It’s a question that can creep into your head when you’ve been in manufacturing for 20+ years.

And usually, it doesn’t appear when everything is going well.

It appears when you feel under threat.

A new generation is coming through.

AI is changing how work gets done.

Automation is accelerating.

Digitalisation is changing the skills businesses need.

Someone younger seems more comfortable with the technology.

Someone else gets the promotion.

Your role starts to feel different.

And suddenly, you’re questioning yourself.

“Have I still got what it takes?”

I know that feeling.

But there’s something important to recognise.

Feeling threatened doesn’t necessarily mean you are becoming irrelevant.

It might simply mean that something needs to change.

And this is where our habits can become a problem.

Because when we feel under pressure, we often reach for the things that give us short-term relief.

The drink.

The scrolling.

The takeaway.

The late nights.

The constant busyness.

The “I’ll deal with it tomorrow” mentality.

They might take the edge off for a few hours.

But they don’t make you more confident.

They don’t make you more capable.

And they certainly don’t make you more relevant.

In fact, over time, they can quietly erode the very things you need most:

Energy.

Clarity.

Confidence.

Curiosity.

Resilience.

So perhaps when you reach a certain point in your career – and your life – it’s worth asking a different question.

Not:

“Am I becoming irrelevant?”

But:

“Are the habits I’ve built helping me become the person I need to be for the next stage?”

Because experience is still incredibly valuable in manufacturing.

Judgement matters.

Leadership matters.

Knowing how a process behaves under pressure matters.

Understanding people matters.

Seeing consequences others haven’t yet considered matters.

But experience only stays valuable if you keep evolving with it.

Mid-career isn’t the end of your relevance.

It could be the point where you finally stop doing the things that are holding you back.