By Kelly Harrington, CareerMaxGroup.com
Something happens to a lot of successful professionals mid-life: usually late 30s to early 50s. You have the success, you have the big paycheck and companies want to hire you. This is good news, especially in a struggling economy! Yet, you may have a nagging feeling that there is something ‘more’, better, or different that may help you leap out of bed in the morning, excited to get to ‘work.’
Chances are that you started out your career after getting a degree in college, during a time in your life when you’re not really sure about what makes you most happy and successful. Let’s face it, when you’re in your late teens and early 20s, you’re still gaining a lot of life experiences and don’t know all of the options out there. So, you do your best to choose a degree and career that is as close to the mark as possible.
If you were lucky, you got a job that you do well in and your career continues to grow via promotions, added responsibilities and a bigger paycheck. This all seems great for a while until you realize that there is this sinking feeling that we may not be ‘in love’ with our career. It feels like something is missing or falling short from expectations.
Yet changing careers in mid-life or later in life isn’t as easy as it sounds. You may be asking: “Where do I start?” “If I was to change careers, how do I keep the money coming in to sustain my lifestyle?” “How can I do something more fulfilling without having to ‘start over’?” I love these kinds of questions because they only come from people who care about having your most ideal career.
If you’re truly dedicated to having your most happy, successful, ideal career, you must know what you want and need before you start going out to research career and job options. This is the biggest mistake I see professionals making when trying to figure out ‘what’s next’ for them in their career: exploring jobs and career options without having their priority list in place.
So I want to share three secrets with you that will help you get on the road to total career fulfillment. These are three crucial pieces to the ideal career puzzle that will have you moving along in no time.
Secret #1:
After working with hundreds of successful professionals, I have come to learn that there is a ‘magic triangle’ of total career fulfillment. In other words, when this triangle is in balance and ‘in place’ people feel ‘in the zone.’
It’s actually pretty simple but we’re often not conscious of it. The ‘magic triangle’ includes:
- Career Success
- Career Happiness
- Prosperity / Wealth
- You can have a career without one or more of these areas but this is usually when you feel ‘off’ and seek out solutions and/or resources like the help of a career coach. I encouraged you take advantage of the many tools and resources out there so you can get your ‘magic triangle’ balanced and thriving.
Secret #2:
I find that my clients talk most about what’s working for them and, more often, what’s not working for them, in these five key areas:
1. What you need/want in a manager (and/or colleagues)
2. What you need/want in a work environment / corporate culture
3. What you need/want to do each day (e.g.: tasks and responsibilities)
4. Which skills and talents you need/want to utilize frequently
5. What you value
Within these five key areas, it is crucial to know what your absolute minimum requirements are and also what your bonus items are. Getting clear in these five key areas allows you to research and identify career options quickly and efficiently and helps you to speak to others with confidence and clarity so they can help you in your journey.
Trusting your gut is a good idea but it’s also crucial to know what’s really driving you. You can do some great introspection on these five areas on your own. One of the things I help professionals with is to get at the underlying drivers so we know what truly drives you at a deep level, beyond the surface levels answers.
Secret #3:
By now, you may be wondering how to put this all together and how to get from where you are now to where you want to be. Whether you’re currently employed or unemployed or running your own business, getting to that next phase (the something that’s more ideal) can often seem confusing or frustrating.
At a high level, the roadmap necessary to get to where you want to go falls into a three-phase methodology I created:
Phase 1: Discovery: Get clear about what you need and want to be happy and successful in your most ideal career experience.
Phase 2: Brainstorming Options: Start identifying the careers and jobs that would be a good match for your ideal career experience.
Phase 3: Planning: Now that you’ve narrowed it down, what steps are necessary to get from where you are to where you want to be?
Most people jump to phase 2 or 3 prematurely. You may be wondering: “Should I open a coffee shop?” Or, “Maybe I should go for VP.” “No, maybe I should get my MBA.” Or, “Maybe I should be a consultant.” And so on.
The reason this feels (and is) crazy is because you don’t know what you’re looking for… and what your absolute minimum requirements are to be happy and successful in your most ideal career. What if you could have your whole cake and eat it too? You might as well know what the cake would be like and go after it.
I wish I could promise you a linear, step-by-step path to the next phase of your most ideal career but that is not usually the case. You can (and should) have someone help you to gain insights and take the steps necessary to ‘do the work’ so you can have more passion and fulfillment in what you do each week. But the path is windy and has switchbacks. It’s okay! This is part of the process.
About the Author:
After a very successful HR career in well known technology and digital media companies, Career Expert, Kelly Harrington, went through her own introspective and personal growth process to determine her most ideal career. She now helps successful professionals to take steps to create their most happy, successful, prosperous and thriving career without having to throw away all of their amazing experience. You can learn more about Kelly and her career services at www.CareerMaxGroup.com.
