Just One Thing
When opportunity knocks, all too often our gut reaction is to hesitate. In more than a few situations, we might be better off telling our gut to shut-up and let our feet answer by moving forward.
Over my six years of solo practice (and during my corporate career), I’ve encountered many who have agonized over what turned out to be well-qualified opportunities to change. These aren’t the let’s sell everything and open a hot dog stand variety, but rather, they are the promotions that mean new responsibilities, the lateral moves to different groups and the job offers in new industries.
Yes, new opportunities mean breaking your routine, pushing yourself beyond the familiar and exposing yourself to unknown risks. Of course, the flip-side of stepping across the Chasm of Change is that you open yourself up to new discoveries, new people and new opportunities for success.
In my ad hoc but extensive polling of people who have faced opportunities for change, the feedback is telling.
- Almost everyone who seized what had seemed like a daunting opportunity described their decision to make the move as a pivotal point in their career.
- Of those few who indicated that the new opportunity didn’t work out, almost all described it as an important steppingstone to something better.
- The only people who expressed regrets are those who said “no” to change and remained in place.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Don’t step blindly into something new for the sake of change, but don’t let the fear of change keep you from stepping into the new opportunity. The noise from your gut might just be indigestion.
Art,
We are on the same wavelength – we both blogged about opportunity today!
Back in the day when I worked for large companies, I always found people’s reactions to the announcement of corporate reorganizations fascinating. Many people spent time fretting or criticizing the change. Few looked at it from a standpoint of “opportunity”.
From my standpoint, I was in the “opportunity” camp. At least most of the time. When it was “change for change’s sake” (as you point out) it sometimes didn’t offer anything better.
Hi Jennifer, I saw your post this morning and thought the same thing as well. Great minds think alike…or something like that! I so agree with you on the opportunity front. Even in the chaos of a reorganization, there is tremendous opportunity. Fretting is wasted energy IMO! -Art