How to know if you’ve left it it too late to create the career you want
Have you left it too late to create the career you want? Or are you telling yourself time is running out to make a change?
If you’re a senior leader at a career crossroads and you’re circling these very questions, today I’m giving you a filter to run your situation through.
The leaders I work with are typically in their 40’s or 50’s. I remember one client telling me in our very first consult: ‘I turned 50 last year, I figure I’ve got 10-15 years until retirement and I want to make the most of this time.’
Yet one of the most common things I hear is: What if I’ve left it too late?
Often it’s the first time they’ve said it out loud — and something they haven’t admitted to anyone else.
The short answer to this question is: It’s NEVER too late. But there are a few things which will keep you at a crossroads longer than you need to be — regardless of your age or circumstances.
So in this article, I’m walking you through a 5 part checklist to assess your current situation. Find out if you’ve left it too late and what to do instead to start creating the career you want.
#1 — YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME
The first way to know you haven’t left it too late to create the career you want is: You BELIEVE you have plenty of time left in your career.
Statistically, if you’re 50 and plan to retire by 65, you still have 10-15 years of work ahead of you. Or 20 + years if you’re still in your 40’s.
But there’s a difference between knowing you have time and believing those years are worth designing intentionally.
Because at this stage, what you want from your career can start to shift. It’s often no longer only about making money or climbing the corporate ladder. You may also want leave a legacy, do more meaningful work or balance it with your health, hobbies or time with loved ones.
Many people are working well beyond retirement too. They want to continue making a contribution or to give back by starting a business, taking on a board role or doing part-time consulting work.
Still, time isn’t guaranteed. I think about my Dad, who worked incredibly hard his entire life and passed away a couple of years before he got to enjoy retirement.
I don’t mean to sound morbid but it’s the truth. Right now you have time, so make sure you use it.
So how do you want to spend this next career chapter? Because when you believe these years are worth it, you will design this next career chapter intentionally — rather than letting time run out.
#2 — YOU’RE READY TO WORK OUT WHAT’S NEXT
The second way to identify you haven’t left it too late is: You’re willing to invest the time to work out what’s next.
But if you’re already busy, it’s easy to believe you ‘don’t have time’ to figure out what you want. So you wait until your latest project wraps, you return from leave or the kids are at school full-time — and keep putting it off.
Or you default to what you’ve been conditioned to do — applying for new roles or reaching out to your network for the next opportunity. It may sound like progress, but the problem is you don’t know what you REALLY want.
Because without understanding what’s missing in your current career or what you want, those issues will follow you to your next role. I see it all the time: Clients who come to me 2 years later at a crossroads, wondering how they ended up in the same position.
And when you’re worried you’ve left it too late, it’s even more essential to act NOW.
This doesn’t have to take a lot of time compared to how long you’ve already been avoiding it. Investing a few months now will set you up for the next 10, 15, even 20 years, so you have clarity on what the next decade or two looks like.
This is the exact problem I help my clients solve — and the structured process we work through allows them to find clarity faster than doing it alone.
Because if you’re NOT willing to invest the time to figure it out, that’s fine — but it’s a personal choice. You’ll simply be standing at the same crossroads in 5 or 10 years’ time.
When you invest the time now, you will work out what you want next in your career.
#3 — YOU TAKE IMPERFECT ACTION
The third way to know you haven’t left it too late to create the career you want is: You take imperfect action.
As a high-achieving leader, you’re prone to perfectionism and may wait until you have the ‘perfect plan’ before moving. And when you’re very logical and strategic in your approach, you can get caught up in research or analysis paralysis and avoid taking action.
But if you’re not prepared to test, experiment or take action, you WILL leave it too late. I know that sounds blunt, yet it’s the truth. And I think it needs to be said more often.
I remember exploring my career options before moving into the work I do now. When it came to setting up conversations with people doing work I was interested in, I really resisted.
Not because I lacked the confidence to reach out — quite the opposite. As an extrovert who’d spent the past decade in sales, I LOVED talking to people! What held me back at first was that my identity was tied up in work.
