Remember when you were younger, eager to take on the world and embark on a new career? Maybe you were just fresh out of college or taking over a family business. Or maybe you remember the butterflies you felt the first day you reported to your first real job. You had a fresh enthusiasm about what you could do with your life. And you were excited to put your stamp on the world.
But then life happened. Anyone in their forties knows what I’m talking about, too. You make plans. Plans change. Circumstances change. Your career path shifts over the years, and without realizing it, here you are today.
Are you currently where you were back then? Or are you on a completely different path now? More importantly, do you wish you were doing something different?
Apparently, forty is the new twenty. Depending on who you ask, fifty and even sixty could be the new thirty, too. Let’s toss in a few other adages while we’re at it, like how you wished you knew back then what you know now. Or an all-time favorite, we’re not getting old; we’re aging like a fine wine.
The truth is, you’re feeling the weight of time these days. Retirement age is creeping up on you and, like the rearview mirror says, closer than it appears. And even if you are exactly where you predicted you’d be twenty years ago, you’re contemplating a change.
So, is forty really the new twenty? Is it possible to rekindle that twenty-something enthusiasm again? Can you approach something new and still find success at this later stage in life? The good news is, there is no hard-fast rule that says you can’t change the rules, or the game, for that matter. And you can recapture that excitement of your youth by pivoting toward doing something you find meaningful. Only now, you’re better equipped for success with wisdom, experience, and knowledge the twenty-year-old you didn’t have.
A Decade Passes in Just the Blink of an Eye
Let’s be honest; there’s a lot that can come up to change your career trajectory. Sometimes it’s a financial setback or realization that you’re in the wrong field. But most of the time, change occurs as a result of situations that arise out of your control. Corporate buyouts or layoffs, death in the family, a health diagnosis, starting a family, company opportunities, you name it; life happens. And it’s why most of us with a little mileage under our belts have taken new directions in our careers. However, if you’re not paying attention, all those changes can add up to a couple of decades worth of doing the wrong thing. In the blink of an eye, you realize where you are now and begin to question if you need to make deliberate changes to get back on track with your original vision for yourself.
Today’s Challenges Forcing New Perspectives
The pandemic certainly forced all of us to slow down. All of a sudden, without a rigorous work week or a hectic social schedule tugging at your every waking moment, you had some free time. And with that free time came deliberate reflection. These life-changing pauses caused many people to take stock in their careers and consider changes. Depending on your situation, you likely adjusted your perspective. Now, you have a new definition of success, and killing yourself for a mediocre j-o-b isn’t it.
Because you had the extra time, you might have even started exploring other options. Perusing the job boards and exploring startups on Crunchbase probably helped you arrive at a few conclusions. And in order to take your next step, you’re going to have to venture out of your comfort zone to make some risky life-changing decisions.
You might have to:
- Quit your current job.
- Go back to school.
- Tap into your savings or retirement.
And making those decisions officially can be incredibly challenging to justify, which is why you need to apply your knowledge and develop a plan before you leap.
Yes, You Can
Some people go their whole lives chasing the dollar and not fulfilling their full potential. But not you. Here you are, recognizing the need for a change and plotting your path to execute. That’s half the battle. So, the answer to the question, can you start over in your forties; yes, you can. And you can do so successfully because you’re better prepared, more mature, and increasingly decided about your next move.
To inspire your journey, here are just a few of the successful people who didn’t achieve their goals until well after 30.
- Vera Wang designed her first dress at age 40.
- Henry Ford launched the Model T at age 45.
- Harry Bernstein spent a lifetime of authorship rejection until his first literary hit at age 96.
- Stan Lee was on the cusp of his 39th birthday when his first comic achieved notoriety.
- Toni Morrison, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning novelist, wrote her first at age 40.
- Donald Fisher and his wife Doris opened their first Gap store with no retail experience at all, at age 40.
- Samuel L. Jackson didn’t land his first award-winning role until he was 43.
- Sam Walton didn’t achieve stratosphere success until he opened his first Wal-Mart store at age 43.
- Momofuku Ando invented instant ramen noodles at age 48.
- Julia Child wrote her very first cookbook when she was 50.
Start by Identifying What You Want and Don’t Want
You can’t chase a new career path with the same old mentality. It’s critical that you assess every aspect of your life, identifying what you like and don’t like. You can then implement systematic changes that will translate to goal-oriented results. Know what you want. And if that’s hard, make a list of what you don’t want. But try to paint the picture of what you imagine for yourself. Create a playbook rooted in how you plan to define success after your forties.
Start by redefining success in each of these areas of your life:
- Physical – vibrant wellbeing and deliberate health management
- Social – authentic friendships, family connections, and love life
- Material – financial freedom and savvy investing
- Spiritual – purposeful living
- Mental – achieving health and true happiness
- Emotional – feeling alive, connected, and excited
Reclaiming Your Mission
If you want to stop drifting at sea, you need to take control of your boat’s navigation system. Now’s the time to seriously sit down with your mission and objective. What’s your personal brand? What gifts do you have to offer? Can you bring something innovative to the table? Find your secret sauce and make it your mission. Develop a why statement with which you can live by and make career and financial decisions that move you closer to achieving your ultimate mission.
