Maria Braun

What will family and friends say if I, a man with a university degree, take up tree felling, roof cleaning, renovation or car sales?

Are you haunted by the thought of changing something? You even have a few ideas for a new business, but you don't do anything about it? A few weeks agonise over the idea but you don't take a step towards implementation?

There have been a lot of articles in the press lately about changing your working life, especially around 50. In your 40s, professional burnout starts to get to you, you start dreaming of running your own guesthouse by the sea or herding sheep in the Bieszczady Mountains. You think you don't want to be doing the same things you've been doing for the last 20 years until retirement, but you're still stuck.

 But what could you do to earn money and be happy at the same time?

For a few years now, I've been thinking and thinking and then getting annoyed because nothing will change from just thinking. Recently, I've even got to the point where, after all, in the few years that I've been thinking about changing, I'd have already finished my new degree!

Above all, I wonder what's stopping me from taking a step towards a new working life. And here are my thoughts, and conclusions from conversations with my clients and business friends:

The PRL generation - studies are a must!
First and foremost, the current 45-50 year-olds, i.e. those who are affected by professional burnout and want to change their profession because retirement is still a long way off and it's worth doing something interesting, are people who grew up in the previous system, in the People's Republic of Poland. These are people who either took a vocational path and went to vocational schools and technical schools, or studied at high school and then went to university. Graduation and defence were highly valued, and those who fell too early into the clutches of wild capitalism and didn't have time to defend their thesis were in the minority. I would even say that parents and friends of such people, greatly regretted that their child had not defended and obtained a Master's degree. Why am I writing about this? Because we have grown up (yes! I belong to this generation too) with the feeling that in order to earn something, you need to have a proven education for it. There is certainly a lot of truth in this if you are trained as a doctor, lawyer or architect.  But there are plenty of other professions where this is not so crucial. Even though I haven't worked in a learned profession myself for 20 years (I'm an English translator by training), when I think about a new profession for myself, I am haunted by the thought that I don't have a degree in that field. That I would have to go to a new university, but I don't have the energy or the inclination. Problems pile up in my head, time passes, and in the meantime.... When I talk to people 10-15 years younger than me, the so-called Millenials, or generation Z, it turns out that in many cases vocational courses are enough for them to feel that they have a trade in hand.

A year or so ago, when I was mulling over what to do after I closed my business, I came up with the idea that I would like to look into activating seniors. And what did I do first? I started looking for postgraduate studies in this field and asking myself what kind of education I would need to have to be able to do this.

Meanwhile, a colleague 15 years younger than me, who is a personal trainer, says to me: Maria, but what do you care? After all, most of the fitness and health market is made up of people after a few courses, including mostly online hens lately!  And I answer her: Kasia, but I wouldn't be able to do that, after all, according to me, to be a trainer you have to be after the AWF, and to be a nutritionist you have to be after dietetics!!!

Or am I wrong?

And this is where another topic comes in:

Imposter Syndrome
I learnt about this concept quite recently while listening to the Psyche Zone podcast of SWPS University, precisely about Imposter Syndrome. It is a state in which people, despite their objective successes and competence, feel a strong sense that they do not deserve their achievements and fear that they will soon be exposed as frauds. This condition affects women more often than men, but I think it may also be linked to an ingrained thinking of education as a basis for action.

After all, working, for example, in the e-commerce industry, as I have done for 18 years, I have much more experience in this field and practical knowledge than people who graduated with such a profile but do not work in it. 20 years after graduation, our experience counts for a lot more than our education.

Looking at what we could do in the future, perhaps we could get a new profession by doing some solid vocational courses and applying ourselves to a new job?  Maybe this is the right approach now?

I struggle with thinking about myself in this way and listening to people younger than me I definitely come to the conclusion that if we feel the need to change, we should try! Perhaps the first idea won't be the target one. Maybe going into the fitness industry we will end up in dietetics, or maybe starting with an online shop we will end up as a marketing agency, or a Google partner or an agency o

Adres

ul. Złota 11
00-123 Warszawa

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kontakt@mariabraun.pl

+ 48 697 993 960

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