A friend of mine told me that one of his superiors made the comment that if an opportunity arises — and you’re interested — you owe it to yourself to check it out. I agree wholeheartedly for many reasons. First of all, people don’t stay with one company their whole careers and retire with that company as they did in past generations. Employers are constantly downsizing and changing their company structures, so you can’t count on your job always being there.
You can’t allow yourself to be content, even in this economy. People may say “Well, consider yourself lucky to have a job right now,” but is that really good enough? You know you’re not some average joe on the street. You’re you, and you want to be happy. If you think a new opportunity may lead to that, shouldn’t you take it?
Sure, there are risks. There always are. But there are risks with not taking opportunities too: you can stay at a job you’re not happy with for years. Your job happiness affects your personal life too (or at least it does with many people I know). But as Seth Godin said, in today’s economic climate, safe is risky.
One day, I asked a co-worker who specializes in another area about her job. Apparently, I was digging too deep because she said that she felt I was trying to make a career change. Although I wasn’t thinking about going for a job such as hers, I admit that I would never rule out the possibility. I believe we should always be looking for opportunities, even if we only turn them down. At least we know they’re out there.
I enjoy asking questions about other people’s jobs. You never know what you’ll learn. Yes, most of the information may be irrelevant, but I don’t like to say that it’s useless. Something from another field or industry may be adapted for your job. Opportunities are everywhere. Don’t be afraid to take them. You owe it to yourself.
