Is 30 Too Late to Find a Meaningful Career?
“Hello! My name is Daniel. I am 30 and I still don’t know for sure what I want to do with my professional career.” This is a line that usually goes through my mind every time I meet someone new, just because I want to avoid the unavoidable question: “so, what do you do for a living?”
Nowadays, I call myself a Freelance Marketer, but not so long ago I used to work in the corporate world — long story short, it doesn’t suit me at all. But to be fair, I am not 100% sure if Freelance Marketing is also the professional career I’ve been craving since college. And you know what? I feel fine about it and you should too.
Trial and error is just part of the process
So you worked on customer service, tried labor work, or even gave sales a chance and nothing seemed to stick the landing? Congratulations, you just made a bad decision that turned out to be right. Figuring out that something doesn’t work is part of the process.
For instance, while studying Marketing in college, I had a teacher that once gave the example of a student who, while doing his Master’s thesis, tested over 50 possibilities and none produced the desired results. When he went to present his thesis, he thought he would fail to complete his Masters. However, one of the sworn teachers congratulated him on removing out of the way over 50 possibilities that would stall further studies and, of course, on his resilience.
Trial and error are a sustaining premiss of education, science, and personal growth. It is what makes us evolve and understand what is good for us and what we should avoid in order to move forward. Yes, failing is somewhat frustrating, however, it is also a fantastic way to learn from errors and failed opportunities. So that customer service job didn’t work out? Ok, but surely you learned some soft skills — like communication and adaptability — that will come in hand in a future experience.
There is no such thing as a perfect job
In an era where everyone raises the stakes so high for themselves — mostly due to social media and the fake reality that comes along with it — it is way too easy to start giving up right from the first obstacle. “Oh God, I can’t end this neverending report until the board meeting. I can’t put up with this forever!”, and suddenly you handle your resignation letter.
First of all, I did this myself once, just because I was so fed up with failing. Resigning wasn’t the bad decision though. The bad decision was doing it so early and not giving myself a chance to learn from what I considered an unfulfilling job and, ultimately, a bad professional and personal decision. Sure I was doing my job and things were somewhat working out, but because the tasks were always pilling up, I was never able to enjoy or even realize the progress I was making.
With this, I am not saying you must get your stuff together and endure a stressful and downright unhealthy job just because. What we all must understand is that there will always be highs and lows and that even the most amazing job has its setbacks, which will be stressful — or even dire at times — and that we need to overcome in order to enjoy the positives of it. In short, you have to know bad to enjoy good.
Your hobbies are just that, hobbies!
Nowadays, most career advice leans towards you monetizing what you love doing for fun, in order to professionalize it and ultimately make a living out of it, making it your dream job. But let's be honest, work is not all fun and games. Work demands effort and there will always be struggles and consequences to deal with, whilst hobbies serve the purpose of bringing you joy and recharging your emotional batteries. If a hobby of yours becomes a job, it no longer serves its purpose as you’ll end up doing it, not just because you want to, but also because you have to, as your income now depends on it.
For instance, you love photography because it allows you to go outdoors, capture moments and landscapes, and that brings you nothing but joy. If you suddenly strike a deal with a brand, to which you now owe 50 different photos, perfectly edited and in 2 or 3 cropped versions, that need to be delivered in less than a week, surely some part of you will enjoy the process, but the other part will feel stressed and anxious, because there is now a product with a due date that, if not done correctly, will affect you both financially and emotionally.
Sure you need to have some fun while you work. But, when you are doing something you only do because it brings you nothing but joy, don’t make the mistake of imposing it due dates, expectations, and a mandatory minimal income. Keep the balance between responsibilities and entertainment and you’ll see that is so much easier to keep both, instead of merging them together. And remember: it is ok to feel lost sometimes and eventually you’ll find meaning in what you do, as long as you don’t give up the search.
