Gold Nugget Coaching

The burned-out feeling that many mid-career workers are experiencing has been given a name: “middlescence” (see March 2006 Harvard Business Review, “Managing Middlescence” by Robert Morison, Tamara Erickson, and Ken Dyctwald). If you’re in the throes of middlescence, it may feel like an overwhelming malaise or a deep downward spiral.

There are definitely things you can do to break the malaise or spiral but, admittedly, many of the remedies can take asome time and commitment. However, I propose that there is one amazingly simple—and incredibly healthy—thing you can start doing immediately to break out of the middlescence rut.

I’ll start with an observation that springs from something the authors of the middlescence article said:

“Like adolescence, middlesence can be a time of frustration, confusion, and alienation but also a time of self discovery, new direction, and fresh beginnings.”

Based on my years of coaching, the golden opportunity in that quote is, believe it or not, “frustration, confusion, and alienation.” These are “moods” in life that many people slip into, though usually the moods aren’t recognized or acknowledged.

The powerful thing to know about moods is that they predispose us to action—or not.

Think about it. When your mood is negative, can you see new possibilities? Are you motivated to act? Perhaps a bit sometimes, but it sure takes a lot of energy. Now think about when you’re in a positive, even ambitious, mood. What is your predisposition to action then? Can you see that when your mood is positive, action is so much easier, perhaps even effortless?

The conventional wisdom is that in order to shift out of middlescence, you have to engage in a process noted by the middlescence authors: self discovery, finding a new direction, or starting with fresh beginnings. And there’s a lot of validity to that.

But I want to challenge the conventional wisdom because it’s missing an IMMEDIATE opportunity for shifting your mood, the gateway to your ambition.

You can shift your mood almost immediately through regular exercise. Here’s what I observe time and time again: when people engage in regular physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise, then after a relatively short amount of time not only do they feel physically better and stronger, but their mood starts to shift and become more positive.

I’m not going to address the underlying science or laud the other benefits of exercise—there’s a lot of information out there on both of these accounts.

My point is that for whatever reason, regular exercise can trigger a shift to a more positive outlook and a re-awakening of ambition. And ambition is essential to sustain a commitment to self discovery, new directions, and fresh beginnings.

So I invite you to do this experiment:
(Note: The experiment involves physical exercise so you must first check with your doctor and follow your doctor’s recommendations.) 

1. Before you start, get a note pad and write your (honest!) answers to these two questions:

   How would you describe your prevailing mood in life right now?

   What possibilities do you see for your future over the next five years?

2. Then start a one-month program of aerobic exercise, a minimum of three days a week, for at least 15 minutes each time. It doesn’t have to  be complicated—you don’t necessarily have to join a gym or buy expensive equipment, even just a brisk walk will do.

   Over the month, gradually increase from 15 minutes to at least 30 minutes each time. Establish a schedule at the start of the month and follow it. If you’re already regularly exercising, take it up a few notches because your body has probably settled into a certain comfort zone.

3. At the end of the month, answer the same questions above in Step 1 and take note of any shifts in your mood and the possibilities you see for yourself.

Chances are you’ll experience a positive shift in your mood. If not, and I doubt this will be the case, what’s the worst that will have happened? You’ll have, at the very least, gotten a bit healthier.

See, you have nothing to lose. Based on what you experience, you can then decide if you “like what you see” enough to commit to keeping up with the exercise.

I urge you to not pass up this relatively easy, very accessible, and healthy way to rekindle the ambition you’ll want to design your way out of middlescence.