You’ve been sailing through your career happy as a clam. Your career is in good shape. Promotions have been arriving just in time. You feel good about your prospects for reaching your career goals.
Suddenly, you find yourself with turbulence in your professional career. Advances appear to be few and far between. You continue to do a good job, but no one seems to notice. One or two of your companions, no more capable than you, are ahead of you.
Work that was once so much fun is now drudgery. Discomfort is the order of every day.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the path to the corner office is getting narrower. There won’t be room for everyone. You begin to wonder if you’ll be able to accomplish your goals…on time or at all.
What’s going on? You are reaching a mid-career crisis.
Do not panic. It happens to almost everyone.
This trauma can happen at any age, but most often it takes place around the time of that dreaded 40th birthday.
“Forty is definitely more significant than any other age,” says Christopher Stack, executive vice president of a New York executive search firm. He believes that most of the importance is self-imposed.
“At 30, you’re too young and at 50 too well established, hopefully, to feel that pressure,” says Stack.
In his book, The Corporate Steeplechase, Dr. Srully Blotnick says that “the 1940s are the most dangerous decade for people in business…(people) in their 40s are, for the last time, bridging the gap between promise and fulfillment.
So what can you do about this threat to your peace of mind, your career success, and your family life?
The first thing is to realize that the mid-career crisis is real and hard. It can be devastating if not treated proactively.
“When people hit a career crisis … very often it’s because they’re just tired of the treadmill,” according to Carolyn Smith Paschal, a California executive recruiter. “At that age, people have been through a lot of struggles: finishing college, negotiating the first few years of a job and marriage, starting a family.”
Step back and put the situation in perspective.
You are probably entering a time when you will be at the peak of your ability and in a position to make your experience worthwhile.
You have already lived longer than Mozart, who had composed his greatest works before he died at the age of 35. Alexander the Great died at the age of 34, but not before conquering Asia Minor. Steve Jobs had created the Apple computer dynasty and went on to start another company when he was 30 years old.
But you are considerably younger than Churchill when he led the free world to victory in World War II. You still have a long way to go before you reach the age when Henry Ford hit the nail on the head with his Model T. When he was nearly 40 years old, James Michener, author of dozens of books, including Tales of the South Pacific, told him they said that if he hadn’t written a book by the age of 35, chances are he never would.
The fact is that at 40 you are less than halfway through your career.
You don’t have to become obsolete.
Recognize that you don’t have to become obsolete. You can avoid this trap if you choose to work hard enough to accept and learn new ways of doing things.
Start by kicking yourself in the butt the first time you object to a new order of things because “it’s not the way we’ve always done it.”
A change of duties often helps. Recognizing this, many companies are deliberately shifting mid-career people to different jobs. Others are giving longer vacations and sabbaticals, rather than bonuses.
If your employer offers you the opportunity to take on new duties, take advantage of it. After all, the risks associated with a new challenge are no greater than continuing to bang your head against the glass wall.
If a change is not possible, renew your efforts to find the advantages in what you are doing.
Come to terms with reality. Not everyone is going to win the race.
Consider other options. How can you be happy where you are? Can you enjoy the professional goals you have achieved? What about continuing to work hard enough to maintain your current position relative to the rest of the world and earn your salary? Do you really want or need to be the king of the mountain to enjoy professional success?