Jobs @ Career Consulting Limited

Return to career-consulting-limited.com
Managing
People
Managing Your Career
CV Examples
Coaching
Cover Letter Examples
Pre-Employment Tests


How To Answer Your Call In Mid-Life


Hank Bochenski's story proves it is never too late to walk away from a life you feel trapped in and do something that you really love.

Hank spent 30 years in demanding senior positions at large high-tech companies. By the time he went home each day, he felt like all the blood had been drained out of him.

Hank's real passion was his collection of more than 1,000 movies. He had recently spent hours converting the collection from VHS to DVD, a process he enjoyed. One day his wife walked by as he worked on this project and said, "It's too bad you can't make money doing this." Before his wife's offhand remark, he hadn't considered that he could do this full time.

He did some research and found a company called Home Video Studio Inc., in Indianapolis. HVS offers 21 services, including DVD transfers, DVD duplications, home movie transfers, photo-video keepsakes, sports scholarship videos and videotape repair.

Hank and his wife did some due diligence and decided that this was a perfect opportunity for them and they went ahead and got into the video duplication business. And to top it all off, Hank's studio is in his own home--no more 1.5-hour each way daily commute.

What Happens in Mid-Life?

Mid-life is a time of challenges and crossroads. Often we re-evaluate our relationships, become more concerned about our health or worry about whether we are as financially secure as we should be. The biggest challenges in mid-life often involve our careers, and more centrally, whether our careers are providing the fulfillment we crave, or are simply exhausting us physically and emotionally. In mid-life, fulfillment and meaning begin to compete with paychecks and perks, and the paycheck and perks usually win.

Answering the Call to Vocational Passion

Before you can take action to change the course of your life and pursue your vocational passion, it is critical to take an inventory of your life and what is really important. You must begin by understanding what is missing. You need to have a dream and a plan for achieving it.

Start by making a list of the things that are missing in your life. Is it a passion from your youth that you can never find time to pursue? Is it music, a sport, writing, cooking, activism, entrepreneurship, working with kids? It doesn't matter, as long as it is something you long to do, and have enough passion to do it full time.

You need to understand not only where your passion is, but also where your strengths lie. Make a list of the things you are passionate about, and then narrow the list to those items that present an opportunity to generate income. An interest in rock climbing suggests opening a store that sells climbing equipment. Perhaps some past volunteer work with disabled kids leads to earning a certificate to teach full time.

Once you've narrowed your list and have matched your aptitudes and interests, it's time to take a good look at your support network. Do you know people who care about what you are passionate about? If not, what organizations or social networks could you tap into to build a better personal network to help you make your big vocational change?

Begin the Journey with a Lighter Backpack

Finally, you need to think about money--how it comes in and where it goes.

Treat your money with more respect. Making better choices in how you spend your money will make it easier to free yourself to change the direction of your life.

Examine ways to "lighten your backpack." Do you really need 100 cable channels? How many shoes, credit cards and watches does it take to make you happy? Would life be any more difficult if you drove a used Toyota instead of a brand new Lexus?

These are the kinds of questions that Hank Bochenski and his family asked themselves as they made the difficult but ultimately rewarding decision to "throw it all away" for a simpler yet more fulfilling lifestyle. Hank is much happier. He is having fun every day. And while his income may be more modest than before, his family is living comfortably. His pursuit of vocational passion has cost him little materially, yet the spiritual dividends have been immense.

About The Author

Craig Nathanson is The Vocational Coach? and the author of the new book, P Is For Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day by Bookcoach Press and the publisher of the free Ezine, ''Vocational passion in mid-life''. Craig believes the world works a little better when we do the work we love. Craig Nathanson helps those in mid-life carry this out! Visit his on-line community at http://www.thevocationalcoach.com


MORE RESOURCES:


Careers | Career Opportunities  West Virginia University

Corporate  Lowe's





Jobs  City of Rochester (.gov)


Careers at TWU  Texas Woman's University

Careers  Catholic University Communications



Recruitment  St John's University News





Careers at VA  VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs

City of Tampa Careers  City of Tampa

Job Seekers  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign


Careers  BASF


Nursing jobs  VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs


Jobs at BCA  Minnesota Department of Public Safety

Careers | Human Resources  The Seattle U Newsroom - News, stories and more



Careers  Washington State University


Employment Services  American Mathematical Society





Working for ICE  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom


UF Health Careers  UF Health - University of Florida Health




Careers at Prairie View A&M University  Prairie View A&M University

Job Search Results  UnitedHealth Group

UN COMMON CAREERS  VCU Health

Career Opportunities  Gilead Sciences


Careers  S&P Global

Careers  Medline






Job Opportunities  Bellevue School District

How to Apply  FEMA

Work at Syracuse University  Syracuse University


Careers  Micron


Careers at Discovery Education  Discovery Education




Join our team  FHI 360

Careers  KPMG



Careers  Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Careers  The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation

Careers at Air Liquide  Air Liquide

Internship Opportunities | Careers  Boston Consulting Group


Search & apply for jobs  Boehringer Ingelheim


Careers in  A&O Shearman

Students and graduates  JPMorgan Chase

Work At Chess.com  Chess.com

Careers  Oregon WildBlog

Green Jobs  King County

Highest-Paying Engineering Careers in 2024  University of North Dakota






The Best Jobs in America in 2024  U.S News & World Report Money

Mental health at work  World Health Organization


20 Careers With the Most Job Security Right Now  U.S News & World Report Money




JobFeed  NSW Department of Education

Why Employees Quit  HBR.org Daily



Two unis walking the career path alongside graduates  The Australian Financial Review

Need More Information?
Site Home | Site Map | Links | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
© Career Consulting Limited.com 2011

tumblr visit counter