Finding Your Purpose
Why mid-life & mid-career is the time to connect to purpose
Have you noticed that we finish education and then we start running into the future? Unless you’re one of a very lucky few, you didn’t start out in your career with a deep connection to purpose. Instead, you launched out of school or university and started striving to ‘get ahead’ and ‘be successful’ and… do!
Despite being asked from about the age of 3 onwards what you want to be when you grow up, there wasn’t a lot of time for reflection or growth into finding your purpose.
And suddenly you’re mid-career, usually at the same time as you enter mid-life. You’re earning a good wage, you’ve progressed in your career, you have a beautiful home life and you’re considered successful in anybody’s book… and you’re feeling unfulfilled. If you’re a parent, you find yourself facing the back half of childrearing, which fulfilling or not, perhaps isn’t the only legacy you want to leave behind and a sense of urgency starts to kick in.
Sadly, mid-life is often associated with a sense of stagnation and dissatisfaction, leading to the infamous midlife crisis. However, it is important to recognise that this phase of life can also be an opportunity for growth by connecting with our purpose. Channelling this feeling into purpose led reinvention in midlife can bring about personal fulfilment, renewed purpose, and a sense of accomplishment.
In this article, we will explore the ways to connect to our purpose and how it can positively impact our lives.
Discovering your purpose: tips for finding what you love
One of the first steps towards reinvention is discovering your purpose. Many individuals find themselves stuck in unfulfilling careers or routines that no longer bring them joy.
Self-reflection and introspection are essential in the process of discovering your purpose. Take the time to evaluate your values, strengths, and interests. What activities make you lose track of time? What brings you a sense of joy and fulfilment? What are the work experiences that have created meaning in your life? By delving deep into yourself, you can uncover your true passions and align your life with what truly matters to you.
We have created a workbook here full of reflection activities and planning tools that you can download to help guide your thinking.
What purpose is
Purpose is deeply personal to everyone. That’s why you need to do the deep work of reflection and introspection. You must uncover what’s important to you and avoid falling into the traps of what you ‘should’ do. Connecting to purpose and reinvention doesn’t necessarily mean throwing in your job and starting a new job or returning to study and taking up a whole new career.
It might be that you’re a leader and you pivot your leadership to a style that’s more people centric and feels purposeful for you, or you change where you work to enable you to work in a more purpose lead environment. It might even be that this is the time you want to take more control over your working hours so you have more time to focus on passions outside of work that align with your purpose.
Be open to what your purpose is and explore ways to connect with it.
Overcoming fear and self-doubt: building confidence in midlife
I don’t know about you, I guess always thought as I got older I’d stop having imposter syndrome or that it would suddenly all make sense… spoiler alert, it does not.
So, once we have uncovered our purpose, we then need to figure out how to start to live it. Reinventing yourself in midlife can be daunting. Fear and self-doubt often creep in, making it challenging to take the necessary steps towards change.
That fear is a natural part of the process, and it should not hold you back from pursuing your dreams – that doubt just wants to keep you safe, it doesn’t mean it’s speaking the truth. Look at all the amazing things you have already done in your life! This is just one more thing you’re going to be great at!
To overcome fear and self-doubt, start by getting really clear about your goal, your action plan, and the resources you need to succeed in your reinvention. The unknown is always much scarier than the known. By making it known and planning it out, a big part of the scary starts to diminish.
Then it’s all about working with your inner imposter who’s telling you that you can’t do this. I’m not one for toxic positivity or fake it til you make it. Instead, own that inner voice. Get to know them. Understand whose voice it is and what they’re saying. Test what they’re saying for truth, occasionally your inner voice will even be saying something you need to hear and should consider in your plans. Then thank the voice for its input and get back to planning.
Taking risks: why stepping outside your comfort zone is essential
Whether you purpose is a big life change or a redirect in your current career you’ll likely find that you’re heading into new territory and that requires you to step outside of your comfort zone and take some risks. These might be emotional, financial or something else.
Stepping outside of your comfort zone is essential for personal growth and reinvention. Taking risks allows you to challenge yourself, discover new strengths, and expand your capabilities. While it may be tempting to stay within the confines of familiarity, true transformation lies in the unknown.
To take calculated risks, it is important to set realistic goals and create a plan of action. Revisit the plan you made and test it for risk and for manageability. If looking at the plan makes you feel overwhelmed because you already have an incredibly full life, break down the plan into behaviours that you can create habits for and start with small habits.
Use our Habit Builder Workbook to create the habits that will create meaningful change over time.
Plan for financial safety: start small if you need to
Taking risks is all well and good if you are making a change that aligns to your purpose and maintains your salary.
However, if you’re wanting to take a giant leap into something new and your salary is going to be affected, you may need to consider your financial safety.
Creating financial safety might need to be the first step in your action plan. It’s still a strong move towards living your purpose. You don’t have to take over the world on day one!
Once you feel financially safe enough to take the risks, then make the leap – you’ll still be working in line with your purpose in the meantime.
Seek support
Seek support from mentors, coaches or like-minded individuals who can provide guidance and encouragement along the way. Remember that even if you encounter setbacks or failures, they are valuable learning experiences that contribute to your growth.
Building a support system is crucial when embarking on a journey of reinvention in midlife. Surrounding yourself with positive influences can provide the necessary encouragement, accountability, and guidance needed to navigate through challenges.
You will learn faster, fail faster and progress faster when you are working with others. The collective intelligence from this approach is far higher than your own.
Networking is an effective way to build a support system. Attend industry events or join professional groups where you can connect with individuals who share similar interests or goals. Seek out mentors who have successfully reinvented themselves and can provide valuable insights and advice. Engage with a coach who can help you plan and unravel the ‘spaghetti’ in your head to allow you to proceed.
A supportive community not only provides emotional support but also opens doors to new opportunities and collaborations. By surrounding yourself with positive influences, you create an environment that fosters growth and propels you towards your purpose.
The rewards of reinvention in mid-career
Reinventing yourself in midlife can be a transformative journey filled with personal growth, fulfilment, and success. By discovering what energises you and where you feel like you are contributing the most, you can unlock your true potential and live a life aligned with your values and aspirations.
You have a long life in front of you, don’t waste it waiting for one day. Start working towards fulfilment and purpose from where you are now!
If you want help getting started or support in the execution, don’t hesitate to reach out. This is what we do.
