rockclimberI know an awful lot of talented, hard-working people talking about or rehearsing for the process of reinventing their professional selves. This is the silent epidemic taking place in people over 40 that doesn’t garner the same level of attention as our anticipated flu epidemics.

The economy has a lot to do with the upsurge in reinvention motivation.  People that have been impacted or watched others impacted by layoffs and closings are feeling pressure to either “get prepared” or to do whatever it takes to avoid a similar fate.

There must be something more.

A good number of people that I’ve spoken with readily indicate that the lack of job security is one part of their motivation to strike out on in new areas.  The other part stems from having worked half of their useful careers (or more) for a paycheck without finding any particular sense of accomplishment or reward.  These individuals believe that they’ve worked hard over their careers and earned their keep, but have reached a point where they feel like they are just marking time on a calendar of unknown duration.

While many proclaim the interest in reinventing their professional lives, just like those that say that they want to write a book, few will actually pull it off.  The fantasy is nice, but the physical act of getting started and then finishing seems so incomprehensible and overwhelming that people nurture the fantasy with little real intent to follow through.

This is darned hard work:

I’m a chronic personal reinventor and let me tell you, this is darned hard work.  I’ve been at it for three years solid and I’m still a work in process.  On one hand, the road in front of me still looks daunting and on the other hand, the road behind is filled with many of the experiences (including writing a book, speaking, coaching, training and teaching) that I’ve aspired to my entire life. It’s not in my nature to focus on the accomplishments behind me, but rather the distance and challenges still ahead, an occasional look in the rear-view mirror provides the motivation to keep moving forward.

Tips Learned Thus Far:

  • It helps if you have a precise goal in mind for your professional reinvention.  It’s taken me three years to narrow down my focal points to a manageable and related 2: coaching small business owners on marketing and coaching emerging and early career professionals on leadership.
  • Expect to change your goals.
  • Don’t spend too much time rehearsing.  Start taking action even while you are planning.
  • Don’t expect help…it’s likely not forthcoming.  You are your own work in process and your spouse and family can’t do anything but offer encouragement and support.
  • Having offered the cynical view on help, you’ll find it in unexpected places.  I would not have imagined the daily support that I receive from friends on Twitter or the great quality relationships that I’ve started through reading a book or article and reaching out to authors and the remarkable mentoring that I’ve received from others on this journey.
  • Help everyone you can along the way. Pay it forward.
  • It’s good to have a plan to monetize your passion unless you are independently wealthy.  Eating is good.
  • You cannot talk to enough people or study hard enough.  Do both, constantly.
  • Take comfort in operating so far outside your comfort zone that this becomes the rule not the exception.
  • Ask.  Many of my accomplishments were made possible because I picked up the phone or knocked on a door and introduced and asked.
  • How tough are you?  You’d better be remarkably tough to face this journey.  You will encounter and experience more failure and more disappointment on the road to success than you could have ever imagined in your life marking the calendar.

The Bottom Line

You get one chance to live this particular life and you’ve got to decide how important it is for you to write that book or pursue making a dream your reality.  If you lack the courage, that’s fine.  No one but you really knows.  On the other hand, if this is how you plan on reminding yourself that you are alive, expect to face an odyssey filled with trials and dangers that you never imagined.  What a way to enjoy the journey!