08 Dec 2015

Ways to Beat Mid-Career Blues

Mid-Career Blues define that point of your career when the interest in your pursuing that career starts waning due to reasons innumerable. The very factors that used to excite you at one point of time keeping you encouraged to work, fail to trigger your zeal now. The momentum to improve in your vocation starts fading away and situations seem quite repetitive and unchallenging. These symptoms indicate near-catastrophic situation of your job when you ought to seek alternatives rather than crib over this choosing your career.

There can be various reasons as to why one faces Mid-Career Blues like lack of challenges in the job, low job satisfaction, adverse work environment, lack of encouragement from seniors, low motivation, financial issues and many others. To get out of this adversity, it is important for you to evaluate the  present situation and reinvent your skills, even more so your career objectives.

Here are some ways to tackle these which may prove good to beat your Mid-Career Blues:

Comprehend the Issue

Firstly, it is important to look into the matters generating this crisis. One needs to take some time out to examine the issues and subsequently assess the circumstances leading to such a dire situation. It is always desirable to do a SWOT analysis of the situation and the issue, which would be beneficial in identifying your positive and negative points, the opportunities ahead of you in career growth and the threats that you may have to deal with.

Self-motivate

Self-motivation keeps you inspirational and mentally alert to possibilities, thus, engendering an optimistic outlook in you to face the unfolding situations. It is a major constituent to rejuvenate your mind through stimulating yourself fervently by different factors of life.

Channelize Your Thoughts

You may start sharing your thoughts and views with people encountering similar problems. Their experiences and recommendations can be of great help to deal with your problem in a better way. Also, such people can be of great help in assisting you to get out of the situation through their familiarity with such issues and situations. Do not fritter away your thoughts in brooding over the issue. You will be better served if you can focus on solution to the vexing issues.

Explore Alternate Areas of Interest

Spotting fresh areas which generate maximum interest in you always helps you to keep yourself active and enthusiastic towards them. The magnitude of that interest is always a crucial factor in determining how far you can go in pursuing that interest consequently improving your chances of succeeding in them.

Analyze the Prospects

Understanding the present blues and resolving the exact reasons of where you lack in your existing profession is one practical step to decide where you want to head on in your next career pursuit. There can be varied possibilities but it is essential to scrutinize each of them and work on them in a rational manner.

Outline the goal

The next best way is to surmount your pent up anticipations and to progress towards your chosen direction and your field of interest with utmost poise and endeavor to give your best irrespective of the results you anticipate: clarity of your career goal is much more critical to your success than a fancied dream based on a sense of futuristic euphoria.

Work on your skills and update your proficiency

Setting yourself in the right direction towards desired areas of interest, inevitably gives an impetus towards them. It is essential to realize that potential by upgrading areas of expertise and forte to steer towards better career goal posts.

Upgrade your Resume

Resume up gradation and presentation helps you find better and more satisfactory jobs as per your needs. You can model your resume making it relevant to the job you want to land into by highlighting the relevant skills and abilities your posses.

Revive Yourself

Reinventing yourself is the most important step to get out of the career mess. Dealing with the unchallenging situations and the same people around you makes you dull and they tend to make you forget your inner strengths and capabilities. It is often desirable at this stage to understand yourself and invigorate your innate potential to face the challenges. Take time out to do all those things which make you feel more motivated and revived. These will inexorably help confidence in and make you cope better with the career change.

Fortune too always favors the brave and the innovative who seeks to break free from such  mid career blues and sets to scale new heights. It definitely plays to be on the positive side of that fortune too.

Mid-Career Blues

Some real life situations

  • Ten and odd years into a specalised job in a specified industry, say in Technology and Engineering companies; well settled but feeling ‘boxed in’. Feel frustrated, can’t jump into other domains and industries. Well set but deeply dissatisfied.
  • Mobility up the ladder in the company is blocked as positions are filled. Peer companies also have same or similar situations in hand and moving into other companies does not yield promotional dividends. Only possible way is to move into a totally different sector where cross-discipline expertise is crucial. Examples: Education sector for an ICT professional, Social sector for a Project Manager.
  • Entrepreneurship is always an option for the best skills and best ideas-endowed people. If one is stuck in a job, finding nowhere to go, turning entrepreneur can be the best way forward, if resources and networking are no issues.

Almost always, changing oneself and the knowledge and skill profile one possesses, is the sure shot way to move up in a career and beat the blues, if struck with. It is a win-win-you better learn to get better placed and you will be pleased no ends and be content with yourself too.

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