Mindset and Career Reinvention: What Midlife Professionals Need to Know

Career reinvention for midlife professionals

If you’re in your 40s or 50s, facing burnout, redundancy, or repositioning after major life changes — mindset is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s the foundation for everything: your confidence, clarity, and credibility.

You’ve got decades of experience. You’ve delivered results, led teams, solved crises. And yet suddenly, the job hunt feels alien. The rules seem to have changed. Job ads feel vague. Recruiters go silent. You know your worth — but others don’t seem to see it.

This is where mindset matters most to help you with career reinvention for midlife professionals.

1. Grit Is Grown, Not Given

At 16, I joined the British Army — rough around the edges but hungry to prove myself.

From Harrogate Army Apprentice College to Blandford Signals training, to a posting with 3 UK Division — I was shaped by military life. Bosnia and Kosovo gave me my first taste of true resilience. By 21, I was on my second operational tour when tragedy struck: I learned that my cousin Nicola and uncle Ray had died in a car crash in the south of France.

I had to box up that pain and complete the tour. Only when I got home did the grief fully hit. But it changed me. I’ve lived every day since as if I’m living for two people — me and Nicola.

That mindset fuelled me through Army PTI courses at Aldershot, Special Forces support in Wales, and training others at ATR Bassingbourn. And it still fuels me today.

2. Find Opportunity in Every Situation

After the Army, I worked in high-risk oil and gas roles across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The days before deployment — especially 6-month rotations — were always the hardest. Anxiety, guilt, sadness.

But I used a powerful tool: Cognitive Reframing. I changed the meaning of the experience.

• I wasn’t abandoning my family — I was building for them.

• I wasn’t overwhelmed — I was stepping into my Stretch Zone.

That model — from Karl Rohnke — teaches us:

• Comfort = safe but static

• Stretch = growth and challenge

• Panic = unproductive and harmful

True development happens in the stretch. And that’s where I lived most of my life — not just geographically, but mentally.

It’s also what Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset is all about: believing that ability can be developed, especially when you embrace discomfort.

My personal mantra?

“Find the opportunity in every situation.”

3. Calm Isn’t Instinct — It’s Trained

People often comment on how calm I am in a crisis. But that calm was earned.

In 2016, when my stepdaughter Sydnee passed away at just 15, I had to steer our broken family through grief. Earlier, I was at the scene when a family member was killed by a bus in central London — just minutes after I’d been with him. I kept composure, dealt with the authorities, and delivered the news to his family.

I didn’t fall apart, not because I didn’t feel it — but because someone had to lead.

This is the Stockdale Paradox in real life: face the brutal facts, while never losing faith.

The same mindset helped me survive my 2022 diagnosis: Multiple Myeloma, spinal cord compression, bone disease, and a broken back. My family cried. I didn’t. I said:

“Stop crying. We need a plan. I’m going to fight.”

And I have. Every day since.

4. Mindset Tools That Still Guide Me

Here are tools I still use — and you can too:

• Stretch Zone Thinking – Growth happens outside comfort

• Mantras – “Aim for success.” “Find the opportunity.”

• Reframing – You can’t control the facts, but you can choose the frame

• Therapy – Asking for help is strength, not weakness

• Purpose – Even from my armchair, I can still lead

Why This Matters for Executive Branding

Mindset directly shapes how you show up professionally:

• It helps you own your story, not hide it

• It turns “gaps” into growth and experience into edge

• It transforms your career narrative from reactive to powerful

Mindset is the foundation of your personal brand. And your brand is what opens doors in your 40s, 50s, and beyond.

Want Help Repositioning Your Career?

At Bigger Fish Executive Branding, we help professionals like you rebuild with clarity and confidence after disruption, illness, or transition.

We’ll help you:

• Create a standout CV that reflects your depth

• Write an authentic LinkedIn profile that positions you as a leader

• Craft messaging that tells the real story — your story

Email the team at executive.branding@bigger-fish.co.uk or vistit the website at www.bigger-fish.co.uk

“You’ve done the hard work. Now let us help you show it.”