Looking at many people in their day to day lives, learning what they do for a living, most of us would think that they chose that livelihood; they chose the way they would earn their income for the foreseeable future. Many people do in fact carve their own career path from the get-go, some fell into a career and stuck with it because they loved it or because the pay was good or maybe even both! (Lucky!!)

Life hands us a deck of cards and sometimes the hand we are dealt just doesn’t work the way we had planned, call it bad odds, call it beginners’ luck, for some reason or another we all have to make sacrifices and hard decisions within our lifetimes. One of the greatest decisions of all to make?

“What do I want to be when I grow up?”

I don’t know about anyone reading this, but I know that was the hardest decision I had to make as a teenager/young adult. I was stifled by indecision and wanted a little bit of everything. I took Aptitude Test after Aptitude Test, none cementing my resolve in a career field any further and even now as a fully-fledged “adult” with a small human of my own to ask the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” my answer is still fluid and ever changing. 

Some days I want to be an entrepreneur, other days I want to be a housewife that does yoga and drinks extravagant coffee.

So, did you choose your career path or did life choose for you? 

If your answer is the latter, I’m here to tell you - it’s never too late for a change. People are going to university later on in life and re-training into entirely new career fields (hello, becoming a lawyer at 40!) There is no age limit on passion and drive. The opportunities are endless in a day and age where accessibility and online learning is the norm. 

So, here’s our quick-fire guide into moving on and moving up.

1. Find your vibe and find your passion. Do you love carpentry? Want to be a florist? Think the influencer life might be for you? What is THAT THING that makes you feel truly happy and fulfilled.
2. Learn. Discover some courses you can take to help you gain my knowledge in your passions. There are some excellent free skill sharing platforms online as well as videos to watch on your particular field of interest. Lastly, there are tonnes of E-Learning Courses (Make Me An E-Learner is always at hand for your online learning needs!) and further from that there are courses at local colleges or community centres.
3. Find your tribe. Find all the other people who have the same passion as you. I’d be willing to bet there are plenty of people who would love to heart your pictures of flowers blooming on a gorgeous day, to see the video of you building that out of wood from start to finish. Engage with likeminded people who can further your knowledge in your field of interest.

So, take the leap. Do the course, start the business, make your side hustle - your main hustle, chase the dream. Get the assistance where you need it (Did someone say, “Getting Your Dream Job Plan?!”) Do whatever it is that makes you feel happy and fulfilled, even if that means staying exactly where you are!