I'm 40 Now
Why and How I'm Intentionally Aging Myself Up At Work
Hi Quintessential readers!!
I recently got a new boss at work. There are very few times where you get to reintroduce yourself as a professional when you’re already established in your position, so I am seizing this opportunity to do something I’ve been wanting to try for a while: age up.
In this article, I’ll explain all the reasons why, and all my tactics for how I’m going from mid-20s to early 40s.
Why I’m 40 Now
Work These Days!
Working an office 9-5 has never been the ideal for a creative. I only thought it was right to me when I was in creative-denial for a bit in college and my early 20s. Pair that fact with the state of the economy and job market right now… I can’t think of a worse place to be.
Pretending to be 40 is a fun side quest to go on, a way to challenge myself and my creative thinking and strategy in a completely harmless fashion. It’s acting, it’s character building, it’s creativity, all the things I don’t get to do at my desk in my finance job. A girl should be allowed to have fun sometimes!
Ageism is a Two-Way Street
I’m aware that I’m walking a fine line between that classic Gen Z naiveté and actual high performance, but I want you all to buy-in with me: I am extremely good at what I do.
For a high performer, there is nothing more frustrating than being continuously underestimated, well past the point of proving yourself. I’m not currently alleging any sort of intentional discrimination due to my age, but undercurrents of ageism are as present as the tailwinds of misogyny in every interaction, even in the workplace. You just can’t escape it.
One of my biggest regrets from my early career was telling people my age, how young I was. At that time it was a flex, though. I was freshly 22 with my master’s and visibly filling critical needs in my department. I got my senior promotion in less than a year, praised for my high quality work. I went viral a few times on LinkedIn with Gen Z thought leader branding. Now I’m just 26 and washed up, not enough life experience for management.
I personally feel that disconnecting myself from my age will open up growth opportunities. Not because I’ll change in any substantive way, but because I’ll get to live in the abstract space with my accomplishments and performance, not with any defining characteristics about me.
Continued Detachment, and my “Worksona”
Like I mentioned in my previous article, How I am Decentering Capitalism From My Life, I’m currently in an era where I am pulling back on my work life to focus on personal endeavors. This is less of a choice I’m making, and more of a necessity for my personal sanity. One way I can see this aligning with that goal is to further depersonalize from my job.
Last fall I briefly took a Burlesque dance class. I say briefly because I was disappointed by the lack of dancing and the amount of lecture. But something I picked up there, was the importance of a stage name to your burlesque persona. Your stage name is something that both represents and empowers the most daring and confident version of you; the version of you that can get up and artistically take all your clothes off. Same concept with drag names, or a furry’s fursona.
So what if I had a 40-year old work alter-ego, a worksona. She doesn’t represent the confident and daring Quinn, but she could be the normal SpongeBob of my life. I don’t need my job to see me for me while i’m trying to cultivate a life full of friends that see me, I just need my job to see my performance and output.
Maybe I’ll name myself after a Seinfeld character. Maybe I can be Quinn Morgendorffer, beloved sister of MTV’s Daria.
Leave a Comment with Worksona name ideas
How I’m Convincing My New Boss I’m 40
Leveraging Our Virtual Interface
While my job is on-site, my boss works on a different site so about 90% of our communications will be virtual. There are such strong expectations for Gen Zs to be technical geniuses. Some call us digital natives, though I feel that term might not pass the test of time. For Millenials and Xers, the expectations are all over the place. Some are experts, while others are just young boomers. I plan to closely observe my new boss to find out which side of the scale they fall on, then I’ll be the perfect complement. If he’s a tech wiz, I’m a boomer. If he’s a boomer, I’m no kid but I know my way around the basics!
Studying the Pop Culture of the Era
I can’t be 40 without understanding the cultural zeitgeist.
I plan to learn common references from shows like Frasier, Seinfeld, and Cheers. I’ll also have manufactured stories of what I was doing on 9/11 and during the financial crash of 2008. Having character continuity and era-accurate references will make my worksona performance much more convincing.
But I’ll also be careful about how I use modern references. No memes post-girl boss era will come out of my mouth. Pop culture references will be limited to franchises like Marvel and Star Wars.
Style and Makeup
In high school theater, and maybe some of you will relate to this, I was just a little bit bigger than most of the other girls, so I was always playing someone’s mom or grandma. Through that experience, I learned a few techniques to use makeup and wigs to morph my face to look older.
This look is not sufficient for any in-person meetings, but I bet it can go a long way on those big zoom calls.
Stylistically, I’m not willing to budge my current method. I wear a plain turtleneck shirt (various colors) every day with the same black pants that I have 5 copies of. I wear a nice quarter zip into the office, then I lounge around in my work branded crewneck until I have a meeting that requires me to grab the plain black blazer I keep at my desk.
Always formal in meetings, comfy casual the rest of the time.
Faking It In My Demeanor
Lastly, I’ll be leaning into the formality of demeanor that you would expect from a mid-career senior leader. I’ll play the character of my worksona. She’s the CEO actually, and she actually is my boss’ boss.
Thank you for reading!
Do you have a worksona? Could I pass for 40? Would you rather be your “authentic self” at work? Let me know in the comments!
About Quintessential
Thank you so much for reading! Quintessential is a collection of personal writings about how I am managing to live my life authentically as myself. You may be interested in this publication if you:
Are a young woman trying to make it in this world;
Enjoy niche topics;
Care about your communities around you;
Don’t take life too seriously; and
Want to know what makes me, me!