Now That I've Reached My Ideal Way of Working, Why I'm Thinking About the Next Step
What is the "40-year-old wall"?
Thinking about how to work from age 40 is my theme for this year. It's not that I particularly feel a wall, but I want to fantasize about and plan how to connect my career from the age of 40, which I will reach next year.
Just then, a video by Haru Oishi popped into my feed! She called it the "40-year-old wall." I was a bit curious, so I watched it.
I always listen to Haru-san's voice on Voicy. It's so fresh to hear her talk in a video!
The reason I wanted to write this note and organize my thoughts is also here. I intend to leave Malaysia and return to Japan for a while next year. For the six years since I moved to Malaysia at 33, I have been through trial and error in my own way to figure out how to connect my career.
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With what thoughts did I come to Malaysia, and how did I get to where I am now? The flow up to that point is summarized in this column.
👇 Something like a self-introduction
For a while, I even tried working locally.
👇 About life abroad and career
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Realizing an ideal way of working
Haru-san's book"Life Strategy to Overcome the '40-Year-Old Wall': Career Design to Maintain 'Money, Connections, and Health' for Life" seems to define "self-employment" as a situation where the following three things are achieved.
Work that satisfies the three elements of money, connections, and health
Work that you can find rewarding
Work where you have discretion (control)
According to these guidelines, (can I brag a little? 😁) I am currently doing a self-employed job with a very high level of satisfaction! ⭐️
・Fully remote with no commute
・Can work flexibly while doing school drop-offs and pick-ups
・After the children return from school, I can dedicate time to being a mother and my own time
・And yet, I have enough income for my current life
・The people I work with are all wonderful, so there is no stress in human relationships
・I am involved in a business that supports and empowers working women
・I also have some discretion in my assigned duties
I am savoring the happiness of being able to work in this environment, and I feel a sense of tightening my resolve to contribute even more, so I am maintaining high motivation! ⭐️
It's a big difference from the days when I commuted for nearly two hours in a crowded train with a heavy bag containing two PCs, working a full-time job just in time for daycare pick-up, and feeling exhausted because I had no time, no leeway, and no physical strength! I am realizing a quite ideal way of working.
Challenges & setbacks on the way to reaching this point
The company I work for now is my 7th. (I'm surprised now that I've counted again! I've changed jobs more than I thought 😅) Every time I changed jobs, I took on different tasks in fields of interest at the time and in positions where I could utilize my experience, so I've had various experiences.
Looking back, I think it's a huge asset that I was able to "take on a first-time challenge" every time I changed jobs. Every time I changed jobs, I had to become a beginner, and I was able to try many times while I had the physical strength and absorption capacity of my 30s, experiencing setbacks when things didn't go well and then overcoming them!
As you get older, career-up or career-change job changes as an experienced person become mainstream, and the possibility of changing industries or changing jobs without experience decreases rapidly. It's troublesome that I, who don't have a single axis of expertise, have a hard time proving my own value and track record. I think I was lucky to be able to explore my career by following my curiosity before entering my 40s.
Each of the jobs I've experienced may not have a direct relationship, but I feel that because all of those experiences are alive, I was able to encounter my current job and realize an ideal way of working.
Even though I'm satisfied with the status quo, am I anxious about the future?
While I am satisfied with my current situation, I am also honestly feeling that I want to think about my next move while I still have time, knowing that where I live and the time I spend on childcare will change in the future.
One reason for this is that I have started to want a job that I can do in person. Currently, because I am living abroad, I am taking advantage of the benefits of working fully remotely from anywhere in the world. I am working face-to-face even online, so this way of working is just right, but I miss the feeling of human energy intersecting when meeting people in person. Another reason is that since I have finally gotten used to daily life in English while living in Malaysia, I do not want to forget this feeling. I have the expectation that even if I live in Japan, I might be able to continue using English if I put myself in an environment where I work with people from diverse countries.
Looking further ahead, I also have a dream of finding a job abroad once more and, this time, living outside of Japan with my whole family.
Reflection and setting goals for the next step
I feel it would be a waste to end my last year in Malaysia just by going through my daily routine. I want to focus more consciously, and these are the three things I am thinking about now.
Organize what I have experienced and gained so far
Clarify what I want to experience in my last year to connect to the next step
Recognize my strengths and find a direction to power up my 'personal business'
Unfortunately, the ideas that come up when I think alone are not that great (laughs), so since I started thinking this way, I have already consulted with five close friends. If I think of it, I act on it immediately! is one of my strengths, so I am quick to act on these things.
It is a bit of a leap of faith, but the general direction is...
A rough self-analysis <Things I like / Things I am good at> - I like new things and change - I like meeting people for the first time - I like explaining & guiding, and event management - I like friends I can enjoy things with and team activities
One thing is to create new encounters for the next, yet-unseen new development. That said, I have friends in Malaysia whom I have known for a long time after spending over 6 years there, so another thought is that I want to do something to contribute to the community together with them! My thoughts have wandered to this vague point of starting to move in both of these directions.
As mentioned in the video on how to overcome the '40-year-old wall,' I have a premonition that as both of my children enter their teens and require less care, I will enter a generation where I focus on passing on my life experience and nurturing younger people. I feel that I am still just before that stage, and that this year and the time ahead are for preparing to become that person.
I would like to organize and record my specific goals and how I will enjoy each of them.