Midlife Career Change with Diane Topkis

Liesel Teversham

Liesel helps HSP introverts to embrace their sensitivity as a superpower, and overcome obstacles so they can thrive. She also works with clients to solve their health issues, and has authored 2 books. More here.

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Published on2015/10/28

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About: Career | Change | Interviews | Podcast

D-Topkis-portrait Diane Topkis is The Midlife Woman’s Career Coach. She helps women gain the clarity and confidence to reinvent or re-energize their career into meaningful work for their next chapter. Her clients have successfully discovered new possibilities and developed new levels of personal and professional success. Diane loves what she does. Her very rewarding career brings a deep sense of peace, freedom, joy, and fulfillment. However, there’s a limit to how many women Diane can help through coaching. She started writing her Career Clarity ebook series to share her knowledge and experiences so more women can benefit from her proven signature process and find the clarity her clients have. Like many women, Diane was stuck in the same routine, living life by default, until she stepped off the track. Typical midlife reflections of “where am I in my life?” turned into several major life transitions. Some were planned—empty nest, divorce and some not—being laid off from her corporate marketing job of over 30 years. Working with a career coach herself, she discovered she wanted to help other midlife women find their way.

Some Points We Discussed

Diane’s retrenchment led her to seek help from a career counsellor and financial planner.
This freed up her thinking to help decide what she really wanted to do next.
She became a coach and author to help others do what they need to do long before she did.
The midlife search for meaning is a normal developmental stage.
During this stage we are more open to meaningful change, to find our authentic self and sense more freedom.
Meaningful work is work which makes a difference to us personally, what energises us and is a personal definition of success.
Knowing who you are and what you want provides personal power to make meaningful change.
We need to understand our strengths, our drivers and our values so that we sense when we are out of alignment.
Values are our core beliefs, for example, honesty, love, giving back.
We need to align our work with our values : know what you want by finding yourself first and then find the job that fulfils this.
To find clarity, we need to abandon the judgemental part of ourselves.
Be kind and compassionate but honest with ourselves.
Change doesn’t have to mean changing your career completely.
It could mean changing the meaning of the part of your career you don’t enjoy. This is explained in Diane’s ebook “Love It or Leave It. Is it time to change your career?“
To make mindful decisions, we need to keep asking “why?”
Diane’s passion is fuelled by working with clients who achieve a greater understanding of themselves.
Her career clarity ebook “A-Z , 26 keys to unlock career change success for midlife women” shares what she has learnt while working with her clients.