“I’ve Had A Good Career, But I’m Not Sure If I Love It Anymore.”
When I speak to my community and clients, I’ve been noticing so many long term career professionals feeling this lately.
It can be natural to question if the career path you’ve been on for many years is still the path you want to be on.
In fact, it’s necessary to take a pause to ask ourselves this question.
It helps us to evaluate how our work could be evolving.
Where we can summon newfound creativity to reinvent our careers.
And envision new opportunities we may be better suited to be of service to the world.
See It As An Expansion Of Your Body Of Work
When I work with clients who have hit a “wall” with their careers, I use it as an opportunity to gain insights about what could be in a new chapter for their body of work.
Questions like:
What do I know now that’s different from when I started my career years ago? What’s changed in how I see my experience in the work I do?
What frustrates me about my industry? What am I seeing that needs innovation and a more evolved perspective in how we do things?
How has my approach to my work changed? Is there an opportunity to reinvent the way things are done in my line of work?
What mastery and skills have I gained that others really value me for? What are the ways I’ve grown that I want to bring forth to the future?
What other topics and deep interests have I been drawn to lately that my skills could serve? How could I imagine using my skills towards solving other problems I’m passionate about?
Your Work Is Evolving, Just As You Are
It’s important to see that you don’t have to throw away your years of experience and skills.
Instead, see it as an expansion of your body of work.
When you can reimagine how your skills can serve a different purpose or how you can creatively design a new focus of work from the experience you’ve had, it can instigate inspiration for emerging great work you want to do.
We are constantly evolving as human beings.
We can expect our work and career to do the same.
What would happen if you were to see this “hitting a wall” phase in your career as an opportunity to discover a fresh way to do work differently?
Whether you’re repurposing your skills towards a different niche or starting a business based on new passions, I hope you know it’s not all or nothing.
You can honour the great history of what your work has given to you, AND use what you’ve learned to create path for a new chapter of work.