This question is something that many clients come to me with. Generally between the ages of 35-42 in this case, and having worked for a long time in some organisation, having done a career as a manager, at some point the stage trappings of the corporate game start to shine through and the question arises, “Is this really what it’s like and do I really want to be in it anymore?”.
The journey is usually a shaky one, and such an age is also a point in the development of a person’s self-consciousness where the will to be creative grows and the concern for the opinions of others diminishes, and it is not always easy to go through this developmental transition. But that is the way it has always been – we spend half our lives collecting in order to spend the other half of our lives creating and passing on what we have collected, regardless of what others think.
However, when you get to this part of development in life, and you realise that in a world of organisations where the focus is on other people and working for them (customers, employees, owners), and where personal creativity has taken a back seat to the fear of what others think, this realisation knocks you off your feet for a while. Suddenly, everything that used to matter is no longer important. As if you have been deceived.
For many, this means strained relationships at work, leaving their job for one reason or another, the stress of searching for a new job, (re)finding it and often moving back into the world of organisations and corporations. But then in a much more mature way and, most importantly, no longer taking the game too seriously, because they no longer take themselves too seriously. Working becomes more realistic, there is a choice not to get lost in the work.
Life always becomes a lot more enjoyable when we start to look at life sympathetically, but don’t take it too seriously. When we see through the games and realise that we are in one play at the moment and then we can be in another. It’s just a choice. We can still be in the play, but we understand that it’s not life.
Having been through this journey myself, and having been in the dark night of the soul at some point when the most sensible collapsed, I suppose it is logical that 90% of my 1-1 mentor clients are faced with such issues and that is why they come to me. We can only accept from someone who has had a similar experience.
I still think that the life of an organisation is one of the best forms of self-development next to a close relationship – you get to meet people you wouldn’t choose to be friends with. And if we can be observers of ourselves at that point, not taking ourselves and business life too seriously, it is a very enjoyable and hugely supportive life for self-development!
