The Mid-Life Challenge: Make a Plan to Re-ignite Vocational Passion

Nobody will stop you in the hallway at work to ask if your career provides meaning and personal fulfillment. Recognizing that something's missing in your vocational life and taking the initiative to change must come from within.

Serena Williamson found a way to turn her passion - helping writers hone their skills in order to get published - into the catalyst for a new, more fulfilling life. Serena now runs her own small publishing house.

Software engineer Bonnie Vining needed a new career that would value her warm personality, not suppress it. So she left the high-tech world and opened Javalina's Coffee and Friends.

After Anita Flegg lost her engineering job, she embarked on a program of self-improvement. The journey led to personal discoveries and her calling: She provides information and support to those who, like her, suffer from hypoglycemia.

I have found that many high achievers who lose enthusiasm for their work share common traits:

• Their work has little connection to the things they really care about. Work is a barrier rather than a path to fulfillment.

• While they may be doing something they're good at, it isn't something they want to do. Unfulfilled professionals haven't taken time to align their abilities with their interests.

• They have never made a long-term plan to guide them toward a more fulfilling vocational life. They tend to set short-term goals, or set no goals at all.

• As they reach mid-life and understand the need for meaning, they turn to their current workplace as a source of what's missing. Most organizations, though, are structurally incapable of providing nourishment for the soul. So the mid-life employee's frustration grows.

Mid-lifers like Serena, Bonnie, and Anita take stock of their lives and careers. They develop a plan to re-ignite their energy and enthusiasm for work. The process involves a number of steps, but the common thread involves taking responsibility for making life changes. Here's how:

• Identify what's most important to you, then develop and work a plan to get there. The plan should involve short-term goals that lead to a long-term objective. When Bonnie decided that engineering management was no longer for her, she applied the discipline of the corporate world to her new career: owning a gourmet coffee shop. Bonnie learned everything she could about specialty coffees and how to run a coffeehouse. She made good use of experts in the field. She then moved quickly toward her goal of opening Javalina's Coffee and Friends in Tucson, Ariz. The thorough approach increased her chance of success.

• Make a list of your abilities and interests, and then see how they match. You may be doing something you're good at, but don't enjoy. Instead, find something you enjoy and then learn what it takes to get good at it. Serena was fortunate that her vocational calling was right under her nose. For years she helped friends and colleagues improve their writing skills through informal coaching sessions. She realized that the gift for teaching others how to transform ideas into prose wasn't just a hobby. It was a vocational calling. Today, she runs Book Coach Press, which has launched 13 book titles (including my own "P is for Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day").

• Don't be afraid to move toward your goals. Many people understand the need for change but are frozen in place. There's fear that we may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. When Anita lost her engineering job, she avoided self-pity and instead grasped the possibilities of her new freedom. She began a journey of self-discovery that uncovered a long-undiagnosed illness, hypoglycemia and with it a new calling. She soon wrote a book on hypoglycemia. Now, she helps others understand and manage the disease. Anita turned what could have been a series of unfortunate events into a new calling that has brought vocational passion to her life.

Remember: No one will pull you aside at work, look you in the eye, and ask if you're really happy with your career and your life. The power to understand what's missing and do what's necessary to find it is yours alone. Take responsibility for change, and change will happen.

About The Author

Craig Nathanson is The Vocational Coach? and the author of the new book, P Is For Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day by Bookcoach Press and the publisher of the free Ezine, ''Vocational passion in mid-life''. Craig believes the world works a little better when we do the work we love. Craig Nathanson helps those in mid-life carry this out! Visit his on-line community at http://www.thevocationalcoach.com

---

Helping Relationships: Understanding the Helpee

One of the most distressing observations I have made among... Read More

Your Past and Present Hold Key to Your Future

Knowing more about who you are will give you the... Read More

Could You and Your Business Benefit from a Business Coach or a Consultant?

The surprising answer is "probably". Most individuals don't realize that... Read More

Some Business Coaches are in Error

Many business coaches deny the power of suggestion while using... Read More

A Visualization Exercise on Managing Expectations for Adults with ADD

As adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), we often find... Read More

What Do You Really Want ?

Being a coach is such a rewarding profession. The enormous... Read More

Sometimes, It Just Takes ONE Conversation to Change Your Life!

I was thinking this morning about the importance of the... Read More

Six Steps for Creating Work-Life Balance

Today an increasing number of us are experiencing burnout, low... Read More

Addiction to Blame

Allen consulted with me because his wife of 18 years... Read More

Lovers Remorse

Direct Answers - Column for the week of July 29,... Read More

Curse of Competence: How Being Good gets in the way of Becoming Great

Just before the storms hit last winter, my father-in-law and... Read More

Miscommunication - Root Cause of Problems?

People of two opposing ideas can stir up arguments and... Read More

Take Responsibility for Reshaping Your Life

We say we want to eat better, feel better, and... Read More

You Are Never Trapped!

"The meaning of life is that it stops." -Franz Kafka... Read More

Its Story Time! - Find the Power Within, or The Truth About Dogs

I heard a story recently, and wanted to share it... Read More

Why Therapy Fails Sometimes

I saw a couple for marriage counseling this week, and... Read More

Do You Dither in Your Job Search?

I looked up the definition of "to dither" before writing... Read More

How Does Sports Coaching Differ from Corporate Coaching?

Athletes Versus EmployeesMost athletes are young, open to improvement, eager... Read More

Creating Supportive Environments

I'm writing this on my laptop in a Cosi café... Read More

Could You Be A Workaholic?

If you need to put on boots and grab a... Read More

Magic Potions We All Need This Time of Year

As winter descends we begin to feel the chill of... Read More

How to Kill Fear When Dealing with Aggressive People

The book Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by... Read More

What Is A Personal Trainer

Imagine stepping into the gym for the first time in... Read More

What in the World is Life Coaching?

In my speaking engagements I have often compared coaching today... Read More

Embracing Excellence

Joey rises before dawn to pack his lunch, eager for... Read More