So I tracked down the credit for the actress who played her. It was Eileen Herley. That name was familiar but I was still racking my brain for the connection. Then I remembered and it was a surprising association.

Eileen Herley plays the fascinating, direct, down to earth, former carnival worker and con woman Myrtle Fargate on All My Children.

Now I’ve been watching All My Children on ABC TV ever since I was in high school and they put a tv in the Junior-Senior Lounge (which was actually the basement) at Alvernia High School. So I do remember when the character of Myrtle first arrived. I had no idea that this was the same actress who in her younger days had played mother to Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet!

Not too long ago I saw her on the show, she’s now in her 80’s and her performances are still compelling.

Her journey from Shakespeare to daytime tv is a fascinating reminder that we can reinvent ourselves, put ourselves into brand new situations, and find people willing to pay us for what we do into our 80s and beyond. So baby boomers who are trying to figure out what’s next shouldn’t feel trapped by their past work experiences or image. Instead, they can choose to revisit a childhood dream or profit from an unexpected surprise.

When Francis Ford Coppola was casting The Godfather many an aspiring young actor came for an audition and screen test. There may even be some footage of Robert DeNiro saying hotheaded Sonny’s lines. As you know, the part of Sonny went to James Caan instead.

Was it a waste for DeNiro to have gone after the part? Absolutely not. When Francis Ford Coppola was beginning work on The Godfather: Part II (1974) he had a problem. Since it covered the early years of Don Corleone, brilliantly played in the first movie by Marlon Brando, he needed a young actor that would be believable as that iconic character in his early years. Where to find such an actor?

And the way I heard it, Francis Ford Coppola remembered DeNiro from his failed audition. Although he hadn’t been right for any role in the first movie, he would be perfect for this pivotal role in the second. And he was.

So when my clients ask me whether they should go for the interview if they’re not sure the job is a perfect match, I encourage them to go. You never know what other roles may be available and if you make a strong impression and are truly yourself, they may remember you for something in the future. As they say in Hollywood, “always take the meeting” and do your best. You never know what unexpected opportunities might arise for you in the future.

There’s a scene where they’re trying to get to a place that doesn’t show on any map — and someone says something very dispiritedly about being lost. And the upbeat response is something about “You have to be lost to find something that isn’t there . . . After all, if it was easy to get to everyone would go there!”

And it reminded me of how making a career transition includes that very uncomfortable “lost” period. There are many ways of being lost. (Trust me, if you ever drive somewhere with me you’ll discover that I can sometimes find more than one way to get lost even on the same trip!) Here’s what being lost in a career sense might be for you or someone you care about:

Being lost includes not knowing where you really are

Being lost includes knowing that you’re not where you want to be

Being lost includes wanting to be somewhere else, but not knowing exactly what that is

Being lost includes not knowing how to get to where you want to be from where you are

That state of suspension and being without the certainty of forward momentum or direction is more uncomfortable for many of my clients to face than their hardest business challenge or most difficult person. The willingness to be courageous and acknowledge your personal “lost” status, even if only to yourself, is a necessary step to finding what it is you’re really looking to find.

Because that’s when you can step away from the path that everyone else is taking and begin to look for the uncharted course that will take you to the treasure of your career destination that’s right for you alone.

Just listen to the pirates.

Saw it again today when I was watching Rocky for the umpteenth time and he’s in a Philadelphia bar and the bartender makes some disparaging remark on Apollo Creed, the Boxing World Champion who’s on TV in a press conference. (This is before Rocky gets his underdog shot at the title.)

Can’t remember exactly what the bartender says, but Rocky looks at him and says “He took his best shot at becoming champion. What shot did you ever take?”

So what about you – are you taking your shot at your ideal career and going for the life through the right world of work that you really want?

If you’re not now, when will you?

Sylvester Stallone’s real life holds a career tip as well. When he had only $106 in the bank, Hollywood offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the screenplay he wrote and give the part of Rocky to a big name star. But he held out and insisted that the only way Rocky would be made as a movie was if he played Rocky Balboa himself.

They finally gave in, despite the fact that he was an unknown. And when the movie was made and released in 1976 it won the Academy Award for Best Picture and launched his career as a movie star. You can read the rest of his story on his official website.

And by the way, he wrote the script in three and a half days — so it doesn’t have to take a long time to create a new life once you figure out how to draw upon your own unique gifts and talents and even limitations. If he had gotten more initial work as a young actor, he wouldn’t have been driven to write the script that made him a star.

What is your greatest limitation that you could turn into your biggest advantage in the marketplace to help you get what’s most important to you?