Your earning potential pretty much tops out at age 40. This is because your skills become increasingly valuable until you accrue fifteen years' experience, at which point you've hit a peak. According to statisticians, in all fields except law and healthcare, people are not paid more money for experience beyond fifteen years.

This means that to remain relevant and continue to increase your value, you are going to have to learn skills outside of your field. Here are a few skills you should pick up to increase your earning power and stay relevant.

Social media infiltrates everything, in the same way that email became essential 10 years ago. Ninety percent of messages today are sent via social media, and only ten percent via email. Therefore, we are already at that tipping point where you need to learn social media or risk becoming obsolete. People who are exceptional with social media can build a community around themselves in order to get jobs, promotions, and do good work for their company. 

Today you are in a knowledge market, where knowledge workers trade on their ability to synthesize information faster and in more collaborative ways - or faster and in ways that are so innovative that their ideas stand out above the rest. Information processing requires a clear understanding of one's priorities, and a voracious curiosity.

If you try to build a community without having a clear sense of who you are, people will not feel connected to you. Each person you meet needs to have a clear understanding of your place in the industry. In a world in which people Google you before they meet you, it's important to show a good face on the front page of those search results.

Of course, this means it's important to have updated LinkedIn and Facebook profiles and, if you are full of ideas, you should have a blog as well. But what you really need to master is a sense of who you are - what you are good at and where you are going. It can change, it always does, but you must have your own elevator pitch. If you don't understand who you are and what you do, then no one else can either.

One of the most difficult aspects of this rapid information flow age is how quickly skills and knowledge become obsolete. If you are constantly committed to learning, you are less likely to become obsolete (and therefore, unemployable). The faster you can adapt and recognize shifts in markets, the better off you'll be.

You need to be updated on all new Tech trends and learn all that you can. Learn to be curious.

Keep a close eye on key trends and challenges facing your industry and how they can impact your career. 

Adaptability is the only way. Go with the flow and learn that nothing is constant anymore. Embrace change. 

It is not only about your job. To be able to deliver on a professional basis, you need to have a balanced personal life as well. Exercise, sleep well, enjoy time with family and friends, travel, find a hobby.

In general, it's not about how old you are but how open you are to new ways of communicating. Aim to be open, widely networked, and adaptable to new ways of thinking. And, with that attitude, you should ask yourself routinely, "what generation am I?”