The Science of Career Reinvention: Finding Fulfillment at Any Age with Dr. Shelly Rauvola

What happens when you achieve the professional success you’ve spent years pursuing, only to discover that you’re no longer certain what comes next?

For many people, career reinvention begins with dissatisfaction. For others, it begins with success itself—a moment when reaching a long-anticipated milestone prompts deeper questions about identity, fulfillment, and the next chapter of life.

In this episode of Off Course, part of our The Science of Reinvention series, host Walter Lis speaks with Dr. Shelly Rauvola, Associate Professor of Psychology at DePaul University, about the psychology of work, aging, burnout, and the pursuit of a meaningful life.

Rauvola leads DePaul’s Worker Aging, Stress, and Health Equity Research (WASHER) Lab, where she studies how organizations can support workers across the lifespan, including individuals whose experiences and needs may be overlooked by traditional workplace policies.

Why Career Success Doesn’t Always Bring Fulfillment

Rauvola’s interest in human behavior began early in life. As a shy child, she found herself observing the people around her and wondering why individuals sometimes appeared unhappy even while pursuing activities and goals they believed they wanted.

That curiosity eventually led her into psychology and academic research, where she continues exploring the relationship between people’s choices, their environments, and their well-being.

One important theme emerged throughout the conversation: professional fulfillment is rarely determined by career choice alone.

People make career decisions within a complicated network of personal responsibilities, financial considerations, social expectations, relationships, and cultural influences.

Rauvola describes much of her research as examining the interaction between the person and the environment. Understanding who we are matters, but so does recognizing the circumstances in which we work and live.

A career that once seemed ideal may become less sustainable as our responsibilities, priorities, or personal circumstances change.

The Relationship Between Meaningful Work and Burnout

Finding meaningful work is important, but Rauvola cautions against assuming that fulfillment automatically protects us from burnout.

She describes burnout in terms of an imbalance between the resources available to a person and the demands placed upon them.

Even someone who finds their work deeply rewarding may experience burnout when excessive responsibilities, difficult workplace relationships, financial pressures, or other stressors overwhelm their available resources.

In fact, burnout can eventually diminish the satisfaction people previously experienced from activities they found meaningful.

This distinction raises an important question for anyone contemplating career reinvention: Is the problem the work itself, or the conditions under which we’re performing it?

Sometimes meaningful change requires a new professional direction. Other times, it may require better boundaries, additional support, or a more sustainable relationship with existing responsibilities.

Rauvola also emphasizes that fulfillment doesn’t have to come entirely from employment. A workplace can support well-being by allowing employees sufficient time and energy to maintain relationships, participate in their communities, and pursue interests outside their careers.

Are Generational Differences in the Workplace Overstated?

Popular discussions about work frequently portray Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z as having fundamentally different attitudes toward careers.

Rauvola urges caution when interpreting these claims.

She explains that research faces substantial challenges when attempting to separate generational differences from the effects of age, life stage, and broader cultural changes.

Although expectations surrounding work have evolved, she believes people across generations are often more similar than popular narratives suggest.

For example, younger employees may be establishing careers and building professional networks, while older workers may be considering retirement or alternative arrangements. Those differences don’t necessarily demonstrate distinct generational personalities.

Understanding an individual’s circumstances may be more useful than relying on broad generational labels.

Self-Awareness: Understanding What Actually Matters

One of the most practical moments in the interview comes when Rauvola discusses the importance of identifying personal values.

She recalls a graduate school ethics course that encouraged students to examine which values mattered most to them, including health, family, integrity, loyalty, status, and prestige.

That exercise helped illustrate the importance of understanding not only what we want to accomplish, but also what we want our lives to represent.

Rauvola recommends reflecting on three questions:

• Which personal values matter most to me?
• Where are those values currently reflected in my life?
• Where would I like those values to play a greater role?

These questions offer a useful starting point for anyone considering a professional or personal transition.

