Is it time to reinvent yourself? If you have been in the same career for 15 years or more, maybe you should think about it.
And when I say reinvent yourself, I am not just talking about taking a new job. Most likely, you will have many jobs over the course of your lifetime. When I say reinvent yourself, I am talking about changing careers. I am referring to how you spend your time professionally.
Although it can certainly be broadened to include your personal life, hobbies, anything you want, for purposes of this article, I am talking about what you do for a living.
Why Reinvent Yourself
If you use 15 years as a realistic timeframe to become an expert in most fields, starting around the age of 25, after you graduate from college, you’ll have the opportunity to reinvent yourself 3 or 4 times over the course of your life. And if you live long enough and are driven enough, you might even extend that.
Of course, if you find something in your 20’s that grabs you and doesn’t let go, stick with it. But otherwise don’t be afraid to embrace change. I personally like the idea of experiencing new careers. This is one of the reasons I started this site.
In some cases, reinvention may not be an option – it may be forced upon you. And in a way, that might actually be easier. If you get laid off or find yourself suddenly unemployed for one reason or another, you may decide that now is the time to make a change.
But even if it isn’t forced, there are still many valid reasons to reinvent yourself. Maybe you left the workforce to raise a family years ago and now you’re looking for a way to start working again. Or maybe you’re just tired of catching the 5am train every morning for your two-hour commute and just want a change.
No matter what the reason, and no matter how big or how small the change, when you embark on the journey to reinvent yourself, you are making a leap of faith that something better is around the corner.
Stages of Life
Before the age of 25. While I don’t want to discount the experiences you gain before the age of 25, for many, those experiences revolve around family and school rather than on working a job and your career. You’ve been building a foundation that will serve you well over the coming years as you enter the workforce and begin to make real contributions to society. You’re probably eager to leave the academic world behind and begin earning money.
25 to 40. This is the first phase of your adult life. For some, this phase may start earlier. For others later. For many this is when you get your first real job that is probably related to the degree you just earned. But now you have left the academic world and the comfort of your parents’ financial security. You are making real money. You are spending money like never before. And hopefully, you are saving and investing money. It’s at this stage, that you decide how to define yourself. Maybe you get married and have kids. Maybe you decide to stay single.
40 to 55. As you reach your 40s, your outlook on life starts to change. Maybe you have started to question why you work. Financially, you have achieved success, but you don’t see much more upside, just more work. Things are great at home, but you are starting to see a time in the near future when the kids will leave the house and begin their own journey. Hopefully, you have been diligently saving and investing so you no longer feel the need to climb the corporate ladder and continue making more and more money. Your motivations are changing. You may even begin to have thoughts about your own mortality. Are your best years really behind you?
55 to 70. By this stage, you are wise and experienced. You have seen it all. If you had children, they are most likely already out of the house or nearly there. You have worked a number of different jobs over the years. You know what you’re looking for. If all has gone as planned, you are financially independent. You are now working for yourself. You are working for the challenges and enjoyment. If you don’t like how something looks, you can move on to something new.
70 and beyond. With life expectancy continuing to climb, who is to say that you need to retire at all? If you find something you enjoy, why not keep going with it? You will most likely want to slow down physically somewhat at this stage, but having a job as a senior is a great way to stay connected to other people and keep yourself sharp.
How to Reinvent Yourself
Once you have decided to reinvent yourself, the next step is to start figuring out what it is you want to do. As you progress, you may find new challenges blocking your road to success, but if you are persistent, you can work through anything that gets in your way.
To start you along the path, here are some suggestions for making the process go as smoothly as possible:
- Leverage the knowledge and experience already gained. Although you hear stories of people going back to school for second careers, this can be challenging. If you’ve been in business and have the urge to go back to medical school, I am not going to dissuade you. But just remember, if you incur significant cost to get another degree, you will have less time to recoup that investment.
- Consider turning your hobby into a profession. Are there any hobbies you have developed that can possibly turn into a career? If you have managed your money well, by the time you start looking for a second, third, or fourth career, you may find that money provides less motivation than it once did.
- Expect to make much less money. At least when you are starting out in a new career, don’t expect to be paid at the same level you were making in your old job. In your old role, you had twenty years of experience behind you allowing you to command a high salary and lofty title. Now you may find yourself competing with people half your age. Employers may question your skills. Have you kept up with changes in technology? Make sure you can sell yourself.
