Want to upgrade your career path? This is the only 4-step guide that you need

With will power, planning, discipline and courage, you can reinvent your career path.

What do Madonna and Jack Ma have in common? Apart from their love of Michael Jackson, both are pioneers in reinventing themselves. Ma, co-founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group and one of the richest men in the world, started his$38.6 billion company when he was 34 — a time when most usually consider settling into their careers and not take too many risks. But, reinventing yourself in your later years does have its fair share of advantages. Read on to find out how you can shake up your career and make way for the new you, irrespective of your age.

Block out the negative

While there will always be some percentage of self-doubt, you have enough experience in the real world to figure out how you will rise to the challenge.

Knowing what you don’t want to do is sometimes as important as knowing what you want to do. And that’s a perk that age brings with it. You know what doesn’t give you career satisfaction and you know what you’re capable of doing. You are sure of your good qualities and know how to make them work for you.

Be realistic
When you want to change careers or do something completely new, you need to have patience. Everything is not going to happen overnight simply because you have the drive. You need to be realistic and make a plan. Visualise the outcome and think of the stepping stones you need to cross to get there — and then start with the first stone. The day you plant the seed is not the day you get to eat the fruit, so be realistic and aim to do just one thing at a time.

Learn from the best Reinventing yourself means that you’re going to have to develop good habits in your personal life that will translate into constructive ones for your professional life.

Look at your seniors and mentors who have been on similar paths. See what you can gain from their experiences to set yourself up for success. It could be something as simple as waking up a few hours earlier to focus on your new goal or developing a new skill that could help you. A new you sometimes requires a new routine.

Expect setbacks
No matter how much passion, dedication and hard work you put into something, things can often go wrong. But that is no reason to give up. When you’re on a path of reinvention, expect setbacks. But don’t give up. Work on it and be optimistic.

To stay positive and motivated, you need to keep track of your successes along the way too — not just your failures. So celebrate the good and take the bad in your stride in your quest to create a new you.