Tag Archives: Career & Jobs

Should You Make a Mid Life Career Change? Pros and Cons of a Midlife Career Change

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Making a career change is difficult at any time, but making a mid life career change can be particularly challenging. The thought of going out into the workplace and starting all over again can be frightening. Yet many people decide that they do want to make a career change mid life and in some ways it is the ideal time for a career move. So what are the pros and cons of mid life career change?

Pros

1. You have more life experience than you did in your teens and twenties.
This means that you will have gathered a great many new skills, developed existing ones and had experience of the world of work.

2. You have more time now to think about what you want. If you have been looking after children full time, or working part time while the kids were growing up, mid life can be a good time to consider a change. Once your children are old enough to look after themselves or have left home for college, you’ll have a lot more time on your hands. This can be the perfect opportunity to choose a new direction, by following a long held dream or setting up a small business.

3. You may have fewer financial pressures than when you were first starting out, especially if the mortgage has been paid and the kids’ college funds secured.

4. As a result of having worked for some time, you’ll be a lot clearer about what you are good at and what you enjoy doing.

Cons

1. You may need to retrain and this can be time consuming and costly. Although you may be more financially secure, you may not have enough spare cash for a lengthy course.

2. It may be so long since you last studied that you are afraid you won’t be able to keep up with younger students or get your IT skills up to scratch.

3. You might not get support from friends, your partner and other family members.

4. If you haven’t had to find a job for a long time, you might not be up to date with jobsearch techniques.

5. Some employers, despite legislation, still prefer to employ younger workers.

Career change is a big decision and one that you have to make for yourself. So it is a question of balancing the pros and cons and working out what is best for you. You might be able to find your way around some of the obstacles, for example by training or studying part time or online, or gaining some extra skills in your present job and saving towards any courses you will need to do in future.

It is important to follow your heart. If you are happy, those around you will be happier too, even if they have initial misgivings.

Career Goals & Projects

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In order to be happy and have true purpose your goals should be aligned with your deepest principles and values and with your most genuine dreams and desires.

Meta Goals or Highest Level Goals Meta goals or our highest level goals usually express large, abstract ideas, like Health, Contribution, Love, Ecstasy, Pleasure, Security, Self expression, Prosperity, Satisfaction.

These goals are what motivate us in all aspects of our life.

Some Meta Goals:

o We want to look good.

o We want to feel good.

o We want to be right in all that we do.

o We want to feel safe.

o We want to avoid pain.

Being consciously aware of our meta goals or higher level goals and the role that they play in our lives is very important. We must realize that we can create our own meta goals. Working with our own meta goals will give us a unique purpose in life which is larger than self-fulfillment.

Goals and Projects – Choosing the Right Career

Your goals must be set by you, Your goals should not be things you think you want or things that please your parents or partners. Look at your meta goals when setting your career goals.

I want my career to make me:

o Feel good.

o I want to be professional and do things right in my career.

o I want to feel really satisfied at the end of each day.

o I want to progress up the career ladder and have high earnings potential.

o I want my career to enable me to provide for my family.

o I want my career to be in balance with my life in order to have a good work/life balance.

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Please fill in your own meta goals and truly honour them.

Setting Your Career Goals

o In my career I want to actively enjoy my work at least 3 days a week.

This goal will honour the meta goal of contribution, satisfaction, self expression, and pleasure. On the other days at work I do not mind that I am not enjoying myself because for 3 days of the week I am honouring my meta goals and I feel happy and fulfilled.

Your Goal Must Be Specific

Goals are an intention not a prediction. Goals focus your energy and direct your attention towards things you desire to accomplish.

o My career goal is to find an enjoyable, rewarding career.

o I have 2 months to find an enjoyable, rewarding career.

Managing Your Career Goal List

o Draw up monthly, weekly and daily goals that move you closer to attaining your new career.

Example:

Apply for 1 new job every week.

Improve my CV.

Carry out research on the company I am applying to.

Prepare for my interview.

o Revise your list continuously and take out goals that you have decided not to aim for.

o Mark the goals that you have completed.

This process is most effective if done every day.

Set Goals That Are Going To Stretch You

If you want reasonable success and satisfaction create reasonable goals. If you want more than this then you will have to stretch yourself and have extraordinary goals.

o How far are you willing to stretch?

o How extraordinary are you willing to be?

Brainstorm

o How can I stretch myself and make extraordinary things happen?

You could look for a mentor, somebody who is doing what you want to do.

o Talk to them.

o Model what they are doing.

o You could employ a career coach.

Find a way to shift your goal from impossible to possible.

Do Not Set Unrealistic Goals

Set your goals based on what you are willing to make happen. This will be difficult and challenging at times but embrace the challenges you face along the way, move forwards and upwards.