Is it too late to change careers? What that question is really asking

“Is it too late?” is one of the first things people say to me. It sounds like a question about age or years. It almost never is.

What the question hides

Underneath it there is usually a different question: what if I try and it doesn’t work? That one is about fear, not about time, and it deserves a straight look instead of a calendar.

A better question

Ask what staying costs you. Not in theory, but this year, in energy, in confidence, in the person you are at home after work. Once that number is on the table, the decision tends to look very different.