “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” has been proven wrong. The secret is that if the “dog” has learned tricks before, new tricks become a lot easier to acquire. If you’ve already learnt to speak Spanish, for example, and practiced speaking it, then learning Italian will be much easier and potentially fulfilling.
If you start planning your retirement early, you’ll find it much easier to continue and develop your plan over your potential 30+ years of retirement.
Need some help?
Start your retirement planning with a single click to book your free 30 mins Discovery Session. We’ll have a brief chat so I know where you are now, what you have in place already, and where you want to be. Then, you can decide how you’d like to progress, either with a Retirement Planning Kick-starter session or with Retirement Game Plan, my personal 1 to 1 coaching to fast track your retirement planning.
It all starts with a click:
Just click on “Schedule time with me” and book your online Discovery session slot at a time and date to suit you.
SOURCES:
(1) Pickover, E (2025, May 4). Helen Mirren opens up on ‘complications’ of ageing as she shares advice for younger people (Article) from The Independent on Sunday, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/helen-mirren-ageing-advice-age-uk-oscar-b2744544.html
(2) Kuhn, HG, Skau,S & Nyberg, J (2024) A lifetime perspective on risk factors for cognitive decline with a special focus on early events, (Article) from Science Direct https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666245024000187 Cerebral Circulation – Cognition and Behavior, Volume 6, 2024, 100217, ISSN 2666-2450, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cccb.2024.100217.
(3) Clear, J. (date unknown ) How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science) (Blog Post) from James Clear,
(4) Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C.H.M., Potts, H.W.W. and Wardle, J. (2009, July 16), How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world† (Research Article) from European Journal of Social Psychology., 40: 998-1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674
(6) Clear, J (2018, Oct 16) Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (Book)
(5) How memory and thinking ability change with age (Blog Post) from Harvard Health Publishing. (2017, August 30) https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-memory-and-thinking-ability-change-with-age
