In previous blogs I have talked about going back to school (it was truly one of the best things I ever did, to go back and get my MBA from NYU!) With the continuing weakened economy, and global demand for higher levels of skills and education, adults are re-enrolling in college campuses across the nation and online. The stats are convincing:[1] studies are showing that 75% of future jobs will most likely need some type of certification or licensure, and those professions that demand a BS or BA will grow 50% faster than the national average. So a college degree looks more and more a necessity and a good investment.

You think, go back to school- not at my age! But by going back, you’d be one of huge numbers: recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Education[2] are revealing that adult students are now the fastest growing demographic in the educational arena, with those numbers increasing steadily.

Baby Boomers know they will be living longer, and demand more from their lives. They want fulfillment, not just a job. More DARE-ing women aged 55 to 79 are deciding what they want to do in their next years. A report from The American Council on Education, entitled, Framing New Terrain: Older Adults & Higher Education, shows more that with older adults returning to college in record numbers, they are DARE-ing to pursue new career ideas, found new businesses, and create their lifelong dreams.

DARE MUSCLE: go back to school with your learning MUSCLE!

DARE TRIUMPH

The workshop at NYU was so successful we are still reveling in the feeling! It was a TRIUMPH! The receptivity and evaluations for the event were all TOP-NOTCH. Unfortunately, we had so much response that we had to turn people away, so we will be organizing more of these.

Let me give you another great tip from one of our panelists. Kathy Gurland, an inspiring post-40 woman who runs a hospice-care consulting firm, told us not to be afraid to go back to school, as that is where the idea for our life’s work may actually strike.

I can speak to that. Going back in my fifties to get an MBA in finance at NYU was hard, let me tell you. But it is one of the best things I have ever done. It is NEVER too late to do almost anything the mind, heart, and soul aim to accomplish.

Over the constant assault of advice – from politicos, pundits, psychologists, and financial experts – preaching and posturing across all media, my take-away is this: the best reason for being in a job or ANY situation that you don’t love is actually all about LOVE:

• LOVE for yourself, if a paying job is the only way you’ll get health benefits;
• LOVE for your family, if the job feeds, houses, clothes and keeps them safe;
• LOVE for a personal or professional goal that even an awful job enables you to pursue and sustain;

Once you finally figure out who and what deserve your love, devotion and time, strategize to manage the present and DARE to plan for the future. In my own life, I try not to fry my eyes focusing on setbacks, but rather to realize (OK, maybe, rationalize too) that the difference between the things we do for LOVE and those we do for money is sometimes hard to delineate.

In this challenging recessionary cycle, whatever your individual situation, I hope that you DARE LOVE something, someone, some activity, some place, that gives YOU a measure of gratifying return on the investment of your time, your money and, most important, your LOVE.