Planning for Midlife is Essential

Please join me on a short "Time tunnel" journey.

We are headed to the previous millennium, expected to arrive in the last decade of the 20th century.

After the dust of galloping through history settles, the scenery that greets us is a busy but tranquil office complex located on the top floor of a skyscraper, overlooking the city with a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean Sea.

I have just started my first position as a young accountant in the consulting division of one of the biggest international accounting firms.

I can recall the feeling of prestige and the intense and professional work environment, serving as a manager of one of the consulting units and being highly appreciated by the partners I reported to.

The new glamorous experience I was witnessing didn't prevent me from seeing beyond the glow and glitter. Within a short time, and after studying the social structure of the hundreds of employees around me that were deeply engaged in endless office labor, I developed a basic set of stereotypes from the different groups of people around me.

Middle-aged employees

There was the pointy tip of the pyramid: the founder of the firm. He was a calm and soft-spoken individual, always demanding, totally business-focused, full of pride, and not known for extending his smile beyond a semi-smirk.

The other partners in the office varied according to their character and their level of seniority. In general, they were the older individuals of the office's inhabitants, their behavior was mostly detached from socializing with the simpletons- young accountants since they were seen as close to the bottom of the firm's spectrum of statuses.

Below the young accountants were the interns. The "transparent workforce". They could be found in small cubicles where they conducted the "dirty and depleting auditing choirs".

?The monarchs of the office were the office's service providers and support assistants (secretaries, printers, office supplies manager, receptionist, computer network administrators, HR, event managers, etc., etc.) It seemed that they were the jolliest group of us all. They worked hard and were very devoted but carried the "unique unit" badge with pride.

It didn't take long to recognize the "Black sheep" of the flock. It occurred to me that the firm's mid-aged adult population was extremely thin. An age barrier of around 35+ phenomena was contagious among accountants.

The older the age groups in the firm were, the number of participants in the group decreased, but the percentage of this group that was partners or managers expanded with age. So, the number of non-managers in the office rapidly shrunk as the age went up.

The mid-age employees that didn’t make it to be part of the "managing staff club" were considered very professional, and they were the turn-to guys for "special projects", but they were detached from the firm's DNA. Clock in, put in a full day's work, and clock out. Goodbye until tomorrow. It seemed obvious that work was not their source of happiness, it was just a technical option for creating a steady income.

It became clear to me that any organization’s management that is built in a pyramid structure, will by definition create a middle-aged adult-midclass and sour group of employees.

The employer doesn't make it any easier for the aged employees. ?It was no secret that management wouldn’t hold back on the "oldies". They can be replaced with young, fresh, and much cheaper "out of college" beginners, who are eagerly willing to do the work while trying hard to impress their partners. This will continue until the youngsters accrue a few years of experience and then it will be their turn to become sour, washed out, and unsatisfied. Like waves forcefully rushing to flood the shore, and on arriving at the sandbank, they will crash into a wimpy stream of foam, retreating powerlessly into the sea and meeting the upcoming new naive wave that will identically end up with a similar fate.

My deceptive strategy was to complete my immediate goals at the accounting firm, and then identify an external option doing something else somewhere new, and to take the experience I accumulated to a new destination where I will find some type of promotion. Staying long-term in the firm assured me that inside this "employment pyramid" I will end up in a professional tomb.

Mid-life as an example of working in an accounting firm

Coming back from a journey to the past, I realized that Midlife is similar to working long-term in an accounting firm. The result would lead to many stalemate situations and create circumstances that, although there is still a strong urge to stay on the same track, it is necessary to identify the correct condition and discover the beauty in the new reality. It is required to be willing to let go of the outdated past and design and construct a new blueprint based on updated information and not to continue surfing to the shore with hopes the seaside won't dismantle inspiration into a salty pack of foam.

It is my mission to assist "midlife crashing waves-people" to uncover new horizons and directions in the stream of their life, helping to carve a new direction for the canal in their approaching life-destiny "shore", by shifting mindsets from the expected trait of retreating back to the ocean just to collide into the young energetic wave rushing towards the sandbank and to fear vanishing among the void of the vast waters of the marine.

The sea might be expelling the waves and suggesting that they are washed out and not needed – but that doesn't mean the waters are totally unwanted. I child might await the rushing wave because he needs water for the moat of his sandcastle.

?Together we can search for the awaiting child and his castle and overcome the habit of the withdrawal back into the sea of outdated habits.

Claim your 30 min free consultation towards your improved midlife.

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