No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to create a career plan that best reflects what you want from your professional life.

• Identify your career options: This includes taking into account your experience, skills, education and also your interests. With this information, narrow down your options as much as possible.
• Prioritise: What are your best skills and where do most of your interests lie? Is it an entirely personal decision or do you need to take your family into consideration? You need to decide what matters the most to you and what will be a deal-breaker.
• Make comparisons: Look at the pros and cons of your options. These don’t have to be completely objective, you can take subjective factors into account. But the list itself needs to be comprehensive and honest.
• Consider external factors: Think about the field you are opting for and whether there is a demand for it, or how difficult it is to get into a position. You might also want to consider whether opting for one option will require additional training while for the other you can use your current set of skills.
• Make a choice: Once you have considered these factors, you need to make a choice. Depending on the urgency of your situation, you could have multiple options that you can explore before settling on one. In other circumstances, you will need to choose an option and start making decisions that reflect it.
• Set goals which are SMART: Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. You should reflect on these goals every so often and reevaluate them and the decisions you are making if you realise that you are failing to meet them on a regular basis.
• Create an action plan: You should be realistic about where you want to be in your career at different time intervals. Check off your plan if you meet the achievements you set out for, but if you don’t, then remember that it is okay to amend them as needed.