What if I told you there’s a simple, 2000-year-old model for running your day-to-day decisions that could save you from yourself? It’s not mystical. It’s practical. It can run your career, your personal life, and the early, messy stages of a new business.
It’s called the Control Test.
The Control Test, in one line
At the start of his handbook, the Enchiridion, the Stoic teacher Epictetus opens with this:
Some things are up to us, and some are not.
That is the whole game. You control your actions, your reactions, and how you treat people. Everything else sits outside your control. Sounds limiting. It isn’t. It’s freeing.
Focus where your hands can reach. Ignore the rest.
Why this matters at 50+
If you’re reinventing yourself in your 50s, 60s, or beyond, you’re contending with noise. Markets shift. Your industry looks unrecognisable. You’re competing with people half your age who grew up online. And yes, you’re wrestling with your own doubts.
The Control Test cuts through the noise and gives you something you can actually use.
What you don’t control
Whether your first product sells
How many followers you get on day one
What people think about your age or your pivot
Market timing or economic conditions
Whether someone else had the idea first
Your past career choices or so-called lost time
What you do control
Whether you show up and do the work today
How you respond when something doesn’t work
The quality of effort you put in
Who you ask for help
How you treat people in your network
Whether you learn from failures or quit
Your daily habits and consistency
The story you tell yourself about your chances
Master the inputs. Let the outputs take care of themselves.
Try this
Make two quick lists: Don’t Control and Do Control. Write them on a single index card. Keep it by your laptop. When you start spiralling, check the card and redirect your attention to one item on the Do side. Then act.
The trap most people fall into
At our age, we’ve seen enough to know all the ways things can go wrong. That wisdom can turn into paranoia. Most people spend 90% of their mental energy on things outside their control. Will the algorithm favour me? Will people take me seriously? Is it too late? What if I fail?
Meanwhile, they spend 10% on what actually moves the needle. Did I ship something today? Did I reach out to one person? Did I improve my craft?
It’s backwards. And it’s paralysing.
How to use this in your reinvention
Starting an online business
Stop obsessing over hitting six figures. Control whether you publish that first piece of content, follow up with the potential client, and show up consistently for 30 days.Pivoting your career
Avoid the spiral about age discrimination. Control your skill acquisition, your positioning as a problem solver, and your authentic networking. Alan Rickman’s breakout came in his 40s. Colonel Sanders franchised in his 60s. Late is not lost.Building your personal brand
Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. Control your voice, your value, and your pace. Show up as your actual self, not the 30-year-old version you think the internet wants.
Try this
Run a 7-day Control Sprint. Each day, do three controllables: ship one tiny thing, start one useful conversation, learn one skill fragment. Track only those three. Nothing else counts.
The freedom in this
Here’s the twist. Once you accept what you can’t control, you get more powerful, not less. You stop wasting energy. You stop making excuses. You stop waiting for perfect conditions. Because progress comes from inputs you own.
At 50+, you have assets younger entrepreneurs don’t. You know how to work. You know how to persist. You know what matters. You’ve already survived things that felt impossible. The Control Test helps you point that experience in the right direction so it’s not too faarking late to make your next move.
You don’t need a perfect plan. You need a repeatable choice you control.
What’s one thing in your reinvention you’ve been worrying about that’s outside your control? And what’s one thing you could control better starting today? Reply and tell me.