Prioritizing Yourself
It’s easy to look back and see just how much of yourself you dedicated to others. From child-rearing to work projects and even your social life, making decisions based on the moment or under the influence of others has led you here. Part of the change, as you start over, is recognizing that you are a priority. Dedicating time, effort, and resources to preserving yourself and your goals can be a difficult transition, especially if you’ve lived a life serving others. But it’s necessary. And every step you take or decision you make from this point forward needs to be through a lens of self-preservation.
Be Wise, Not Emotional
Don’t grieve the loss of the last several years of missed opportunities. Those experiences matter, especially now as you look forward to making new decisions about your life and goals. Be wise about exploring what lies ahead, not emotional. The experts suggest rooting every decision based on reality, not fear, excitement, or resentment. For example, if you’re fed up with your current job, and you quit to go work for a competitor, you’re not likely to be rewarded because that decision could have been made entirely based on emotional logic.
Alternatively, don’t mistake emotions or feelings for instincts. Your instincts can be incredible indicators in how you make decisions. If something appears to be too good, it probably is. You’ve spent years experiencing situations that refine your instincts. When those little nagging voices creep up in the back of your mind, don’t be afraid to listen to them.
Create a Dream Team
You also realize at your age that you can’t do everything on your own. And you also are smart enough to know there’s no shame in asking for help. So, as you plot your new career course, surround yourself with the soundest advisors, savviest professionals, and most honest confidantes. When you were younger, you could afford to make mistakes and waste some time figuring out your path. Now, you feel a sense of urgency to get things right the first time. Of course, you’re still potentially going to make mistakes. But with the right dream team in your corner, you’ll reduce your risks of making easily avoidable missteps.
Revisit that previous list of redefined successes and add the best supporters in each area:
- Physical – personal trainer, a trusted general practitioner, or a health buddy
- Social – friends who respect your journey or have similar goals
- Material – financial investor, savvy accountant, reliable banker
- Spiritual – religious figures and colleagues
- Mental – therapists, trusted confidantes, or mentors
- Emotional – therapists, supportive spouses, and friends
Risks Are Different at Forty
One of the perks of being forty and growing older is maturity. You’re smarter now and have a better understanding of risks versus rewards. You can apply a lifetime of experience to every decision to minimize risks and make the soundest career decisions.
Advantages to Starting Over Now
There are significant advantages to starting with a clean slate after two decades in the workforce. As you reassess your skills and develop your goals, you’ll be better positioned to execute because:
- You have increased confidence in your abilities now
- Even if you’re starting over, you still have a good 25 years to get good at it before retirement
- Any positive steps you make now will benefit your health and relationships
- Your decades of experience translate to incredible transferable skills
Challenges to Starting Over Now
You will also need to prepare to face unique challenges when starting over after forty. Be honest with yourself about what you need to do to reach your goals. You might struggle with:
- Handling changes if you have children to raise or others who count on your stability
- Earning enough to cover the financial responsibilities that come with adulthood in your forties
- Taking time off from your paid roles now to prepare for your new journey
- Working full-time at a job you don’t like while you make strides in moving toward a new career
Combatting Your Fears
No matter how prepared you are to start over after forty, no matter how sure of yourself you might be, there will always be that element of hesitation and fear to address. How can you be sure that giving up what you’ve known, including a reliable income, for twenty years, is the right move? You might question if you’re being reckless about your decision. And it’s important to always allow yourself to feel this way. It’s normal. The unknown will always be scary, to some degree. But just as you once faced other challenges in your life, including those with unknown outcomes, you can reassure yourself that you have the tools and resources you need to face new challenges and make it happen.
To remind yourself of your capability and to reinforce your motivations, ask yourself:
- How uncomfortable is your current situation?
- How much regret will you feel if you don’t try?
- What is the worst-case scenario?
- What is the best-case scenario?
Remember, too, whatever you decide to do now, you’ll still only get older.
“You’re scared to take a four years course because you’re 32, and by the time you’re done, you’d be 36. Whether you take the course or not, in 4 years’ time, you’d still be 36” Tweet by @DavidChibike
Taking the First Steps
There’s no sugarcoating how messy and unclear any change can be after forty. Whether it’s a career shift or a complete life transformation, it’s not going to be linear, nor is it going to be easy. But starting with a clear understanding of how you arrived at this point and assessing what you want to be, you can take the first few steps in the right direction.
It might take months to find your groove. But enjoy yourself on the journey. Exploring your next steps can be just as rewarding as arriving at new destinations. And when it doesn’t feel like work, it fuels the excitement you’ll feel as you continue towards living your best life. Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with career exploration and find your inspiration again.
Midlife career changes can materialize through:
- Independent coaching or consulting work
- Higher education, with a specialized or post-doctorate degree
- Exploring entirely new fields of interest, work or hobby-based
- Rekindling old passions or unrealized dreams from years ago
- Starting a new business
Starting over after forty doesn’t have to be daunting. And depending on what circumstances led you here, embarking in a new direction, career or otherwise, is absolutely doable. Work through your situation and get excited about what lies ahead. You can do it. And you’ll reflect one day, grateful for the chance to start over after forty.
If starting over means embracing thought-leadership or content strategies, we’re here to help you with that leg of your journey, too.