With the proper mindset, it’s never too late or too risky to make a career shift. I recently sat down with Jason Crawford, tech entrepreneur and author of the Roots of Progress blog, to discuss the motivation and mindset that allowed him to make a major career shift after 20 years in the tech industry. Crawford elaborated on lessons he learned about success and failure from Silicon Valley’s culture and why a career failure doesn’t have to be a life failure. This is an edited excerpt from our conversation.