Beyond your career - navigating and preparing for career changes after 50
Are you thinking about what you want to do later in your career, in your 50s to 70s? Whether you want to keep working, shift roles, or take a break, it’s good to plan ahead. This article offers tips on how to prepare for this stage and stay connected with what’s important to you. By Charlotte Neser.
Are you thinking about what you want to do in the latter stages of your working life, often referred to as Quarter 3 (50 to 74yrs)?
If so, your thoughts might be fully formed or just beginning, but they could include a number of things:
- carrying on in your current role
- stepping up (for example, into a new role, taking on more responsibilities)
- stepping back (for example. taking less responsibility, leaving your current role or going part-time)
- stepping sideways (for example, taking a new career direction – eg. going in-house or working as a consultant; or re-training in a new profession)
- taking a break (for example, to look after a family member, going on a long awaited sabbatical, taking an extended trip)
All of us will be in Quarter 3 at some point (hopefully), so it’s never too early to thinking about it
We’ll all eventually move on from our current roles, so discussing what you might want to do "beyond law" shouldn’t be taboo.
The previous stereotype of life’s 3 stages (education, work, retirement) no longer exists. Most careers now are multi-staged, non-linear, and involve re-training and moving throughout Quarter 2 (25 to 49yrs) and Quarter 3 (50 to 74yrs).
Many people in Quarter 3 want to use their experience and knowledge in some way – but might need time to reflect and work out how they want to do this.
How can you prepare?
Start early
It’s always good to keep an eye on the horizon, even when you in the earliest stages of your career. Although it might feel like decades away, and whilst your current role might define you now, you won’t be doing the role you are currently doing forever. Our research shows that the earlier people think about what they might do in Quarter 3, and start preparing for it, the better the transition is.
Identity
What did the younger you enjoy? Reflecting on that question can help think about whether aspects of your personal and work life that you might have neglected. And it’s never too late to pick up on them. Whether it’s restarting a weekly guitar lesson, making time for someone you have lost contact with, re-finding a sport you loved, or changing your professional focus - the aim is not to lose touch with important parts of your identity and, where possible, integrate them in your life now, even if only in a small way.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint
Numerous books and podcasts (Camilla Cavendish’s ‘Extra Time: 10 Lessons for Living Longer Better’; Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott’s ‘The 100 Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity’; and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox’s podcast ‘4-Quarter Lives’) discuss how the increase in life expectancy is one of the biggest achievements of the 20th And the aim is to enjoy this ‘extra time’. Who do you want to be in Quarter 3? What do you want to do beyond law?
Finding meaning and purpose
Studies have also shown that having meaning and purpose in your life brings measurable physical health benefits. And it is often something that is brought into focus in Quarter 3, when you might start thinking more deeply about life beyond your current role. In addition, with a range of personal ‘life quakes’ that people can be experiencing around this time - whether it’s the illness or death of a loved one, a close friend struggling, looking after elderly parents, changes in your health, or changes in significant personal relationships – it helps to focus and think about what is important to you. There are coaches and programmes that can also help with this. And it’s not always easy: it can involve some challenging personal introspection and take time - but the investment is worth it.
Talking to people
Whether it’s people at the same stage as you, or people further ahead on the journey, it’s interesting to hear stories about the transitions people have made in Quarter 3. Do you have any role models of people who have gone on to other things beyond law? It’s always really good to speak to others who have made a change, find out how they approached it, and what the good and bad sides are. Whether it’s:
- within law (for example, re-training to be a criminal lawyer - yes, it has been done!)
- beyond law (becoming a coach, doing a writing course)
- or, an under-talked about area: feeling ok about not doing very much.
It can be hard to shake off that feeling that you need to be achieving something every day, especially when your time has been valued in 6-minute time slots for so long. Reading about and talking to people who have managed this transition can really help.
However busy you are now, it’s definitely worth the investment in thinking about, and talking to people about, what you might want to do in Quarter 3.
Plan ahead for it like you would do any other big stage in your life or work project. It’s the same length as Quarter 2. And for many people the most fulfilling time of their careers is in Quarter 3.
More about Charlotte
Charlotte has been working in the well-being sector for over a decade. She is a Board member (and was previously MD) at The School of Life (which offers content and therapeutic programmes helping people to develop emotional maturity - including articles, videos, app and a YouTube channel with over 9m followers).
Charlotte has a personal interest in helping people find their ‘What’s next?’ in Q3 (the ‘third quarter’ of the ‘100 year life’ ie. 50-74yrs). Charlotte started Beyond Your Career in 2022, together with co-founder Victoria Barker. Both Charlotte and Victoria have had experience of the challenges people can face at this stage in their careers, and the impact of this huge transition (including mental and physical well-being) - both of which are not widely spoken about.
The ‘Beyond Your Career’ (BYC) programme supports people as they prepare for the next stage of their careers – working with both firms (who offer it to their teams) and individuals.
BYC is passionate about the benefits of finding purpose and meaning in Q3, and how important this is for both physical and mental well-being. The BYC programme is led by team of psychologists, neuroscientists and highly experienced specialist coaches, and takes people preparing for Q3/ What's Next through a structured series of workshops– including topics such as : the stages of transition, identity, finding meaning and purpose, relationships and cognitive change. Their research (together with the University of Winchester) and interviews (with numerous professionals, before and after stepping down from their careers – including from law, accountancy and banking), is that early preparation and self-reflection are hugely beneficial in making a successful, positive transition. At its simplest, you can never start preparing too early for your own ‘what’s next?’ in Q3.
Find out more about Charlotte on LinkedIn and Beyond Your Career.
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