Five unconventional approaches to shortcut your mid-career funk.
Hi!
I’m yet to meet a knowledge worker who hasn’t experienced a mid-career crisis in their 40s.
If you’re feeling uncertain and directionless these days, you are not alone. Even the most successful and talented people get stuck.
Take it from Jeff Bezos, Madonna, Ariana Huffington, Richard Branson, Marc Benioff, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Aniston, Sting, Martha Stewart, J.K. Rowling, and Paulo Coehlo. They all fell into the “question everything hole” in their 40s.
The question is not how to avoid the mid-career crisis but how to get through it faster.
While there’s no cookie-cutter solution, some approaches are definitely more effective than others — and they might not be what you’d expect to hear.
Today I’ll share five uncommon approaches to help speed your way out of the mid-career blues.
Let’s dive in!
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And now, our main dish…
A contracted state of mind is a highway to hell.
Too much self-examination can lead to self-centeredness.
It's that feeling of being trapped inside our heads, trying to understand why our hearts and minds don't align and how we can fix it. Can you relate to this inner monologue?
"I can't stand this hamster wheel for another 20 years, but what else can I do? Should I keep my job and get paid or pursue my dreams? But what are my dreams? I used to be passionate about something, but now I don't even know what I'm good at anymore. Is this what adulthood is like? I can't give up my lifestyle, but I'm miserable... blah, blah, blah..."
A contracted state of mind triggers the "fight, flight, or hide" response, leading to a scarcity mindset. We become reactive, protective, and narrow-minded, caught up in an urgency frenzy that compels us to take corrective action.
But beware of mistaking activity for progress.
Here are five common actions that will keep you stuck:
1️⃣ Urgently scouring job postings online without a clear idea of what you're looking for.
2️⃣ Endlessly tweaking your resume and elevator pitch, hoping to reinvent your identity.
3️⃣ Fantasizing about radical career changes (a.k.a., Shiny Escapist Object Syndrome).
4️⃣ Developing an obsession with personality assessments.
5️⃣ Collecting advice from countless experts, gurus, and bloggers.
These approaches are what I’d call “getting busy with procrastination.” In truth, they are an attempt to bury our heads in the sand, hoping for all of this to go away.
An expansive state of mind is a stairway to heaven.
As the saying goes, “the secret to good living is growing and giving.”
An expansive state of mind is that buzzy feeling you get in your chest whenever you tap into positive emotions like generosity, learning, creating, gratitude, and love.
Five approaches to getting into an expansive mindset:
1) Reach out to old connections from 10+ years ago.
Rekindling an old connection is like dusting off a book that’s been sitting on your shelf and realizing how amazing it is. Eighty percent of my career opportunities came from old friends, classmates, work colleagues, and vendors.
They already remember who you are — often more fondly than you think.
They move in different circles from yours and can open new doors.
They’ve had unique experiences and challenges that shaped their views.
They will be pleasantly surprised and curious to hear from you.
They’ll gladly make time for you. It’s a break from their usual routine.
2) Enroll in a course and learn a new skill.
Personal growth fuels exponential results. More so if done with others.
Taking a class, picking up a new hobby, and meeting people with different perspectives and similar interests, have a lasting effect because they create a new context for you.
In February of 2022, I invested $4,000 in a coach training program. Two weeks later, I landed my first paying client and recovered my investment.
3) Reframe the purpose of your existing career (value proposition).
You don’t need to go to the extreme of switching careers, returning to grad school, or moving to Belize to open a yoga camp. Getting back your mojo may be closer than you think.
Before throwing the baby out with the bathwater, consider many other levers you can pull to give yourself a career makeover. For example
Expand your scope (e.g., gain new skills, offer unique expertise, raise your hand to lead a project outside your comfort zone )
Narrow your scope/niche down (e.g., stop working on certain projects, find a specific business need only you can fill ...)
Redefine your "client" (e.g., are you better at working with individuals, teams, divisions, organizations, or the industry?)
4) Share your knowledge and experiences
Here's the secret to making opportunities find you.
Every day, help someone get closer to something they want without expecting anything in return.
This flips you into a mindset of abundance, generosity, and purpose and activates your "zone of genius."
Applying this mindset showed me the path to reinvent my career. I began writing posts on LinkedIn about my career crisis. In a matter of days, I started receiving connection requests from other people wrestling with the same challenges. In a matter of weeks, I landed two coaching clients.
5) Learn from people who are on the same journey.
The biggest mistake seasoned professionals make is going through this crisis alone.
This is because they fear being found out. They don’t want it to show like a blemish on their personal brand. Like ducks, they appear to be gliding calmly and smoothly while kicking their feet frantically under the water.
In the summer of 2022, I started running out of ideas for my LinkedIn posts. I read several books that didn’t address my most pressing questions. So, I joined a 30-day online writing challenge where I plugged into a vast community of aspiring content creators eager to help and share their tools and methods.
Join a cohort program, coaching, or networking circle. Anything. Not only you’ll expand your horizons, but you’ll also stop laying all your baggage on your spouse.
There, you have it.
TL/DR
The quickest way to get out of a mid-career crisis is not to ponder but to follow the signals the universe sends you.
Get on an expansive state of mind.
It’s only when you take several steps forward and then look back at your entire trajectory that the big picture becomes clear.
That’s it!
As always, thanks for reading.
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And finally, if you are stuck in a mid-career crisis and are ready to start walking out of the fog, ask me about my 1:1 signature career transformation program.