FIGURING OUT — Why Being Perpetually Confused at 35+ Is a High-Risk Ride You Don’t Realize You’re On
FIGURING OUT — When the Learning Curve Becomes a Liability Curve. It is an adorable phrase when you’re 22. Your manager forgives it. Your coworkers expect it. Your job description quietly allows it.
But when a mid-career professional is still whispering “I’m figuring it out…” the workplace hears a different sentence:“I’m not ready for the next level.”
1. The Figuring-Out Phase Is Natural in the 20s
The early years are an emotional anthem of confusion, of googling everything, learning by stumbling, pretending confidence while debugging your soul at night.
That confusion is normal at 23. It is expected at 24. It is forgivable at 25. But then something shifts.
2. When You’re 30–45, “Figuring Out” Starts a Silent Countdown
If you’re still confused at this stage, the system quietly labels you as:
- “not leadership material”
- “not future ready”
- “not promotable”
- “not strategically relevant”
The market moves fast. AI moves faster. Your career cannot still be buffering. Companies don’t say it aloud, but the truth is harsh: Mid-career professionals who are still figuring out their role get pushed aside for those who have figured out the next decade.
3. The Risk Is Not Losing a Job, It’s Losing Your Identity
When you keep “figuring out” for too long:
- Your confidence cracks.
- Your value feels shaky.
- Younger colleagues start overtaking you.
- Senior leadership stops involving you.
- Your job becomes execution-only, not decision-making.
This is the emotional point where mid-career professionals secretly say: “Yaar… I’m too old to be confused and too young to be irrelevant.”
4. Why This Happens More Today
Because the pace of change has exploded. Every new tool, dashboard, AI model, workflow, KPI requires re-learning.
If your organization doesn’t invest in you, you drown. If you don’t invest in yourself, you vanish.
“Figuring out” becomes a permanent survival mode.
5. The Green Economy Offers the One Place Where Figuring Out Is Not a Red Flag
This is the twist that makes this justification so powerful: In the Green Economy, EVERYONE is figuring it out — even CEOs.
Why? Because the sector is evolving in real time. Fresh problems. Fresh solutions. New models. New industries. New policies. New science.
You’re not behind. You’re in sync.
Green companies EXPECT mid-career confusion, because they know confusion means potential, curiosity, humility, and genuine adaptability. These are leadership qualities, not liabilities.
6. The Safer Ride Is Not the Familiar Job — It’s the Greener Track
If you remain “confused” in your current job:
- you risk stagnation
- you risk being replaced
- you risk being skipped
- you risk emotional burnout
- confusion becomes creativity
- mistakes become innovations
- questions become breakthroughs
- your experience becomes a superpower
Because in climate, energy, agriculture, waste, circular economy, impact ventures — nobody has all the answers. But mid-career thinkers can build them.
7. FINAL TAKEAWAY
If you’re still figuring things out at 35–45, don’t panic, just change the playground.
In your current job, confusion is a warning sign. In the Green Economy, confusion is an entry ticket.
Switch the track, not the talent. Move to the sector where figuring out isn’t a weakness, it’s the beginning of meaningful, purposeful reinvention.