Sparky's Life
Sparky's Life
From Speed To Wisdom: How Older Tradies Thrive
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We talk frankly about getting older in the trades—how the body changes, how the mind adapts, and why experience beats hurry. We share practical steps to protect your health, set boundaries, use AI well, and shift from speed to mentoring without losing pride in the craft.
• body signals, recovery, hydration and stretching
• trading speed for judgment and planning
• valuing time and saying no to rubbish work
• heavier mental load across bills, family, health and future
• first steps into AI for systems, marketing and efficiency
• smarter workflows, site prep and better ladder systems
• real PPE lessons for knees and elbows
• identity shift from ego to mentor
• what never changes: pride, quality and care for apprentices
If you like what you hear on today’s show, make sure you share this podcast with your mates who are electricians or who are involved in the tradey world
I want to reach out and help as many tradies as I can with this podcast
If there is anything you’d like me to talk about on future episodes, maybe want to ask a question or be on the show, you can do this by contacting us on any of our media sites
And don’t forget to follow the show and leave a review
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https://www.electricianwauchope.com.au
Hello everyone, welcome back to my podcast show called Sparky's Life. If you're new here, I'm your host Grant Dilko, Sparky by Trade. And if you're a regular listener, welcome back to YouTube. Now, like a lot of you listening to this podcast at the moment, I've been doing this long enough to notice something's changed. Not overnight, not dramatically, just slowly. This episode is about getting older in the trades. It's about what changes and what doesn't. And what nobody really talks about. This isn't a whinge and it's not doom and gloom. It's just being honest. And if you ever thought I'm not as fast as I used to be, or my body doesn't bounce back like it used to, stick around. This week's episode is for you. So let's get the show started. First thing that changes is your body. Let's start with the obvious. Your body changes. You can still do the work, you can still work all day and all week, but you feel it more. By the end of the week, your body just feels tired. The week has just worn you out. Your knees get sore from kneeling down on the ground for too long, or from being up in the roof ceiling space, kneeling across those timber trusses. Your back hurts or it's tight from lifting too much weight around. And I'm not talking about your own body weight, just the weight of your tools and equipment. The long heavy fiberglass extension ladders, it certainly puts a strain on your back. Your shoulders certainly feel it, but they feel so tense from holding objects for long periods of time. To give you an example, holding up a ceiling fan or a light fixture, and your hands keep cramping up during the day or cramp up late at night. I find my feet and legs cramp up over night time. Especially if it's been a hot day and my water intake has been low. All these things that you've recovered from overnight now take a few days. You wake up stiff, you need to stretch more to get yourself going. You think twice before lifting something solo. And here's the key difference. When you were young, you tended to ignore pain. When you're older, you negotiate with it. And then you start realizing this body, my body, and your body is the tool that matters the most. When you're young in the trades, speed was and probably still is everything. You want to be fast at what you do or what you want to achieve, show that you're keen and ready to go. Be the first trade-e on site, and be that last tradeie to leave. But as you get older, something interesting happens. You slow down. But you get better at the same time. You don't need or feel the urge to rush anymore. You don't guess what needs to be done or second guess yourself. You don't cut the corners. You take your time to add the corners by doing everything to the right way. You see problems before they happen. You don't need to prove yourself to anyone. Experience replaces the need for speed. And honestly, being honest with yourself, your boss, and the customer. Most customers don't want fast, they just want it done right. So why not take the time to do just that? Your tolerance for nonsense, rubbish, and hogwash drops. This one sneaks up on you. As you get older in the trades, your tolerance for nonsense drops. Or your tolerance turns to non-tolerance entirely. You stop taking rubbish jobs on, those jobs that no one else wants to take on, and there are good and valid reasons why. You stop dealing with those disrespectful employers or customers. You stop arguing over every dollar. Some builders and customers don't value your worth, and they just want to push you down the drain pipe to the bottom of the barrel. You start to value your time. Some jobs are very time-consuming and not worth doing. You value your energy because if you let those jobs will just suck the r life right out of you. And you value your sanity. You don't want to be that trady mumbling in the corner or running around like a lunatic claiming the end is coming. You start saying no more often. Not because you're grumpy, but because you've learned what things cost you. Even if they don't cost you money. Another thing that changes is the mental load. You're not just thinking about the job anymore. You're thinking about your ongoing monthly bills, what it takes to keep the business going and growing. You're thinking about your family or your partner. Creating a balance with between your work, family time, and your own personal time for all your outside interests. You're thinking about your health, keeping fit and exercising more, maybe going to the gym or simply just exercising at home. You're wondering about the future. Should I start to learn about AI to help with the business and marketing? And how long can I keep doing this? Or how long I want to keep doing this for? You carry more and more responsibility every year. And that weight can be