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Influencer Jay Shetty: The biggest mistake we make is 'we think it's too late'

The novel coronavirus has put tens of millions in the U.S. out of work, but those fortunate to be employed face their own frustrations. Workers confined to a job they dislike may face a lack of better alternatives, especially amid an economic downturn.

But social media influencer Jay Shetty told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview that “the biggest mistake” people make in their career and life involves self-imposed limitations that narrow their options.

“The biggest mistake we make is we think it's too late, we think we're too old, we think we're set in our ways,” says Shetty, 33, who spoke to Yahoo Finance in March. “None of those are true.”

“Some of the most successful people in the world started at 40, started at 50, started at 60,” he adds. “You don't have to ever count yourself out.”

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A study released by job listing site Indeed last October found that more than half of people were willing to take a pay cut in order to switch careers. Forty-nine percent of respondents — who overall averaged age 39 — said they’d made a dramatic career change in their lives.

But career changes decline during a recession, as happened during the Great Recession, according to an analysis published in 2014 by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The quit rate, a measure of the frequency at which workers leave their jobs, fell to 1.4% in April — the lowest figure since 2011. By July, the rate had risen to 2.1%, which remained below pre-coronavirus levels.

Shetty, who regularly posts motivational videos for his 27 million Facebook (FB) followers and 6.8 million Instagram followers, held a comfortable job at professional services giant Accenture five years ago. But he found himself dissatisfied, he said, eventually finding a career he enjoyed as a life coach and media personality.

“I was really doing extremely well,” he says. “But I was feeling like I had a different purpose.”

Former monk turned social media influencer Jay Shetty appears on "Influencers with Andy Serwer."
Former monk turned social media influencer Jay Shetty appears on "Influencers with Andy Serwer."

Shetty spoke to Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer in an episode of “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” a weekly interview series with leaders in business, politics, and entertainment.

Commitment to self-inquiry began earlier in Shetty’s life, at age 18, when he met a Hindu monk and began to spend extended periods at a monastery in India. Shetty alternated between austere religious practice and business internships over breaks throughout his university education — an experience he recounts in his book “Think Like a Monk,” released in April.

He credits his unlikely encounter with the Hindu monk as crucial to the flexibility he developed later in life.

“He opened my eyes,” Shetty says. “We rarely are exposed to someone doing something radically different from our lives.”

“So how many of us are going to workshops, going to seminars, reading books, getting mentorship, shadowing someone that we're fascinated by?” he adds. “The more we do that, the more confidence you get that this is still possible for you.”

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