Having Purpose Can Be A Career Advantage in Midlife
How women who know what matters stop chasing approval—and start shaping outcomes
Hi, I’m Bonnie Marcus. Welcome to Own Your Ambition, a weekly newsletter where I offer my best advice on how to successfully navigate the workplace as a woman today. A former CEO who made it to the C Suite from an entry level, executive coach and published author, I share my experiences and lessons learned from my tenure in corporate, focusing on giving women proven tools and strategies.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what I learned from interviewing 244 badass women for my podcast, Badass Women at Any Age. One of my big takeaways, was how these women found their purpose by overcoming life’s challenges, whether it was a divorce or loss, an empty nest, a diagnosis, or loss of a job. Finding their purpose wasn’t forced. It evolved. Yet it is that purpose that fuels their passions and their work.
As women, much of our career we are taught—explicitly and implicitly—that success comes from being liked, reliable, and accommodating. Do good work. Don’t make waves. Let your results speak for themselves. Approval comes from decisions about what we say yes to, what we tolerate, and how visible we allow ourselves to be.
But at mid-career, something shifts. The pursuit of approval starts to feel hollow. The rules no longer deliver the same returns. And many accomplished women begin to realize that influence doesn’t come from pleasing others—it comes from clarity. When you know what truly matters to you, your decisions change. Your boundaries strengthen. And your presence carries more weight.
Purpose, it turns out, isn’t just personal.
It’s powerful.
Purpose Changes the Way Power Works
When we lack clarity about what truly matters to us, we often default to external measures of success—titles, praise, being seen as indispensable. Power becomes something to be granted by others rather than claimed from within.
Purpose changes that.
Research shows that people with a strong sense of purpose experience greater resilience, lower stress, and higher engagement. But there’s another, less discussed benefit: purpose reduces the need for approval.
When your work is anchored in meaning, you’re less reactive to shifting expectations and more intentional about where you invest your time, energy, and voice.
Purpose gives you leverage.
It sharpens judgment.
It strengthens boundaries.
Instead of asking, “Will this make me look good?” the question becomes, “Does this move the initiative forward?”
That shift—from validation to intention—is what transforms effort into influence.
Purpose Strengthens Resilience and Reduces Burnout
One of the most consistent findings in the research is this: people with a strong sense of purpose experience less stress and greater resilience, even when their circumstances are demanding.
Purpose-driven individuals tend to bounce back faster from stress, with less intense emotional and physical reactions.
That matters because mid-career is often when pressure peaks.
You’re managing greater responsibility, more complex politics, and higher expectations—often while navigating caregiving, health changes, or personal reinvention. Without purpose, the stress feels personal. Endless. Draining.
With purpose, stress is contextualized.
Purpose doesn’t make the workload lighter—but it makes it meaningful. And meaning changes how you interpret pressure. Instead of internalizing every setback or overextending to prove value, women with purpose conserve their energy for what actually matters.
That’s not just self-care.
That’s strategic use of power.
Purpose Is a Career Advantage
Too often, purpose is framed as a personal or philosophical concern—something separate from ambition or influence.
The research by Gallup suggests otherwise.
People who connect their work to meaning are more engaged, more motivated, and less likely to burn out or disengage. In organizational terms, they’re more likely to stay, contribute, and lead effectively.
But for women, purpose also serves another function:
It interrupts the cycle of over-giving in exchange for validation.
When your sense of worth comes from alignment rather than approval:
You negotiate differently
You tolerate less nonsense
You choose visibility with intention
Purpose shifts the source of power inward.
Purpose Clarifies Decision-Making
One of the more subtle benefits of purpose is decisiveness.
Without clarity, you can often get stuck in second-guessing:
Is this the right move?
What will people think?
Will this hurt my reputation?
Purpose simplifies the question:
Does this align with what matters most now?
That clarity doesn’t eliminate risk, but it allows you to make choices based on direction rather than fear. And that, over time, becomes influence.
Purposes Evolves in Midlife
Purpose is not fixed.
What mattered early in your career—achievement, security, proving yourself—may not matter in the same way now. That doesn’t mean you were wrong then. It means you’ve grown. Purpose evolves as you gain wisdom, experience, and perspective.
Purpose evolves as:
Your responsibilities expand
Your values sharpen
Your tolerance for misalignment decreases
Allowing your purpose to change in midlife isn’t a loss of focus.
It’s a reclaiming of agency.
Purpose Ends the Chase for Approval
When you know what matters, you stop chasing approval, visibility for its own sake, or success that looks good but feels hollow.
You:
Choose their battles
Speak with greater authority
Lead with intention rather than reactivity
Purpose doesn’t make work easy.
It makes power usable.
And at mid-career, that shift—from proving yourself to positioning yourself—may be the most important one of all.
Purpose Is Not a Destination
Here’s the part we often get wrong.
Purpose is not a single, dramatic revelation.
It’s not something you “find” once and keep forever.
Treating purpose as a fixed destination can actually create anxiety — especially if you feel behind or unsure.
In reality, it grows out of:
What you care about
What you’re good at
What you’re willing to stand for
Who you want to help
Tips to Find or Reclaim Your Purpose
Purpose becomes clearer through reflection and action — not pressure. Here’s a grounded way to start.
1. Look for Energy
Ask yourself:
When do I feel most alive or engaged?
What conversations energize me?
What problems do I naturally gravitate toward?
2. Identify What You Care About Enough to Struggle For
Purpose isn’t about ease — it’s about meaningful effort.
Ask:
What injustices bother me?
What situations make me want to speak up?
What challenges feel “worth it” to me?
What you’re willing to tolerate discomfort for is a powerful clue.
3. Notice the Impact You Want to Have
Purpose connects the self to something beyond the self.
Ask:
Who do I most want to help?
What change do I want to contribute to?
How do I want people to be better off because of my work?
Purpose Matters Now More Than Ever
In a world marked by burnout, uncertainty, and constant change, purpose offers something rare: inner stability.
It gives you a reason to persist.
A framework for decision-making.
A sense of agency when circumstances feel out of control.Happiness may come and go.
But purpose gives happiness somewhere to land.And that may be one of the most powerful success strategies — in life and in work — that we don’t talk about nearly enough.
This was a very well structured article, with solid content, very useful and high value and applicability
Purpose is indeed not a destination. It is constant and evolves over time, especially with life circumstances. What was your purpose 5 years ago, might not fit into your current trajectory, and must be readjusted, tuned up.