1. Take stock. Spend quality time thinking about your life to date. Make an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, joys and disappointments. Think about what you’ve brought to the world and what else in life you’d like to do, accomplish or experience. Take notes, be open to all possibilities and allow time to really ponder your Self.

 2. Identify possible goals and options. Once you’ve searched your soul, identify new interests and possible goals for the next phase of your life. It is often said that the things that gave you the greatest joy as a child are precisely what you should be doing now. For example, if you lived inside the pages of books as a youngster, perhaps a career in writing, library science or publishing is something you should explore. Recognize that all that time you’ve spent since childhood has yielded a wealth of assets comprised of your experiences and your very own unique skill set. Think outside the box about how you might use these assets to create satisfying and enriching career/life possibilities.

3. Assess your options. Now that you’ve identified new interests and possible goals for Act II of your life, begin your research to explore the viability of each option. Start with the Internet to gather information on yourareas of interest and the current climate for pursuing these goals. Identify and talk with people who are doing what you are interested in pursuing so you can assess if this is something you would really enjoy doing. Learn as much about your new interests as possible and evaluate whether your skills and temperament are suitable. Also, examine the viability of these new paths against your specific set of criteria such as ability to generate income, creativity, freedom, travel, flexibility, etc.

4. Commit to your goal and get to work on your game plan. Based on your above assessment, choose the goal you desire most and claim it mentally. Affirm your ability to make it happen based on your commitment, intelligence, wealth of experience and skills. Map out what you need to do to pursue this particular goal. Assess the competitive environment for this dream job, consultancy, business start-up or new life direction. Identifyyour strengths and weaknesses for this goal. Create a plan to shore up the weaknesses through special training, courses and seminars, reading books and online research. Be sure to know what you don’t know, then go learn it. Discover everything there is to know about your new career/life goal and ready your plan for execution.

5. Build on your credentials. If your new direction or career path requires licensing, schedule the time to prepare for and complete licensing requirements. Take the courses and training seminars you identified above and include the certificates of completion you receive in your arsenal of credentials. Retool your resume and curriculum vitae (CV) to prominently reflect the skills, experiences and credentials you may already have that support your goal. Volunteer your time in the field to gain experience. Take on an apprenticeship if you can find one and add this to your resume. Create opportunities to experiment with your new direction—for example, ifyour goal is to become a writer, find outlets where you can begin to have your work published. This enables you to develop your craft, gain exposure and build a body of work, all of which will lead to more work.

6. Brand your new self. Identify what is distinctive about yourself and the unique approach you will bring to the field you have chosen. Use this information to create your new identity or brand yourself. For example, when I started an advertising agency back in the 1980s targeting African American consumers, we had two unique points of difference from all the other Black-owned agencies. We were the first to have a president with an MBA and solid, traditional marketing credentials. We were also the first to have consumer research capability headed by an experienced executive with a Ph.D. We built these unique capabilities into our branding. Play up your distinctions in your brochure, website and other branding tools. Create a slogan or tagline thatcaptures your uniqueness and use it everywhere. Make sure that all your selling tools and materials (logo, business cards, stationary, website, postcards, flyers, leave-behinds, etc.) are in synch and effectively communicate your brand.

7. Let the world know you’ve arrived. Start a blog, write a column in a local paper or pursue opportunities to appear on radio and television programs to communicate your brand and your unique perspective within your field. Develop a marketing and PR plan to get the word out that you have arrived. Use new projects and accomplishments as opportunities to distribute press releases. Hometown newspapers are always looking for news about local residents, so this is a great place to start. Make sure your website is exciting and use every opportunity you can to create viral messages about your new brand on the internet. Be creative, be daring and be heard!

 © Kathryn Leary 2007