Since I’m interviewing again, I found that as I got older, I’ll answer a question in STAR format and notice 2 things:
1. I often forget what I was talking about mid-sentence and find myself digressing.
2. I often feel pressure to be eloquent with word choice, and I can see my brain going haywire trying to sort an array of adjectives in my head to find the right words… but the end result is a bunch of confused faces. In other words, I think people think I’m BS’ing, and in a way, I am.
As you age, do you find it harder to decode thoughts -> encode in brain -> decode using speech? Is this something I should get checked out?
Now, I am, I guess one of those old timers. But, I am pretty lucky to work with a lot great people and I try to remember that experience of mine and relate to some of the younger people that are a little quicker than me on some things. I feel that, I provide a lot of value still, and, I get feedback from a lot of younger people that helps confirm that for me.
I would advise, to try to convey your wisdom, don't try to mimic being young, be you, slower, but wiser perhaps. You have valuable experience, offer that for what it is worth and do not worry if you cannot find the perfect word or phrase, just share your knowledge, wisdom and experience.