- Seek out the advice of others. Talk to your family and friends about what you are doing. Reach out to other people who have reinvented themselves. Once you have decided on an industry, contact companies in that space and meet with them. Professionals such as lawyers, bankers, accountants, and insurance agents are well-connected and can put you in contact with business owners who can help you get hired or start a new business.
- Be persistent. Don’t forget that your old job took many years to develop. You may run into obstacles as you attempt to reinvent yourself, but don’t let that stop you. Be patient and keep moving forward. If you keep at it, at some point, your momentum will take over and help propel you forward. You just need to overcome the initial resistance.
Have you tried to reinvent yourself? How many times? What was the process you went through? How did it turn out?
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After approx 15 years in a corpoarte jobs, with minor to signifcat cahnges on teh role, Why indeed not consider a reinvention… The thought is on my mind… The article touches a cord.
Point 3 is valid and point 4 is a must do I would say.
Glad to hear you can relate.
I actually had my first reinvention after about 11 years. And it was a few years in the making before I finally took the leap. The timing wasn’t great due to the economy and I wound up getting back into corporate when an offer came along that was too hard to resist.
But now I’m working on another.
Any idea about what you want for your next reinvention?
There are some ideas… Lets see what happens with them… I need to close a few points before i can speak…
I was privileged to read your post. and I left a comment. so great to meet you. I’m “following” you. I hope you have a great weekend.
Nice to meet you. Thank you for visiting and I look forward to interacting with you.
I absolutely love this article. I am all for reinvesting oneself. My husband actually had a completely different career change at the age of 29.
Thank you. Unless you really find something you like, I think life is too short to just do one thing the whole time. Glad to hear about someone making the leap.
Out of curiosity, what did he do before the change and what did he do after?
In my first job, there was a senior manager who had started off working as an accountant. He then went on to become a published fiction writer (in the genre of Tom Clancy). He taught at the college level for a while. And then was back in accounting when I met him. His background fascinated me.
That sounds like a great career path! My hubby was an office worker previously which he found really stifiling. He is now a painter/decorator!
I think many people get into a corporate career because it’s the next logical step. For me, corporate recruiters came to my business school and made it easy to go that route. The problem is after a while, you start to ask if there are other ways to accomplish your goals.
It’s great to hear when people can find something else as your husband did.
Thanks for sharing.
This is a really great post. I have changed careers 3 times in the past 12 years out of both necessity and force. What I can say is that I learned so much from every career that I have gone and I use those learning as leverage in the career that I am in right now. Yes, I totally agree with you when you said “leap of faith that something better is around the corner”. That’s exactly one of the reasons that I jumped from one career to another.
I do think you learn something at each stop and can apply that to the future ones. For me, I migrated from consulting to internal corporate finance roles and finnaly to operations overseeing hundreds of people. But I always relied on my financial background and used that to do my management job more effectively.
From leaving school to around age 45, I changed career about 4 times while remaining in the same industry. These were all steps up the ladder from hands-on technician to project designer to project manager to sales and business development. Until one day, I realised that I’d had enough and just wanted to do something completely different. So I packed my bags and literally moved to Australia to get work operating big-boys-toys in coal mining (cos that’s where the big bucks were). Loved it until we were all laid off but have continued operating machines, part time now, using the skills I learnt there. How’s that for a quantum career change?
I love it.
After working in an office for years, many people have trouble seeing that they could be happier (and make more money) doing something completely different. Glad to hear you figured that out.
And also that you haven’t let getting laid off derail you.
I loved this post! Sadly, I feel like I’ve been reinventing myself every 15 months, not 15 years. So I probably need to settle in for the next 12 until I get to that 40 mark. But this article is very comforting – as I love the idea of being able and willing to make changes as you grow – not feeling stuck to the same thing forever. Thanks for the inspiration!
Glad I could help.
And I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to reinvent often. Sounds like you’re quick to pull the trigger when things aren’t what you’re looking for rather than sitting around being frustrated for years and years.
I personally tend be slow to make decisions which is why it takes me longer to move on to new things.
