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Part 3 of a four part series by Richard P. Johnson, Ph.D
Founder: ReCareer, Inc.
A New Vision of Working With Midlife Career Changers
Part 3: The Four Essential Psycho-Spiritual Aspects of Midlife Career Changers If we are to be optimally successful in our coaching with Midlife Career Changers, we need to understand the issues that make midlife the difficult time that it is. These issues are fundamentally psycho-spiritual. Don't panic, we're not talking about religion here; instead, we're looking at what developmental psychologists call "developmental tasks." These tasks are psychological in that they have to do with how well we can organize ourselves internally, AND they are spiritual in that they also include how we relate to forces and factors beyond ourselves. Midlife can be a turbulent time indeed. Before the dawn of midlife the central energies of our lives were dedicated primarily to learning how the world works and trying, sometimes desperately, to figure out how we fit into this expanding and confusing calliope. It's in our early 40s when we get a firmer grip, we figure this out for ourselves, at least to a functional degree. Once this happens, without our conscious awareness, we start looking inward trying to figure out how we can find a better "fit" between "what's out there" and "what's in here" ... inside us. This process can be down right confounding, so much so that some clients descend into the psycho-spiritual vortex we call "mid-career crisis." So what do we, as midlife career coaches need to know about the central life undercurrent issues that run through the hearts and minds of our midlife clients? Here are four that I think are absolutely fundamental: Mature Living vs. Living as a Youth: Has your client been able to let go of those "self-definitions" from his/her youth and step-up to a new maturity of living? It's in the "high noon" of mid-life that we are compelled to admit for the first time that our youth is behind us, and we're called to give-up our former "youth" possessions of physical omnipotence and beauty. From now on we have to "work" for our "youthfulness." This admission of the loss of youth sets off within us a torrent of uncertainty and resultant insecurity. Some of us never find new options for self-definition and consequently never discover new options for living optimally. Assimilating Contradictions vs. Demanding Consistency: To what degree has your client embraced the role of paradox in her/his life, and the fact that personal contradictions exist within them, as opposed to demanding that all things and persons (including themselves) remain forever fixed, sure, and unchanging? During midlife we begin to understand that perhaps the faults of the world, the injustices, the inequities, and imbalances may not find resolution in our lifetime. We are forced to give-up our previous illusions that some things are wholly good and others wholly bad; that contradictions exist everywhere and seem in some as yet undetermined way to support one another. Some of us turn away from the confusion of contradiction, and want to hold-on to the adolescent illusion that personal perfection is possible! We allow no leeway, tolerate no forgiveness, and accept no humanness in our lives; we reject any defects in ourselves and in others. We ultimately become rigid and concretely opinionated; characteristics that thwart our growth and hobble career change and advancement. Purposeful Living vs. Purposelessness: To what degree has your client discovered his/her own personal "dream" ... their individual mission, and has mobilized him/herself enough to pursue it with passion? One of the "cracks" that opens (or re-opens) in midlife is the whole question of finding our true purpose. A new image of "success" dawns in midlife; our achievement-production notion of our purpose is eclipsed by the whisper of a notion that our value may just be beyond our former utilitarian efforts and attachments. In midlife we raise our gaze, and look toward a farther horizon. Positive Change vs. Fixation: To what degree has your client begun the process of reorganizing his/her personality by injecting constructive change and new positive attitudes into it? Midlife is supposed to be a time of "getting things straight," "getting our head together.' Midlife is supposed to position us to be more open to necessary change. Midlife is a time for finding (or re-finding) our bearing, and resetting our life's course; this happens slowly and seemingly without our conscious awareness. Internal change happens along just below the surface of our awareness. When our clients are fixated, these changes don't register in them and they are robbed of the possibility of deeper growth and launching a meaningful, purposeful new career. Practical Coaching Considerations: So much of the growth (change) that characterizes midlife is internal, and it can be easily missed if we are not open to it. As coaches, we're not therapists, but just knowing these four underlying vectors of internal growth, and being able to put words to these quite "fuzzy" yet powerful undertows of interiority can give freshness and richness, and even a bit of levity to a process that might otherwise be sterile and two-dimensional. Midlife career coaching is more than simply helping our clients find a job; it's about helping them find themselves. About our expert: Dr. Richard P. Johnson Ph.D. is a nationally recognized spokesperson in the field of retirement, career transition and adult development, having written and lectured extensively in those fields. His fresh ideas and enthusiasm for the wholistic aspects of adult development and maturation have inspired scores of maturing adults to follow their hearts and live more abundant lives. He is a dynamic, engaging, and compassionate teacher who delights in seeing his students grow in body, mind, and spirit. He is the former president of the American Association for Adult Development and Aging, and the founder of ReCareer Inc., a coach training organization offering certification in mature career/life planning, as well as empowering individuals for the changes necessary in the new information economy. Dr. Johnson is the creator of the ReCareer Success Inventory ©, the Retirement Success Profile ©, the LifeOptions Profile ©, and the Retirement Options © program, developed from over 20 years of retirement research and dedicated to helping people lead enriched and fulfilling lives in their second half of life. For more information on ReCareer please contact us at: info@recareerinc.com 314.369.3445 www.recareerinc.com choice, the magazine of professional coaching Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/choicemagazine Feedback is welcome at ExpertSeries@choice-online.com Visit our choice Websitechoice, the magazine of professional coaching
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