You have been in the same job or position for the last five or ten years. New people have been hired and promoted and some are now your bosses. Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, something is wrong most likely with you. And you need to do something about it now. Knowing the reasons why you are stuck is a good place to start if you are going to move forward.
Fear
Fear is the number one reason why many people stick to the same job roles for so long. You are probably afraid of speaking up because you don’t want your superiors to categorize you as a rebel or worse; GET FIRED so you ride the wave, keep your head down, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. Many of you are afraid of failure! You think taking on more responsibility is a sure way of setting yourself up for the fall. So you just sit by and do nothing, knowing deep inside that you can do better than that. What you need to realize is that nothing good ever comes from doing nothing. For as long as you are static, nothing will happen. So move. Make ripples. Do something.
You are waiting for your boss to notice you
Every day you commit yourself to working harder to make a difference believing that if you could just work hard enough, your boss will notice you and hand you a promotion. Your mantra has become “I will work harder” just like Boxer the horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Just to be clear, working hard is great. But sometimes you need to gather guts to walk up to your employer and tell them you deserve a promotion on account of the targets you have been hitting or surpassing. Also, take the initiative to apply for the jobs that the company advertises internally. That’s a sure way to show your ambition.
Don’t forget that Boxer worked hard until his legs could not carry him any longer and then he was sold to the butcher for meat. He was never promoted.
You are getting too comfortable
We engaged with a lady who has been a bank teller for the last eight years. She has seen interns come in, get hired permanently and get promoted to sales people or even branch managers. It is not that she is not good at her job, she is actually terrific. Her problem is that she has become another victim of the comfort zone. The comfort zone is the number one killer of ambition and growth. You keep telling yourself “I am happy. The money is ok. Why should I move or grow?”
Before you know it, so many years go past and you are still in the same position as when you first got hired. You are stuck there because it’s comfortable. Because moving requires effort. The effort to try for a new position. So you just sit and do nothing. That is not how humans were designed. We are designed to keep moving forward. So move, change, fulfill your potential.
Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do” Don’t let your fear and comfort be the reason you regret.