I think that’s a very good point to raise. I’m coming up to the age of 25 and we’re taking a big change of direction. From an office job to (hopefully) being a home writer in the next few years. Maybe in 15 years of writing I’ll turn into a financial planner – who knows? I’m looking forward to it though.
Tristan
I’ve been contempating the financial planner route as well. I am curious how much of an impact robo-advisers will have on the financial planning industry. It seems most of the people I know in that industry are pretty broad – offering multiple lines of insurance and other services in addition to financial planning.
I think the ones that offer rubbish advice will be easily replaced. Kind of like how index funds are more popular than expensive funds. However there are still lots of people that use the expensive funds. Plus, some funds achieve a better overall return than an index fund, so the advisers than achieve a better result for their clients will be the ones worth it.
That would be our goal.
Tristan
There will probably be a place for fund managers who can outperform.
For me, the value of an advisor is more in finding someone who can handle the present and help me plan for the future. I’m thinking of everything from wills and advanced directives to life and disability insurance to investments and estate planning. I want someone who can help both with the big picture as well as have the contacts to execute all the pieces.
Nice post FS, a large part of this i believe is also embracing the notion of being a life long learner. It keeps life interesting and adds the layers that can facilitate the changes throughout the seasons or chapters in ones life.
Thanks. I agree completely. It’s great to become an expert in multiple fields. You’ll also see crossover from one field to the next that others may not.
great post. I am doing this right now in my late 40’s. At least I am trying to. It is not easy but I am going to persevere and make it happen. This was good positive reinforcement. Thanks
It’s great that you’re reinventing yourself. Would love to hear more about where you are coming from and where you are going.
And I agree. It’s not easy. Even changing industries is challenging. I moved from healthcare into enegy for a brief period. Even though it was still in finance, the differences were significant.
Hey FS, I am exiting software development, and trying to do Data Science. Both are technical fields but pretty different in their own right. If this doesn’t work out I am open to just about anything. I really hate Software and I do not plan to go back unless absolutely necessary.
Healthcare to energy is quite the change. Would love to hear how you accomplished that. I know changes can be done but you really have to bear down and wait for someone to take a chance on you , at least that is what I see so far. Good luck, thanks for the reply.
It sounds like you’ll be able to leverage your knowledge from one field into the next which should make the transition smoother. But I agree, it does take time. Often the hiring managers see something on your resume and they immediately put you in a box. You need to find the right situation.
My healthcare to energy move was short-lived but challenging. I may write a another post about it to go into greater detail.
Glad I got to read this post before I get into the working world! I completely agree with you that you need to change your routine up and experience new things. I know that companies have many careers within them that I want to explore but I also want to experience other jobs I am not familiar with. Obviously I have a passion for personal finance so I would love to do something along those lines one day once I get established in my first career. Maybe pursue a certified financial planner and make my own company who knows!
That’s why I think 15 years is a good benchmark. It’s enough time to progress to a high level in your chosen field, but not so long as you’re likely to get bored. Hopefully, you’re still learning at that stage.
It’s funny you mention 15 years…. I lasted 13 years in finance and couldn’t take it any more. Blogging starting pulling hard on my soul, so I got out w/ a severance package. I originally planned to work until 40 (18 years).
Now, I’m 7 years into blogging, and I want to last for 10 years to see what happens. 10 years is good enough IMO!
Best,
Sam
You could be right. I actually think 15 years may be a little too long for most people.
For the first 11 years of my career, I worked for three different multi-billion dollar corporations in four different finance roles. At that point, I was ready to try something different and jumped ship to start my own business. But before it got off the ground, I accepted another corporate position, running a business unit at a much smaller company.
Now that I’ve been blogging for about 6 months, I must admit, it can be pretty addictive. Hopefully, I can keep at it for another 9 1/2 years!
Thanks for the comment.
I am glad that I had the question of why I am working early in my life. Mortality is what makes people fearful of the future. When we realize that we are infinite, we will start enjoying life more. Reinventing our lives means that we start questioning life instead of just going with the flow. Your post is amazing and mind provoking. Thank you for sharing your thoughts along with your precious advice!
Zaria
I am pleased to hear that you could relate to the post. I am a big believer in living with a purpose and not just settling for what comes your way.
Thanks for your comment.