My desire is for you to love your work because I know what it’s like not to. There was a time when I loathed Mondays. I spent years thinking that my good pay and relative job security would make up for the fact that I was unhappy at work. It didn’t. In the end all I achieved was depression and ill health. I now love helping 40+ men and women manage a successful midlife career change. Trust me, it can be done!
I had to completely change my work and give up a few beliefs before I could enjoy success in a way that makes me happy.
Tip 1) Make the commitment to change things for the better TODAY!
Ignoring your feelings won’t make them go away, they will get worse.
Where to start?
Take some control back, and that means taking action. Taking any of the following steps will give you a sense of moving forward. No matter how hopeless you feel right now, I promise you that things will get better if you really want them to.
If you need to take some time out of your current employment, then do it. If you’re not being productive they won’t want you there anyway so don’t be afraid to visit your GP and ask to get signed off for a few weeks, preferably a month. That will give you some breathing space and as long as you use that time constructively, you’ll be all the better for it.
Having a job provides you with options, so do your best to hang on to it. Sometimes great lessons come from effectively tackling what isn’t going well in your current work. The confidence you will gain from doing so will put you in better stead than if you leave under a cloud.
If you do nothing else after reading this blog, do this one thing:
Decide that your number one mission in life for the next few weeks is to do whatever it takes to make the positive changes in your life that you are crying out for.
Write down your commitment and keep it somewhere safe where you can refer to it again and again. When you have achieved your commitment, you will thank yourself for it.
Here’s an example of what you might like to write:
I………………………….(write you name), commit to doing whatever it takes to discover what my ideal work is, and following it through until I feel inspired and motivated to go to work each day.
Tip 2) Want different results? Approach your career change differently
Many people tackle a career change in the same way they do when going for a new job. They tend to do one or all of the following:
Identify their skills
Understand which of them are transferrable (online programmes and the Job Centre will help you do that)
Apply for jobs based on these skills
Re-work their CV using the same format as before but highlighting the skills just identified
If you have tried this route, you’ll realise there’s a bit more to it than first meets the eye. The challenge with this approach is that you’ve not changed the mindset, or the beliefs that 
you hold about yourself. You may also realise that identifying those skills, or working out what a job advert is really asking for are not as easy as they may at first appear. Even if you are successful with this approach you may find it doesn’t change things much in the long run.
“In order to get different results in your career, you need to approach your career change in a different way.” Sandra Swan
This is where Tip 3 comes in.
Tip 3) Invest in professional support
During your 20’s and 30’s you’re stil
l getting to know yourself including what works for you and what doesn’t. By your 40’s you’ve got a much better understanding of what doesn’t work for you, but you may still be clueless about what does!
That can feel really challenging. This is where a professional career coach can help you. Among other things they will help you achieve clarity. Having a sense of clarity and purpose at midlife is very powerful. Once you’ve achieved this, you will find it much easier to attract your ideal work.
Notice I said attract ideal work, not get ideal work. The majority of my clients attract their ideal work to them. They haven’t had to write a CV or go through endless job applications. There is another way!
Tip 4) Be careful who you tell
This was one of the best pieces of advice I was given when I was thinking about changing my career 14 years ago. I’m a very open person so it felt a little odd not to be telling some family members about my pending career shift. That said, sharing this information would have invited their fears and concerns into the picture, which was already crowded with my own.
If you found yourself following your parents’ dream job and you
realise 20 years later that you can’t see yourself staying in your profession for much longer, you might feel disloyal or even guilty about changing it. The last thing you need is their disapproval at this point.
You have to remember that whatever anyone else wants for your life, however well meaning they are, it’s YOUR life. They are not you and they do not know what it’s like to be you.
Tip 5) Surround yourself with positivity
Our brains are designed to seek out things that back up our beliefs. If you believe you’re stuck at work and there’s no way out, or that changing career at midlife is going to be really hard, you will subconsciously find things that back up that belief.
Train your brain to look for positive messages instead. My way of doing that is to listen to audiobooks that keep me buoyant. Here are some other suggestions that may work better for you:
Think about all your senses including visual expressions of what you want, maybe in the form of a vision board.
Think about how you physically feel. A low mood tends to exacerbate any pre-existing physical condition, and stress can create new ones. Find ways to support and nourish your body. Drowning it in a bottle of Pino Grigiot every evening might make you feel better at the time, but it won’t support you in the long run.
Think about the words you are using regularly. One of the easiest ways to create a positive word in your life is to change your passwords. You use them so often, it’s a great way re-programme your brain without even trying.
I had one client who changed her password to getaninterview. Within four weeks she had done just that, and got the job!!
Read positive stories about people who inspire you. You may like to check out my case studies to see if any of those give you hope. My clients are just like you, ordinary people whose hopes and dreams got lost along the way. Many of them had similar thoughts to those you are thinking now. They too wondered if it was possible. Many of them worried and fretted and got themselves tied up in knots. Most of them didn’t know where to start which is why they sought my help.
My clients have, without exception, achieved a greater degree of clarity and the keys to unlocking their future.
We each have the power within us to change our lives for the better. Including you.
If you’d welcome some clarity about your career situation, please contact me to arrange a free, no obligation chat. I look forward to hearing from you.