Career Longevity: What it’s About
This article is speaking primarily to those who are passionate about their career and feel strongly aligned with it - and would like to stay in their current career path for a long time. And if you are looking to switch careers, this article might shed light on why it feels like the right thing to do.
Have you noticed that in the last few decades, we’ve been thinking and talking more about the “long term?”
In various areas of life, but mostly - about life itself. How long we’re projected to live, and how to make that time as healthy and happy as possible. How to set ourselves up for thriving success years down the road, and enjoy everything we enjoy now for as long as possible - and share it with loved ones. It’s an excellent thing to be thinking about.
It’s also becoming more of a trend! Which speaks to how many people are now recognizing the value of preventative effort when it comes to wellbeing and life expectancy.
This is important, because preventative effort is hard to sell. It’s much easier to sell a post-crisis solution that aims at “reversing” the effects of the crisis and restoring things back to how they were prior to the crisis. With the case of life (and life-threatening conditions), it’s easy to see that “reversal” will be much, much more difficult than prevention.
The trend around longevity gained popularity, in part, because preventative effort is the only viable way to increase longevity. Change your lifestyle, adopt new habits - increase your chances at a longer lifespan.
A longer potential lifespan allows us to achieve more of our goals. Perhaps do more good for the world. Perhaps learn something about health and wellbeing that will help others. Thinking about our longevity is a really positive and proactive thing to do.
A NEW CONCEPT
So let me introduce a new concept: career longevity. Something that would allow us to do more of the above, as well: more achievements, more good for the world, more helping others.
Career longevity is similar to life longevity: if we found a career path that we enjoy, we want our time there to be as healthy and happy as possible. We want to enjoy what we do, the rewards of our job, the growth, the results, for as long as possible. We want to be a thriving success.
This is especially true if your career aligns with your values and you see yourself making a big impact on your current path for many years to come.
To Quit or Not to Quit?
The unfortunate reality is that many people have to cut their careers short due to health concerns: physical (chronic illness), mental (anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc.), or emotional (burnout). Many others have to cut their careers short because their workplaces are too demanding, too stagnant, or too hostile.
The reasons for quitting (a job or an entire career path) are varied, but the themes are similar. For some of these people, quitting their career is an opportunity to redirect their lives towards their true calling (if their career was unsatisfying or unsustainable from the start). But for many others - this is a tragedy, because they truly love what they do and want to continue doing it.
It’s important to distinguish between a career path that you are passionate about, and a career path that doesn’t inspire or satisfy you. Burnout can happen with both. In one case, it’s best to change direction. In the other, you need career longevity and sustainable growth.
I work with many clients for whom quitting their job is not the right answer.
They are burned out, experiencing physical symptoms or mental distress, and they must take a lengthy break from their job - but they still feel a connection with their career path, with their workplace, and with their mission there.
We explore their options together in detail, and find that the options of quitting or pivoting don’t help them achieve their life goals.
If you feel that your career path helps you satisfy your life’s mission, this article is for you. This is the time to begin thinking about your career longevity.
What Does Career Longevity Look Like?
In short, career longevity is satisfaction + sustainability.
If you’re satisfied with your job(s), your input, your impact, your day, your lifestyle, your team, your pay, and if you are able to do it for as long as you want to without negative health consequences - you’ve got it!
To dig a bit deeper, here are some important aspects of career longevity:
Regulating your nervous system and stress levels as a part of your daily or weekly routine,
Avoiding burnout (yes, it’s possible!),
Having a strong long-term vision for your career,
Taking necessary breaks of appropriate lengths (from 3-minute breaks throughout the day, to month-long vacations after big projects when possible),
Growing your career at a sustainable and appropriate pace (not too fast, not too slow),
Knowing your strengths and capitalizing on them in order to grow professionally,
Healthy prioritization (at work and in life),
Healthy boundaries,
Strong sense of self (your identity, your strengths, your values, what you stand for, who you are),
Strong alignment with your values and your inner compass,
Increasing delegation of tasks to others (team, family members, etc.),
Continuous education on leadership, personal growth, and communication,
Checking in with your big life goals regularly to make sure your career path is still the best path for you.
As you might notice, career longevity requires a multifaceted approach.
This multifaceted approach can be broken down into four big categories: health (physical, mental, emotional), rest and balance, professional growth, and alignment with self.
It may seem like a lot, but remember: this is a continuous process spanning many years, and small progress is still progress. Just like with life longevity, career longevity is a way of life.
And the key to it is the same as the key to wellbeing - preventative effort. Unlike your health, however, your career is dependent on more than just you: it’s also dependent on your job. And in order to achieve career longevity through preventative effort, both “parties” involved need to be on board: you, and your workplace.