Rather than immediately asking what job to pursue next, individuals may benefit from examining whether their current circumstances align with their deeper priorities.

What Happens After You Achieve Your Biggest Career Goal?

Rauvola offers a revealing example from her own professional journey.

Having grown up around academics, she knew from an early age that she wanted to become a professor and earn tenure.

In June 2026, she achieved that goal at age 32.

But reaching that milestone introduced a new set of questions.

Should she pursue another ambitious professional objective? Should she devote more attention to other areas of life? And could the work habits that helped her achieve tenure remain sustainable over the long term?

Rauvola acknowledges that she worked extremely hard during portions of her tenure-track years in ways she would not want to repeat.

Her experience illustrates an often-overlooked aspect of reinvention: success can create the opportunity—and sometimes the necessity—to reconsider how we want to live.

Reinvention doesn’t always require abandoning a career. It can mean redefining success, changing priorities, or developing a healthier approach to pursuing meaningful goals.

Career Reinvention After 50: Experience as an Advantage

For workers in their 50s, 60s, and beyond, career change can feel especially intimidating.

But Rauvola identifies several reasons for optimism.

Traditional retirement is increasingly being supplemented by alternative arrangements, including bridge employment and phased retirement, which allow people to remain professionally engaged while adjusting their responsibilities.

She also points to the knowledge, skills, professional judgment, and lived experience that older workers bring to organizations.

These qualities can create opportunities for continued employment, mentoring, consulting, and community involvement.

Rather than viewing aging exclusively as a professional limitation, Rauvola encourages consideration of how accumulated experience can support new forms of contribution.

For someone contemplating a second or third career, the objective may not be starting over. It may be finding a different way to apply capabilities developed over decades.

What Competitive Golf Teaches Us About Reinvention

Rauvola’s perspective on resilience is informed not only by academic research but also by her experience playing competitive golf in high school and college.

Growing up as a perfectionist, she discovered that golf provided a demanding education in patience, presence, and accepting imperfect outcomes.

Even extensive preparation cannot guarantee success on the course. Conditions change, mistakes happen, and progress is rarely linear.

Those experiences helped her develop a more constructive relationship with setbacks.

She also discusses the psychological challenges golfers encounter when previous mistakes influence their expectations about future shots.

Instead of focusing on the water hazard, bunker, or other outcome a golfer fears, Rauvola suggests visualizing the shot they want to execute.

Relaxation, breathing, and developing a stronger connection between mind and body can also help golfers manage anxiety and maintain focus.

These lessons extend beyond golf. Career transitions, personal development, and other major life changes also require individuals to navigate uncertainty, respond to setbacks, and continue moving forward without guarantees of success.

Reinvention Is an Ongoing Process

Perhaps the most important takeaway from this conversation is that personal reinvention isn’t necessarily a single dramatic event.

Our energy, responsibilities, resources, and priorities change throughout life. The strategies that helped us succeed at one stage may not be appropriate for another.

Rauvola’s research and personal experience suggest that building a fulfilling life requires ongoing reflection and adaptation.

Understanding our values, recognizing the influence of our environment, maintaining supportive relationships, and developing sustainable approaches to achievement can help us navigate those changes.

And as her experience in competitive golf demonstrates, progress doesn’t have to be perfect to be meaningful.

About Dr. Shelly Rauvola

Dr. Shelly Rauvola is an Associate Professor of Psychology at DePaul University whose research focuses on occupational health, worker aging, stress, and health equity. She leads DePaul’s Worker Aging, Stress, and Health Equity Research (WASHER) Lab, studying how individuals and organizations can support healthy, productive working lives across the lifespan.

About Off Course

Off Course, presented by Chicago Golf Report and hosted by Walter Lis, explores the psychology, science, and human behavior behind performance, personal growth, and meaningful change.

The Science of Reinvention series features conversations with researchers and thought leaders about the forces that shape our decisions, the obstacles that keep us stuck, and the opportunities to build more fulfilling lives.

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