After you hit the barrier of forties, making the next steps in your career can be anxiety-provoking. Especially if you were chosen from a pool of talented professionals in your late twenties or early thirties.
As a young promise in a world full of challenges, you did your part. You showed potential, drive, and determination, following every step in the book and subscribing to the company’s plans for you. It’s very flattering to be validated! And ever since, your career was a seamless journey upwards.
However, your forties come with the realization that you may have been a reliable passenger on someone else’s trip.
Like someone coming out of a long dream, you grasp the subtle shift — accomplishments don’t seem to work their magic like they did before. It felt great to be picked, but slowly you understand that the old strategy of trusting to be seen and waiting to be selected is a losing game. The ones who had chosen you also have the power to unchoose you.
Is the rampart too high? No worries — you got this.
Hitting a wall doesn’t mean you’ve reached the end of the path. There’s an old technology invented thousands of years ago to get across it: it’s called a door.
The secret to reaching the other side is to find it — to do so, you must stop looking for answers elsewhere and glance closely at the wall first.
Now, you have the talent, the determination, the competence, and the experience — everything you need. Your attitude is everything. Don’t wait until the shadow of becoming professionally sidelined reaches you.
Pursuing your career means to accept your position and rearm your strategy. Look at the context from a different perspective, build your confidence, and actively reach out to others.
Set a course of action, take the reins of your development, and be ready to build ahead. Here are the first steps you can take:
- Network – from passive to active! – Pick up the phone and reach out. Make that cold call to that person in the company and let them know you are there and what you want. Send that email. Reconnect to your old boss — Show up to the world!
- Show your worth – Highlight your achievements in action. Do it without arrogance, but hold your own truth. Make others interested in your potential.
- Take off the invisibility cape – The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible. Take your place in the window shop. If you are not ready to sell what you offer, why do you expect others to buy it?
- Avoid the rejection’s avoidance attitude – Stop dodging the bullet and shying away from rejection before the world has the chance to do it. Ignoring yourself will not help you become an option.
Be bold. You can achieve this next step. Remember, you didn’t come this far, to only come this far!
