I generally haven’t taken any major career risks. So mostly my career history looks fairly conservative. Because the mindset has always been about taking care of my family.
Although my last three companies have been owned by private equity – an ownership environment that suggests that after 4-5 years your job may be lost. Due to the company being acquired. So, you might see that as risky. But 4-5 years feels like a lifetime to me.
I have always been the sole breadwinner. And that has driven a lot of decision making. Sole breadwinner means that I do what it takes to “provide”. Including long commutes, long hours and a “work” mindset when I am at home. A very traditional view of work.
As a result, I missed a lot at home. I’d leave the house before everyone woke and came home at or after bedtime.
Now I know that a lot of you have done the same thing (sole breadwinner or not). You’ve made sacrifices in the name of “family” or “career” or “ego”. Whatever your reason, the sacrifice is still there.
And many of you would take a job today even if it forced you to move your family or simply move yourself from Monday-Friday to return the income to your bank account. And I can’t blame you for that.
But I wanted to ask you today to think about “why you do what you do”. Especially if you are in the midst of a career transition.
If you wrote your career history and read it back to yourself, what would you learn? Are you focused on safety and stability or risky business?
Because if you ask my wife about her husband’s career, she will say that I should have been less conservative. That my career commitment was beyond my family’s interests. In short, she wanted me home more. Even if that meant less comfort. Less stability.
Want to write your career history? You can download the Careerback™ template along with other free downloads for job seekers.
So here are a few questions to think about:
1. What risks have you taken in your career?
2. If you didn’t take any, what kept you from pursuing them?
3. If you could take one risk today, what would that be?
Because if you are currently in job search or employed but thinking about something new. You are in the opportunity zone. To step off the proverbial shore and into the salty crisp cool water. Even if the step is into something part-time as you pursue a full-time position.
But it has to be the right time for you. And for your family. I truly believe there is a right time for everyone. You just have to be looking for it.
For example, I had been pining for the right time to begin writing again. To let my ideas flow and find a proper stage. And until two years ago, that stage was not obvious. Then one day I lost my job. One day a few months later I got a new one. And one day a few months after that I started writing two blogs.
Now I am on a path. Someday soon, I will say thank you to the old conservative me. For keeping me safe all these years.
And as this path shifts left and right. Through cold streams, across warm meadows and up steep hills.
I’ll have a backpack full of work experiences, work ethic and drive to keep me safe. Relatively speaking.
