It’s too late. [Really?]

I often speak to lovely people who say: I would love to study and enter a different field but it’s too late.

hmmmm. I’m not always convinced. And this is why:

Maths

The main concern in retraining mid-career tends to be that the process will demand too great an investment of time, given how little of a working life remains.

Now maths is definitely not a strength of mine but it’s relevant here. So let’s see how this goes.

Just say that the person saying this is 40 years old. She plans to work until she’s at least 65 – another 25 years. If the training she wants to do is 3 years long, the investment is 12% of the rest of her working life, which means 88% of that remainder will be rich and brilliant and satisfying. The alternative is to keep doing something that makes her entirely miserable for 100% of her remaining career.

I always wonder, too: what if she had to work for another 400 years? Would the investment be worth it then? What about another 200 years? Or 100? At what arbitrary point would the outlay not deliver?

Values

Another big concern that clients raise, is the prospect of having to start from the bottom again. Again, I’m not persuaded.

Working from the bottom in a field that is incredibly inspiring and life-enhancing vs staying in the middle/top of a field that is happiness-draining and life-denying.

What can be helpful here is not maths [phew!] but values: if you value status over fulfilment or joy then staying where you are might be a good option. But if satisfaction trumps money and title then a shift might be just your thing.

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Most people avoid a complete mid-career shift, so a radical-retrain can seem risky and foolish. It can be worthwhile considering the decision through a different lens – the view might deliver an alternative [and perhaps more satisfying] answer altogether.

Tags: life-coaching, Melbourne, women