When Kim Foster was 17, she decided she was going to become a doctor. 

It was a feat that no one in her family had accomplished. “I just strapped in and did what I needed to do to execute on that big goal,” she says. Foster worked toward getting into medical school, graduating, and all the subsequent training. Then she practiced medicine for 20 years. “It was great for a while,” she says, “until it wasn’t anymore.” 

During the last few years as a family doctor, Foster noticed a pattern. She was often seeing patients when they were already experiencing problems—diabetes, chronic pain, heart disease. By the time they got in front of her, she says, “things were starting to fall apart.” 

She began to feel a pull toward helping people make different decisions, and also yearned to do something creative. Eventually, she decided to walk away from her medical career. Now the 54-year-old helps those who are looking to make pivots or reinvent themselves in their lives through her YouTube channel and online courses. 

Like Foster, Alexandra Aileru knows what it’s like to outgrow one’s career. The 35-year-old had worked in the education sector for eight years. She’d already been thinking about leaving her field for a while. Then she became pregnant and realized she needed to make an exit. 

Aileru transitioned into project management before realizing a few years in that she’d hit what she calls the peak of what she wanted to achieve in that role.

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