Industry & Workplace
Before we get into specific action steps, it’s important to discuss what is within our individual control and what is not. Much depends on industry, company culture, and upper leadership. Some of you might feel called to create enduring change in your workplace and even in your field (several of my clients are such agents of change), but others might not feel inclined to direct your effort here.
Either way, start with an analysis of what factors are within your control, by the four categories above: health, rest and balance, professional growth, and alignment with self. Take a critical look at your workplace and your industry. Some questions to think about could be:
How is your company addressing the issues around employees’ mental health?
What is the company culture regarding rest, breaks, vacations, and work-life balance?
Does your workplace offer leadership support, career coaching, or continued education opportunities within your field?
How are the growth opportunities at your current company?
Does your company have a high turnaround?
Is your field/industry supportive of women leaders?
Is your field/industry receptive to social change, diversity and inclusion, and shifting work-life balance?
Does your field/industry allow you to take as much time off as you need?
A workplace or field that is actively sabotaging its employees’ career longevity (through sabotaging their health, rest and balance, and professional growth) is not a healthy workplace or field - and will eventually see the negative consequences of not prioritizing people over profit.
Some industries are not predisposed towards career longevity. In this case, the categories of rest and balance, professional growth, and even health might be outside of your direct control.
This is not ideal, of course. A workplace or field that is actively sabotaging its employees’ career longevity (through sabotaging their health, rest and balance, and professional growth) is not a healthy workplace or field - and will eventually see the negative consequences of not prioritizing people over profit.
I’ll explore this further in a separate article.
This conversation needs to happen on a systemic level. Until then, I will continue to provide strategies for improving what is within your individual control. Which brings us back to: preventative effort.
Preventative Effort for Career Longevity
To continue using the analogy between life and career, let’s break down what preventative effort is in tangible terms.
In health, and for longevity, preventative effort is the culmination of all your positive, intentional, conscious daily choices that support wellbeing: choosing to eat a certain way, choosing to move your body a certain way, choosing to prioritize your tasks in a certain way, choosing time in nature, choosing the right healthcare team for yourself, choosing to support proper sleep, choosing to take care of symptoms before they become ailments.
The choices seem endless, but after some time they become a way of life. Perhaps you get 8,000 steps every day and don’t even think about it - but it began as a conscious decision, and it’s likely to be contributing to your longevity. Perhaps you’re used to eating a homemade lunch and don’t typically opt for takeout. Perhaps you got into a habit of listening to calming music before bed.
These are small choices, but they are intentional and they contribute to something bigger. And over time, as they become second nature, you’re able to add on new habits, new daily choices, that support longevity.
Preventative effort can be that simple. It works the same way for career longevity. If you’re experiencing a lot of stress and frequent burnout, it may be necessary to do some “first aid” (major lifestyle interventions, therapy, coaching, mindfulness classes), but after that it’s just a matter of building up a lifestyle of positive, intentional, conscious habits.
Habits become routines. Routines become lifestyle. Shifting your lifestyle, little by little, opens up room to grow further and make more changes. The continuous process of career longevity thus becomes easeful and natural - and the goal itself becomes attainable. The goal, of course, being: a long, rewarding, interesting, sustainable, thriving career.
Actions that support career longevity
To summarize, the action steps for career longevity are aimed at building a supportive lifestyle out of daily choices, and revolve around four major categories: health, rest and balance, professional growth, and alignment with self.
In future articles, I’ll explore these in detail, because this is a big topic that deserves more attention. For now, I’ll present you with a few specific preliminary ideas and steps to think about. These might help you create your own definition of career longevity (after all, each of us has their own unique values, goals, and definition of success), and aid you in picking a direction of growth to explore further right away.
Your Career Longevity:
For how long do you hope to grow and thrive in your current career?
Is career longevity important for your life mission and bigger life goals?
Is your field/industry supportive or conducive (synonym?) towards career longevity?
Does your workplace and upper leadership promote, support, and ensure career longevity? In which categories is it excelling, and in which is it lacking?
Your Direction for Growth:
Which major categories from above do you feel really solid in right now? In which areas are things doing well? (Are you enjoying excellent physical and mental health? Do you feel really aligned with your job and career path? Do you have plenty of opportunities for professional growth available to you? etc.)
What’s one thing that needs to change (either in your workplace or in your habits) to improve any one of the categories?
Is your current career path still right for you and your bigger life goals, or does it need an adjustment in direction?
Think of a person in your life who has a stellar example of career longevity. Analyze them in terms of the above categories. What did they do really well to ensure their career longevity?
In my coaching, I help my clients develop their vision, goals, and an actionable plan in each of the four categories of career longevity. We work on physical energy, emotional wellbeing, avoiding (or healing from) burnout, regulating the nervous system, rest and balance, prioritization and boundaries, identity and strengths, and a deep understanding of self - and aligning their career path, effort, and actions to their true self.
If this is an important topic for you, reach out to me!
Let’s talk about how I can help support your career longevity.
