The Christmas question that terrifies most of us

This is the question many people fear answering. It gives them anxiety and forces them to go into panic mode.

"How is your career going?"

Thinking about adding +1 to my age (today is my birthday) made me think about those of our clients who are in their late 30s, 40s, and 50s, and how hard it is for them to ignite their careers. How much they will dread answering this question in just 3-days. And how hard it is for them to go through each holiday season, realizing that they haven't got anywhere close to reaching their potential. And, what's worse, it may only be downhill from here.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

One of our Insiders wrote this thoughtful email that helps understand the experience of clients facing this challenge. I removed some identifying information.

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Hi Kris and Michael,

Given all the posts about what it's like to be middle-aged, it seemed appropriate to write to both of you. I just turned 53. I think I am ten years older than you, Michael and I am 17 years older than you, Kris. I've been a subscriber to FirmsConsulting for nearly 10 years(Insider level). I teach xxx at a xxx, and I'll know if I have tenure in two months. Before I started teaching, I worked as an xxx in industry doing R&D and process improvement for 14 years.

Given my age, I am no longer in your target market. If anything, I am the person you warn your subscribers against becoming. So what's it like to be over 50?

I can tell you that the body is not as resilient as it was when I was younger. I can do all sorts of things that a person half my age can do. I am in good physical condition for someone my age. The difference is that it is easier to get injured and it takes me much longer to recover. You won't see my pulling all-nighters for anything because of how long it would take me to recover from it.

I have a family. This, of course, means that I have to balance family responsibilities with anything I want to do professionally. You can't have it all. There are trade offs to be made. Flexibility becomes very important. Unless you want someone else raising your children, one parent will have to stay home. There is always a decision to be made of what work responsibilities rise to the level of missing out on something your kid is doing. You can't get the time back. A good many people my age have children who are in college or older so this may not be a consideration. However, we all have aging parents. Taking care of them becomes more and more of an issue so the trade offs are still there with work.

Professionally, I am at the point where becoming a corporate executive is no longer a consideration. I am not one of the fortunate ones to have made it to that level. Though I am not sure the climb is worth it. I am much more cynical about life in the corporate world, no matter the business. Career success means doing meaningful work and making a difference in the lives of others. It is less about money. I'd love to have a job with a 6 or 7-figure salary, but I don't know if it would be worth the stress or hassle. My 25-30 yr. old self would not think that way.

I have thought about changing careers many times. My problem now is that companies may not look at me because of my age. Ageism is an issue. Especially in industries like tech. If I were still in industry, I'd be a layoff target due to my age. Finding people to help me out so that I could make a transition is a problem. Who wants to help out a 50 something with a 12-15 year career runway? People my age are supposed to be the mentors not the mentees.

There are some good things about being a middle aged person. I've made many mistakes and have my regrets about them, but with that comes some wisdom. I try to pass that on to others when I can. I have a perspective about life that a 30 yr. old simply doesn't have ( I know what life before the internet was like ). I am much more patient and less judgemental about people than I was when I was younger. This makes me better able to deal with people. I look long-term more than I did.

I could go on about things, but this email is already a long one. I hope my perspective is useful for you, Michael, as you continue with your series about being middle-aged. You are welcome to ask me anything if you wish. The same is true for you, Kris, as well. FirmsConsulting is awesome and I learned a lot from what you have built.

John (name changed)

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John is a great Insider who encountered a problem many business professionals face.

For a lot of people, it's really hard to ignite their careers. It's hard for them to get movement in their careers, especially when they get to their late 30s, 40s and 50s.

In the first Andrew program, we were able to show people how you can do that. How can you work at a major organization where your career has suffered, and you are considering leaving. In a situation where you have basically settled. And we showed how you can change things, you can spark growth in your career. You can become a superstar within an organization.

And then we stopped working with Andrew, and he tried to do things by himself and things didn't go very well for him.

In the Innovating an Industrial Giant (a new mega program for Insiders and Legacy members), we're going to work with Andrew again. And what's interesting about this is that he's given up again. But what we're going to do here is we're going to take an even more difficult task. We're not just going to ignite his career. We're going to find a way to change the business model for his consulting firm, and in the process, transform his career.

We will show you how we created wealth by moving beyond billable hours.

Billable hours are very lumpy, it's a very low margin, relatively speaking. It's good to have other sources of income in addition to billable hours, and this is what we were able to do, in a big way.

And what's exciting about this is how difficult it is to do when you've built this baggage and legacy and bad relationships. And what you're going to see is how Michael is going to help Andrew navigate these very complicated things. It's one of the most exciting big new programs we are releasing.

Learn about the Innovating an Industrial Giant program here . Enroll as an Insider or Legacy member and gain access to both the first Andrew program and the second Andrew program (currently released LIVE) here (scroll down to membership options):

https://www.strategytraining.com/

Take care,

Kris Safarova