Motivation Articles

 

The Mid-Life Challenge: Make a Plan to Re-ignite Vocational Passion
By Craig Nathanson, The Vocational Coach (trademark)

Nobody will stop you in the hallway at work to ask if your career
provides meaning and personal fulfillment. Recognizing that
something's missing in your vocational life and taking the initiative
to change must come from within.

Serena Williamson found a way to turn her passion-- helping writers
hone their skills in order to get published-- into the catalyst for a
new, more fulfilling life. Serena now runs her own small publishing
house.

Software engineer Bonnie Vining needed a new career that would value
her warm personality, not suppress it. So she left the high-tech
world and opened Javalina's Coffee and Friends.

After Anita Flegg lost her engineering job, she embarked on a program
of self-improvement. The journey led to personal discoveries and her
calling: She provides information and support to those who, like her,
suffer from hypoglycemia.

I have found that many high achievers who lose enthusiasm for their
work share common traits:

-Their work has little connection to the things they really care
about. Work is a barrier rather than a path to fulfillment.

-While they may be doing something they're good at, it isn't
something they want to do. Unfulfilled professionals haven't taken
time to align their abilities with their interests.

-They have never made a long-term plan to guide them toward a more
fulfilling vocational life. They tend to set short-term goals, or set
no goals at all.

-As they reach mid-life and understand the need for meaning, they
turn to their current workplace as a source of what's missing. Most
organizations, though, are structurally incapable of providing
nourishment for the soul. So the mid-life employee's frustration
grows.

Mid-lifers like Serena, Bonnie, and Anita take stock of their lives
and careers. They develop a plan to re-ignite their energy and
enthusiasm for work. The process involves a number of steps, but the
common thread involves taking responsibility for making life changes.

Here's how:

-Identify what's most important to you, then develop and work a
plan to get there. The plan should involve short-term goals that lead
to a long-term objective. When Bonnie decided that engineering
management was no longer for her, she applied the discipline of the
corporate world to her new career: owning a gourmet coffee shop.
Bonnie learned everything she could about specialty coffees and how
to run a coffeehouse. She made good use of experts in the field. She
then moved quickly toward her goal of opening Javalina's Coffee and
Friends in Tucson, Ariz. The thorough approach increased her chance
of success.

-Make a list of your abilities and interests, and then see how they
match. You may be doing something you're good at, but don't enjoy.
Instead, find something you enjoy and then learn what it takes to get
good at it. Serena was fortunate that her vocational calling was
right under her nose. For years she helped friends and colleagues
improve their writing skills through informal coaching sessions. She
realized that the gift for teaching others how to transform ideas
into prose wasn't just a hobby. It was a vocational calling. Today,
she runs Book Coach Press, which has launched 13 book titles
(including my own "P is for Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day").

-Don't be afraid to move toward your goals. Many people understand
the need for change but are frozen in place. There's fear that we may
be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. When Anita lost her
engineering job, she avoided self-pity and instead grasped the
possibilities of her new freedom. She began a journey of self-
discovery that uncovered a long-undiagnosed illness, hypoglycemia and
with it a new calling. She soon wrote a book on hypoglycemia. Now,
she helps others understand and manage the disease. Anita turned what
could have been a series of unfortunate events into a new calling
that has brought vocational passion to her life.

Remember: No one will pull you aside at work, look you in the eye,
and ask if you're really happy with your career and your life. The
power to understand what's missing and do what's necessary to find it
is yours alone. Take responsibility for change, and change will
happen.

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Craig Nathanson is The Vocational Coach (trademark) and the author of the new
book, P Is For Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day by Bookcoach
Press and the publisher of the free Ezine, "Vocational passion in
mid-life." Craig believes the world works a little better when we do
the work we love. Craig Nathanson helps those in mid-life carry this
out! Visit his on-line community at http://www.thevocationalcoach.com

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