Getting Through Mid-Career Crisis

Mid–Life crisis is so widely known and researched.  But what about Mid-Career Crisis?

Both have similarities in the feeling of being stuck – of plateauing.  When either one occurs, it impacts your personal life as well as your career life.  This is a frustrating problem; it is commonly faced by millions and sneaks right into our mid-life journeys.  Normally this dissatisfaction occurs around the mid- ’40s, but not always so.  It can hit you like a truckload anywhere between 35 to 50 years.

Mid – Career crisis usually occurs when you have already put in a couple of decades in your career. You have reached a professional stage where you have earned experience, expertise and in some cases an enviable career.  At a time when you still have many years left to go in your career.

Why does this occur ? 

Mid-years is the time when a person has done a lot of work, created expertise in a certain area.  He then stops to take stock of his life and the journey he has travelled to date. And then hopes to get insights into the future –wanting to know where it is leading. 

This crisis could stem from past regrets of choices made, roads not taken or life which could have been. Or from other questions related to career choices, one’s passion, outcomes: all originating from some hard-existential questions.   Feeling of stagnation, of reaching a dead-end – plateauing, stuck in a rut, feeling of being hemmed in from all sides.

How would you determine what is wrong or what is missing ?

A mid – career crisis may feel like a crisis with no solution but remember there is always another side to the problem. Now would be the time to re-evaluate, raise awareness and dig deeper within to understand your wants and desires.  Re-connect to your personal values.

You can start by asking yourself some tough questions.  Go deep within yourself to understand where this crisis is originating from:

Are you forcing yourself to come to the office daily – feeling exhausted, frustrated, and irritated throughout the day?  You feel demotivated and question the purpose of your life.

You are doing many uninteresting things at work.  Your skill sets do not match.

Your organization, your manager, do not see your true potential – and you feel stagnated

Your Work-life balance is gone for a toss and you feel you are nearing burnout

You are happy doing something else – some other projects, some other work.

You are curbing your creative side, which makes you feel dissatisfied. Is personal satisfaction important to you?

Is the problem the type of work you do? or is it the culture of the organisation that you work in?

Does your work compliment your personal value or is there a clash?  Is this leading to your dissatisfaction?

Talk about this, seek help, do some research. Do everything that helps you understand what you want from life.

What can you do? How to Sail through ?

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.                                                                                                                                – John Pierpont Morgan

It has been proven time and again, that we humans are quite resilient, well most of us are!.  We learn to surf the change, one way or the other. We embrace new thoughts, new expectations, a new way of life.

Some of the things you can do to understand yourself better :

• Take a break:  take some days off to do what you like. Spend time rejuvenating your inner self. Mentally leave work behind. Spend time with your family. 
• Take up a hobby, do something new – something that you have never done before, something that you always wanted to do.
• Introspect: Reflect on your life till now – the failures and achievements.  What you did, how you did and why you did what you did. And then relax and reflect on the present crisis, understand the causes.  Identify the triggers.
• Write down your goals – write down what you want – write what you want to do – write down your retirement plans 😊   
• Get in touch with your Personal Values – Values are individual beliefs that motivates a person to act in one way or another.  They are a guide for your behaviour.  This deep inner work will provide you with foundation to create your most authentic and purposeful life.  And often will guide you in your decision making in all aspects of your life. For e.g. some of common values are Loyalty, Respect, Love, Compassion, Spirituality, Kindness, Integrity etc.  You need to find yours !

To remember: different people have different values – the same values in different people can elicit different behaviours.   

Doing these will raise your awareness.

You should also seek help: approach family, friends or find a mentor or a coach to help you pull yourself out of a career slump and assist you in finding a deeper meaning to what you do.  They can keep you honest and be accountable in your journey.

If your newfound answer is to stay put in your present career, start by:

• Finding meaning: Search for answers within yourself, what you are doing, why you are doing and how it is adding value. Take a hard look at your life and career.
• Is this career contributing to your growth and evolution – do you need to shift jobs in to get more autonomy or seek better cultural fit.
• Would you have to speak to your manager, your organisation, to set expectations. 
• How do you envisage the future panning out?  Is it aligned to your life, your expectations, and your growth?
• How would you reconnect with your work ?

If you find that your future lies elsewhere i.e. career change is the way to go, be ready to take hard decision.  Before taking any decision take stock about what all this will change, assess your losses, assess what risks you are willing to take and who all with this decision will affect. Would you require consensus from your immediate family?

Proceed with Caution : Mid-Career Change can be tough:  At mid-life, most of us are likely to have a family, children, mortgages, and other expenses to pay for, especially if you have young children and no second income to supplement.   These responsibilities are not something that you can park and revisit in the future. 

On a positive note, it is better to take a risk in the hope of future happiness than stagnate in misery.   It is after all your journey. 

What can you do ?

(In most circumstances you may need to continue full-time work while preparing for a new career.)

With all this information – compare.  Write down the pro & cons of the present career and the new one.  Decide what you are willing to trade -off and what are the must haves.  One gets a better perspective when the comparison is written down, in front of us.

Remember: Change is hard, even if you have prepared well for it.   All you need is a vision, determination, and resilience.

• Take time off from your current job to prepare for a new career
• Do a self-assessment: What you want to do and how you want to reach there and how long will it take. Take professional assessment test to help you understand your interests, aptitude, personality & values.  And draw a vision for yourself and break it down to a plan.
• Research about your newly chosen career.  The skills needed, the educational requirements, the opportunities available, the salary scales.  Gather as much information as possible.
• Plan: If you need to learn the craft or get a certificate, then educate yourself, do it while you keep your present job.  If you have money constraints then search the net, there is a whole lot of material available for free. Self-educate. If you can gain some work experience through a side hustle or working on a part time job – do that.  This process might take longer but remember your experience has made you wiser and if you do it right, it will be worthwhile.
• Leverage your past work experience.  Some skills would be transferable skills – brush it and highlight those in your job search.  Maybe you might not need a formal education.

The question is why wait for someone else to come and rescue you from your slump.  Raise your awareness and find your answers.  Speak up, speak about this, and seek help wherever required.

P.S.: Organisation are now conscious of the mid-career needs of their workers.  Research has shown that job satisfaction of the average employee deteriorates dramatically in midlife.  Mid-career crisis though has been a best-kept secret amongst professionals, is now coming out – as it impacts all of us.