First, I did not watch the fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul because the idea that a 27 year old young man should fight a 58 year senior citizen makes no sense except for one thing: money. On that money, I congratulate both Paul and Tyson for a great day at work. It is rumoured that Tyson will pack close to $20 million, and that is amazing.
But apart from that, let us appreciate what it means to even have the capacity to enter a fighting ring at 58 years. Tyson was largely peerless at his peak and reigned as a world champion. He recorded more than 40 knockouts and was nicknamed “Iron Mike” or “Kid Dynamite” because he was indeed an iron and a dynamite in the ring. He ended fights in seconds, and was regarded as one of the most talented boxers of his generation. He gave us: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”.
On the fight sheet I checked, he landed just 18 punches. Possibly, he was trying to survive the rounds. Simply, even the iron and dynamite cannot cheat nature. That takes me to what it means to age, and a look deep into our careers.
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You wake up and you see you cannot do certain things that used to be easy and simple. You pick up a book to read, and from nowhere sleep knocks. But in college, we used to leave the hostel at 2am to prepare for an exam coming up at 9am, agile and fresh, to go for 3 hours of academic examination. You can do that over days, and it was like nothing. But these days, how far?
Please, this fight must remind everyone of the fight of careers. The Most Valuable Employee one day will fade, and will be found unproductive, no matter how he or she tries, because time has passed. The real deal is this: when that happens, are we prepared for that phase of our careers because your self-will and -determination will not be enough because nature is knocking? Yes, we cannot be “iron” or “dynamite” forever in our careers.
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The things you were able to achieve with raw power and physical strength in your 20s and 30s, will that still be the case in your 40s and 50s? And what will happen in your 60s and 70s? Even Lionel Messi adapted his footballing talent according to his age. What pace and dribbling skills can’t handle anymore, good decisions and long-range passes compensated for them.
Some even forget that age is catching up with them, and want to still do what was easy in their teenage years and their 20s, only for their body to remind them that times have changed.
The demands of your career must mirror your evolving age and state of your body, else you will be out of sync. The body reaches its prime at 35, so once you are above that, you must slow down on tasks that are physically very demanding. The mind reaches its prime at 49, once you cross that, the focus should be on consolidation and drawing from experience. Fresh ideas are not for those in their 50s and 60s, no matter how smart they want to appear, they are already limited in certain ways.
You do not need to come in your 60s and start displaying ‘young at heart’, that only works for personal expression, motivation and feeling good effects, and not what demands of the times may require.