4 awful pieces of career advice in your 40s or 50s (and what to do instead)
What happens when you grumble about your job at home or to colleagues?
My guess is based on 3500 interviews, all with executives during the last ten years of my head-hunting career.
I guess you hear lots of unprompted career advice - that is either totally irrelevant to your situation, or so annoying that you scream with frustration. After a while, most of us decide to just shut up about it.
Bad days at work are not uncommon
We’ve all had days where we’d prefer to be somewhere else…anywhere else!
But a mid-career rut is a whole different thing.
It invades areas of life outside work, including relationships with partners, children and friends.
It can affect your physcial health, and of course, your mental health.
Lots of people will offer advice on your sticky work problem.
Should you listen?
Here are a few of the most common pieces of advice on offer and my opinion on their value to you
1. “Stick it out…don’t risk losing it all…it’s bound to get better”
I don’t know where to start with this one.
We’re not just talking about a few bad days at work.
We’re not just taking about occasional Sunday night blues.
When I use the term career rut, what am I referring to?
The persistent, recurring ‘don’t know how long I can keep going through the motions’ feelings that have also started to impact your life outside work.
Family members are noticing you’re not your usual self.
You’ve stopped talking about work at home.
You can’t appear to find anything positive to say about work…or the people at work.
You’re likely to be spending a great deal of time doing online research on new jobs. Yet. somehow they don’t look at all different to your current job.
Same job…different faces…is definitely not your aim.
2. “Better the devil you know”
This security-centred advice is offered by fear-filled people. They are unlikely to have understood your situation fully or are willing to take the time to attempt to.
They might perceive you as somehow “fortunate” or “lucky” and may display surprise that you are not happy with your lot in life.
Perhaps they come from a background where a stable job was the goal in life?
Perhaps they’re a relative who is worried about your joint/family future?
Perhaps they’re simply the type of individual who views change as WAY TOO RISKY, and would rather not let that devil into their house?
Or maybe, they simply have lower expectations on work-life satisfaction than you?
SUGGESTION: Want to assess your work-life-satisfaction? Try out Derailed! A mini-diagnostic programme, with 100 questions that shows you your starting point in 30mins. HERE
3. “Forget about it, come and have a drink”
Also called “Purple Elephant syndrome”.
Temporarily forgetting something that is playing on your mind, is extremely valuable…in the short term.
Sooner or later, it comes back to haunt you.
A few months, or even a year of career rut avoidance could offer you time. To research options closer to home, in your current company, or with competitors.
Perhaps you even moved companies during the avoidance period? But after the initial optimism, you realise that the old feelings have returned? Changing company changed neither your career, nor your future.
The dissatisfaction, the lack of challenge, the boredom, the stress and/or the sameness of it all won’t go away.
Avoidance and distraction simply prolong the agony of your deep need to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE PROBLEM.
4. “Just resign and take some time to figure it out”
If you have an endless pot of gold, no responsibilities, and are optimistic that you can work it out by yourself, proceed at speed to your personal yacht.
If not, don’t consider this piece of advice for more than a few day-dreamy hours.
Don’t resign without a plan. Resign with a GREAT plan.
Understand in great detail what you have to offer the world. I call this Discovering your Superpowers and it’s the very first step of The Personalised Redesign programme.
Figure out which superproblems there are in your field. Work out how your superpowers could solve them.
And learn how to package this up in ways to allow you to get paid well.
Investigate avenues to transform your career…without rocking the rest of your world.
Plan the perfect time to make it happen...and then resign, with a great plan in hand!
Can I help you?
I specialise in helping midlifers design more satisfaction into their careers and stop wasting their precious time doing work that doesn’t make them happy. Here are the two active career design programmes I offer.
The Fierce Emporium - DIY with Group Support
The Personalised Redesign - You and me. Designing your future. As fast as you wish.
While you’re in the mood for action….
Book in to talk to me about your situation for 30 minutes.
See if I’m the right person to help you design work that you could enjoy for as long as you want to work. Book in here.
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