heavy. This is where a lot of tradies struggle, because we're taught to push through. But pushing through forever comes at a price. Getting back to the new technology of AI and what it can do for you, especially in your business, and in your outside interests, such as podcasting and making videos for your YouTube channel, just like what I'm doing now, I've started learning more about AI by doing an online webinar course produced by Google. When I learn more about AI and what it can do for me and you, the listeners, I'll dedicate a future show to talk about AI. To share the information, because there is a lot of hype around being AI certified, and there's a lot more to it than just using it as a Google search function. Hi there, I'm Grant Dilko. If this is your first time here at Sparky's Life, welcome. It's great to have you here. And if you're back here for more, welcome back and thank you for your loyalty and support. If you like what you hear on today's show, make sure you share this podcast with your mates who are electricians or who are involved in the tradey world. I want to reach out and help as many tradies as I can with this podcast. I want to help tradespeople break through to the next level in their career and in their lives. It means working smarter. You plan better. Plan ahead of time and keep abreast of all the AI useful tools that can keep your business thriving. You can organise your tools in a better way or a better system to manage them. You can prepare your jobs properly by checking the scope of works ahead of time and maybe doing a proper pre-work site visit a few days before. You protect your body using better ladders and using better ladder systems on your work vehicles. I know because I use the Rhino rack ladder system on our work vehicles. It makes it so much easier to get the ladders on and off your vehicles. No more struggling with them and hurting yourself. I find that they just glide on and glide off with a little effort now. Invest in better PPE equipment. Keep you and your workers safe at all times. And choose better working habits. Employ others to do the heavy lifting for you. Employ the young tradies to get into that roof space or to climb under those buildings. You stop lifting your ego and start lifting only what you need to. That's not a weakness. That is so much wisp wisdom and more. I just want to add my experiences with PPE and what I have perfected over time. For a long time now, I've been wearing knee pads and elbow pads. At the start of my career, I never used to wear these protective items. But I found being in the roof cavity all the time, my knees were getting sore for kneeling on the timber-framed roof trusses, and sometimes they were um kneeling on steel frames. My knees would get hardwood timber splinters in them. And my knee and my knees would also get bruised and scratched up from the steel frames. I remember one time I had a sore on my left knee that wouldn't heal properly. And one morning I was getting ready for work, I was putting my socks on, and I saw this tiny little wood splinter sticking out of my knee. This may sound a bit gross, but I grabbed a pair of tweezers to pull it out. And I was amazed when I was pulling it out how long it was. The length of this splinter was between 10 millimeters to 13 millimeters long, which is 13 centimeters. When I got it out, the pain instantly disappeared. It felt so good and it healed up nicely. My elbows are now thanking me also for wearing elbow pads. Sometimes I have to rest my elbows on the timber trusses or steel frames in the ceiling space, and my elbow pads have saved my elbows from all those injuries. Identity and letting go of ego. Here's the part nobody wants to talk about. When you've been a tradee a long time, your work becomes part of your identity. So when your body slows down, it can mess with your head a little bit. You're not the young gun anymore. You're not the fastest on site, but you're the one people ask for advice. You're the calm one, the problem solver, the steady hand. Letting go of ego is one of the hardest transitions. But it's also a sense of freedom. For me personally, it's been great stepping back and being off the tools. Being a mentor in a supervisory role has changed my outlook on work. It has cleared my mind and my anger issues. Trying to do everything just doesn't work. It started affecting you mentally, and it affects the people around you. You get your life back, and you get your work, life, and balance just right. What doesn't change? Let's be clear. Some things will never change. Pride in your work still matters. Doing the job properly still matters. Looking after your apprentices still matters. And the satisfaction of fixing something with your own hands that will never go away. You just appreciate it differently. If you're getting older in the trades, remember these things. You're not too old, you're not past it, you're not finished, you're just evolving. Listen to your own body. Respect your experience and don't measure yourself by the same yardstick that you used to when you're twenty five. You've earned the right to work smarter. So catch you next time on Sparky Life. So I'll end the show there. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. So before I go, I'll show I'll share this little story with you. I was on the job the other day and a young trade said to me, How long have you been doing this for? I said long enough to know better. He laughed and said, I hope I'm still doing this when I'm your age. And I said me too. Just maybe not on ladders this tall. Then I added When I was young I lifted everything myself. Now I lift with my brain. And now I let the apprentice lift the rest. So that's all for now folks, but before I go, if there is anything you'd like me to talk about on future episodes, maybe want to ask a question or be on the show, you can do this by contacting us on any of our media sites. I'll put the links to these in the show notes. And don't forget to follow the show and leave a review. Thanks for listening to Sparky's Live. I'm your host Grant Dorco. Keep safe and catch you on the next one.
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