Continuing the theme of making a living in a place you’d rather not be is Marti Smye’s Is It Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus? A Guide for Your Second Life . The bottom line answer from this book is no, it’s not too late to change.
Through numerous examples of people who successfully and radically changed career course or modified careers with part-time avocations, Smye, a counselor and consultant, shows you can get to that new lawn if you are convinced the grass is greener on the other side of the street.
Smye profiles many capable people who found they were unhappy with their lives. Rather than try to change themselves, they changed their environments. The author is particularly good on how one should reality-test dreams of change. You have to be able to take some immediate action, even if it’s small, toward your goal, if it is a realistic one, Smye writes. She also advises people to stick with their core competencies (which are different from skills, which can be learned) even when making big career changes. There are a number of worksheets and checklists to help people figure out what it is they really want to do and then how to get there.