Because what would people think if I considered doing something different? And who would I even BE without the successful career and work I was known for?
Still I reached out anyway, despite the discomfort. Within a couple of months, this one action alone helped me clarify what I wanted to do next and build new connections with people who still support my career today. If I wasn’t willing to put in the work and get uncomfortable, I would NEVER have built the career I have now.
When you take imperfect action, it will never be too late to create the career you want.
#4 — YOU’RE NOT USING TIMING AS AN EXCUSE
The fourth way to determine you haven’t left it too late is: You’re NOT using timing as an excuse. Because what’s really hiding beneath “I’m running out of time” is FEAR.
The fear of what others will think if you step away from a ‘successful’ career. Fear of failure. Anxiety about throwing away everything you’ve invested into your current career over the past 20+ years.
And with it all on the line, you’re worried about making the wrong choice…
The closer you feel to running out of time, the bigger the fear. Because the stakes are higher and you have more to lose than you did in your 20’s and 30’s.
When I first changed careers and moved into the work I do now, I felt like I was starting again. So instead of backing myself, self-doubt kept me doing ‘busy’ work behind the scenes.
This looked like trying to create the perfect website or LinkedIn profile before putting anything out there. But what actually got results and built my confidence was sharing my work and getting feedback from the market.
Here’s what I NOW know to be true: There’s no such thing as making a ‘wrong’ move — it’s learning. Every imperfect step gives you data that points you in the right direction.
So if you refuse to use timing as an excuse out of fear, see it as evidence you haven’t left it too late.
#5 — YOU’RE OPEN TO WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
The final way to know you haven’t left it too late to create the career you want is: You’re open to what success looks like in this season. EVEN if it’s different to what it looked like in your 30’s.
If you’re anything like me, success at 30 meant putting your head down, working hard and striving for the next pay rise or promotion. You were in the growth phase of your career, driven by money, status and other external markers of ‘success’.
Because there’s one clear definition of and pathway to success — and once you’re on it, you don’t question it. Until one day, you hit the ceiling in your current company, team or industry and are wondering where you can go next.
Or suddenly, it feels like something’s missing. You want MORE — and chasing money or titles alone doesn’t cut it anymore. Like me, you could have hit the point of burnout or are finding yourself at a crossroads, questioning what you want next.
As a high-achieving senior leader, that ambition doesn’t leave you in your 40’s, 50’s and beyond — it looks different. What happens is life gets busier with big financial and other life commitments like kids, a mortgage and aging parents.
And once you’ve reached a certain income, title or level of success, your priorities expand. Success in this current season or life stage could look like making an impact, doing fulfilling work or creating room for other areas of life outside your career.
If you’re NOT open to redefining success in this season, you’ll remain caught at this crossroads and risk never creating the career you want.
When I think of the perfect example of someone who has redefined success and is living proof it’s never too late to create the career you want, my client Julie comes to mind. Julie was a guest back on Episode #53 of the podcast, where she shared about navigating a career crossroads after decades as a financial planner and non-executive director.
When we started working together, Julie had already built and sold a successful financial planning business, then pursued another career. She came to me the year she turned 60 to work out what she wanted in this next career chapter.
What she created was a new business mentoring financial planning leaders and developing the next generation of advisers in her industry. In our interview, she talks about her motivations for launching a company at a stage when many people choose to slow down in their careers.
When you know what success looks like in this season and you’re intentionally creating your career around it — that’s the final sign you haven’t left it too late.
So there you have it. The 5 ways to tell you haven’t run out of time to create the career you want. Let’s do a quick recap and use my client Julie as an example.
First, she believed she had plenty of time left. Second, she was willing to invest in figuring out what she wanted next. Third, she took action instead of waiting for the ‘perfect’ moment.
Fourth, she didn’t use timing as an excuse out of fear. And finally, she was open to redefining what success looked like in this current season.
So have you left it too late? Run yourself through the same filter. But the answer is almost always NO — unless you choose it.