Getting Ahead at 9 or 90

12/1/2022

Everyone wants to get ahead at any age. Are you someone who wants to…

reach their goals?
build a better life for themselves?
be happy?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, then you're needing to get ahead and invest in your life in some way or another.

You can get ahead at any stage, whether you’re 9 or 90.

Let me share with you stories from two people who have had a big impact on my life. You can probably see some of yourself in them. But if not, it's going to be a really great reminder that you need to be doing the things they did so you too can get ahead

My daughter’s story

My daughter loves art, she goes to art camp and she asks for art supplies for every gift. Back when she was 9, I noticed that Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver, BC, Canada was having an art call for children. I thought maybe she wanted to submit some of her art, so I asked her.

She said, “Yeah, Mom. I want to do it.” But she was a little bit nervous at first. She was questioning if she should do it and what piece she should submit.

Then, she found the perfect piece. It was a sailboat, and she was very proud of it.

Based on the timeline, we had to choose something she already had done because we were very limited in what we could have her submit. But then she noticed there was a little pen poke mark in it so she wasn't going to be able to use that piece. She was very, very disappointed.

The art show was called, “For the Love of Art”. They were putting up a gallery at the Harmony Arts Festival and then people can bid on these different pieces. That’s why my daughter wanted it to be a great piece.

I also thought it was important for her to foster her love of art and to teach her that this is what happens to artists who have a business. They submit their art and they go to shows or galleries. Then there's the potential to sell and make money from a piece of art. That's the way that business works.

She was very disappointed that she couldn't submit her sailboat piece and especially because Harmony Arts is right on the beach. It would be a great piece to choose. Then, she went through her other pieces and found another one, but this was from two years ago when she was younger and had less ability.

She did submit it anyway, and she was accepted. I was very excited for her! The deadline to drop off the piece was about four weeks later.

But, our family went on vacation. There were lots of trips that happened and we missed the deadline. I told her it was my fault. I said to her, “I'm so sorry we missed the deadline to drop off the piece so you might not get in the show.” She responded, “Well, can you ask them?” Of course! So I sent an email and thankfully they said, “No problem, drop it off.”

We then went to the Harmony Arts show and we found her piece on the wall. They framed it, and it was beautiful. My daughter had that moment of “Wow, look, my piece is framed professionally in an actual show… with my information and name on it.” It was such a cool thing.

For her, getting ahead meant:

First, having the courage to put her piece in the show
Second, when obstacles hit like missing the deadline, still push ahead
Third, she was being rewarded by seeing her art up

But this took us to the next stage of people bidding on her art. What I noticed was that on half of the pieces in the show there was no ability to purchase the art because the artist wanted to keep it. But for the other half, a lot of people had bids. At this point in the show, she didn't have any bids yet and so I felt bad for her.

I pushed the idea of “This is amazing!” and “Your piece is here!” She still had the rest of the week for people to put bids in.

Many days later, close to the end of the show, we came back, and we wanted to see if there were any bidders. Honestly, I didn't want to see it because I didn't know if I needed to go and bid on it. I saw that the auction sheets have been taken down because they are already reprocessing them for the people that purchased them.

I was going to go ask if there were any bids on it. I then saw two people talking about my daughter's piece. I called her over and said, “Come here, those people are talking about your art. You should go talk to them.”

She was so nervous, so we went together. The people said they were trying to figure out if it was the four seasons. I told them, “Well, the artist is here.”

My daughter then had this conversation with them. She told them what medium she used, which season was which, how she got the lines in it, what type of paper she used, etc. She got to have a moment where she was THE artist.

Not only has she had this experience of having her art picked and being in a show, now she's speaking with people as an artist. That's how you get ahead! You have moments when you get to step into being the future you you want to be and have knowledge of what it's like so you can tap into that feeling.
It was so amazing to see her in that moment. She was super shy at first. Then, she lit up while explaining her art. It was so cute.

As a mom who wants to kind of facilitate a positive situation, we went over to the office, and we asked them if there were any bids. The person was flipping the sheets. I see all the bids on all the other pieces. Then, it comes to my daughter's piece, and she says, “Oh, yes! There was someone named Kelly who purchased her piece for $50.”

That's amazing. They also said, “We're going to send her a check for $50 in the mail.” I was thinking about my daughter’s cut because galleries take a cut and we were also informed about it at the beginning. I thought it was fair since they framed it and did all the facilitation for it. They said that they decided to give her 100% of the sale.

My daughter was super excited! She's getting her first payment for her art! It's funny, as we walked away I said, “Wow, isn't that great that someone bid on it?” Then she goes, “Oh, I had a few bids.” She already knew because she ran over another day to check. There was at least one other bid of $30.

I know that that experience for her is going to foster so much into the future.

I'm asking you right now, for yourself, your children, or people around you, what experience do you need to have to be able to get ahead and to jump in early in your development?

If you don't have that experience, it doesn't matter. Just jump in and do it. I know the people who have been part of the Dynamic Women's Secrets Books have just loved that moment of holding the book and feeling like, “Oh, this is true. I'm an author. Oh my goodness.”

So just jump in. That's how you’re going to get ahead - by having these experiences before you're truly ready.

Getting ahead in your 90s

At Toastmasters, I met a gentleman named Yan. He was a Norwegian boat builder. I talked with him quite a bit about his life and more so his life as a senior.

In his 70s, he learned fencing. Then in his 80s, he wrote his first book. When I met him at Toastmasters, he was in his 90s. Oftentimes, he would fall asleep because this was a 7pm to 9pm meeting. He had driven over from Bowen Island, which meant he took a ferry over and so he was quite tired by that time of day.

It was really fun and we'd have to yell over, “Yan! Yan! Wake up. It's your turn to speak.” He would jump up and shuffle over with his cane. He was so funny because he was sometimes a bit crude in his jokes and in what he'd share, but boy was he full of life.

He would take me out to the senior center before our meeting, and we'd have a meal together and chat. It was so much fun. One day I asked him, “How do you stay so young, Yan? You're in your 90s and you're coming to Toastmasters. How do you stay so vibrant at an older age?”

He said, “I keep trying new things. I keep challenging myself. I keep giving myself a reason to live.” We want to keep getting ahead at 90. I'm not saying you have to have these amazing big challenging goals and drive yourself forward, push yourself, be stressed, and work too hard.

But he said, “I’m not letting age be a factor. I've watched too many of my friends die because they've given up on life. They don't have a purpose or a reason to live.”

That for me was so eye-opening, yet so sad to know that he continues to watch people have no purpose in life, they are stagnant, and they're not getting ahead anymore. That's why he continued to dive in and bring himself to new experiences and also why he’d take people out for a meal… he wanted to keep living.

As I share this he has passed. But boy, did he have the most interesting, exciting life, even into the final years of his 90s. It's really impressive.

Wrapping Up

I wanted to share these two stories with you about getting ahead… about living your passion… about diving into new experiences. I could have named this blog “Live Your Life” or “Live on Purpose.” But really, it is about getting ahead and moving yourself forward.