The 3 Benefits of Age & Wisdom For Your Career

We live in a culture that has very little respect for age. Bombarded as we are with images of nubile nymphs, it is really easy to forget that time, self knowledge and experience bring great information to our career development.
Once we get into our 30s and 40s however, we begin to really make some informed decisions about what we want and what we do not!
Often it’s only when we have walked in the shoes of an industry sector or role that we can decide that we do not like it. If you’re anything like me then you might have walked in quite a few (!) different roles and sectors and your career might be beginning to feel more like a process of elimination as the list of possibilities seemingly diminishes…..
Interestingly enough, this is all good information. As we get to know ourselves and really identify what motivates us, we can jettison that which does not. Having experienced a variety of roles and work contexts, we can eliminate those that do not suit us and we learn that our skills are truly transferable. Whilst we may feel that we have lurched from one job extreme to another, we may feel we have lost sight of the end-game and wonder what we wanted to do in the beginning. When what we have actually learned is that if a choice or change doesn’t work out, we can survive it and make good. This builds real resilience in us.
The people who tend to find it most difficult to choose their career are bright and capable individuals who can turn their hands to pretty much anything…… Thus it is challenging to identify where they really want to focus….. So, when we feel the pull to find authentic, purposeful work that gives us joy, all the years that preceded that moment have in actual fact been building up to this very moment.
When we begin to look inside to explore what we want, the territory can feel unstable. When we locate (or name!) the tiny tendrils of our true wishes, we can feel vulnerable and frightened that if we try and fail (again), what is there left? And who are we to actually make a living from doing something we love anyway? Does this feel arrogant!  This is where our age, experience and indeed maturity begins to serve us.  
We can challenge that ‘ Arrogant’ thought that could hold us stuck by evidencing all we have been capable of in the past. Might you have earned the chance to earn a living something you really value?We can counter the fear of failure by evidencing that not only have we survived past failures, but that some of these ‘disasters’ might even have led to unexpected and better places. Might this Help to counter fear-based procrastination? And as for that very vulnerable feeling that arises when we begin to consider doing some work that is really true to us? Well we have the past again to visit in order to locate where the situations that have frightened us most, have become the most rewarding. Through trial and error might you have refined the things that matter to you so that you can jettison those that don’t?
It is a real risk to do the thing you most care about, but when it works, the rewards are extraordinary. And someone with a little more maturity is much the best placed to embark on a new valuable venture because if all the experience, strength and history they bring.
To learn more of career coaching with Rebecca please explore Here.

Or to subscribe to Blog please insert your email Here.