When Work Changes: What Comes Next?

There comes a point in many people’s working lives when the question changes. For years, it may have been: How do I grow? How do I earn more? How do I build the business, get the promotion, or take the next step?

Then something shifts. The work that once energised you no longer does. You may sell your business, be retrenched, change careers, or simply realise that you do not want the next twenty years to look exactly like the last twenty.

And the question becomes: Where to from here?

Midlife is full of these transitions. Some we choose and others arrive without warning. Either way, they invite us to pause and ask whether the way we are working still fits the person we have become.

Pause before you replace what you had

When work changes, the temptation can be to fill the space as quickly as possible. But there is so much value in pausing first.

In my recent Life Chapters, Money Choices conversation with Judy Sunasky, we spoke about how giving up work can feel like giving up part of your identity.

Judy spent 25 years building Blendwell Chemicals and began preparing her business for sale four years before she left. She put the systems in place and worked hard on the numbers. What she had not prepared for was how much of herself had become tied to the business.

She described herself as “Judy Blendwell”. After the sale, many of the routines, relationships and markers of identity that had shaped her life for years disappeared too.

“I prepared the business and the numbers, but I never prepared myself.” – Judy Sunasky

That is where midlife asks us some uncomfortable questions.

Are you being held captive by the identity you built in the first half of your life?
Are you ready to strip away that mask and embrace the person you are now?
What do you want to carry forward, and what are you ready to leave behind?

Look at what you want to take with you

By now, you have accumulated far more than you may give yourself credit for: judgement, perspective, emotional intelligence, relationships, experience and a network of contacts.

You know what you are good at. Hopefully, you also know a little more about what you no longer want to spend your time doing.

Look back over your working life and think about the times when you experienced the most joy.

When did you feel most energised?
Where did you feel you were adding the most value?
What wisdom have you accumulated that someone else could benefit from?

What comes next may simply mean taking the best of what you already know and using it differently. For Judy, that has meant coaching and supporting other entrepreneurs. Her work looks very different now, but the wisdom she built over decades has travelled with her.

Start building your parallel life

Change does not happen instantly. I am not suggesting that you resign tomorrow, sell your business and start something completely new. You need to make careful and deliberate plans.

Building a parallel life means beginning to dream and plan while you are still working or earning. It is about slowly integrating the things you may want in your future, before you need them to become your whole life.

Perhaps you start consulting or mentoring. You may study something that has always interested you, revive a hobby, test a business idea, volunteer, coach, teach or become involved in a cause you care about. You do not have to know exactly where any of it will lead. You are planting seeds so that, when the way you work changes, there is already something growing alongside it.

Keep the doors open

If you are taking a sabbatical or carving out time for reflection and planning, stay connected to your network. Share what you are exploring, and spend time in the rooms where your experience may be useful.

Even if you decide to take a break, do not disappear completely. Once confidence and connections are lost, they can be surprisingly difficult to rebuild.

Let your money support what comes next

Once you have a clearer picture of what you want your next phase of life to look like, your financial plan can help you understand what is possible.

How much do you need? How much do you still need to earn? Could you work differently or take time to learn something new? If you are selling a business, what value do you need from it to support the life you are planning?

Sometimes the plan may show that you need to continue earning for longer. Sometimes it may show that you have more freedom than you realised.

This is the real value of a financial plan. Knowing where you stand puts you in the driver’s seat and allows you to make choices with greater confidence.

If you are thinking about a change in work, listen to my conversation with Judy on Life Chapters, Money Choices about identity, purpose and preparing yourself for what comes after a business exit.

And if selling a business is part of your own transition, Tom Brukman explores the practical steps behind a successful sale or succession. Read it here.