Sometimes we are so shortsighted of what is in front of us that we just lose sight of the bigger picture in life. Here are a few scenarios that you may find yourself in that calls for you to set your vision and take calculated risk to leverage your situation.
Scenario 1 This is what happened in a case of a friend of mine. Last year, Sophia was approached by her ex-boss who left and joined a start-up company. The position is at the same level as what she is holding now for the last 6 years; the salary offered to her is only an increase of 5%. She felt comfortable and complacent in her position in her company, and she has great relationships that she has forged in the workplace. She decided not to take up the offer.
What she may have missed out An excellent opportunity to be a pioneer of a new startup. Good startup companies usually grow leap and bounds after the initial struggling first 2 years. There is a higher chance that she could have been promoted to a team lead or supervisor when the team grow exponentially within the 2 years.
Scenario 2 Matthew is excited about the 4 months worth of salaried bonus that he is about to get at the end of the year. The bonus is usually dished out every year upon completion by each employee. He received an offer to join a much bigger firm that is listed under Fortune 500 in November. If he resigned now, he would miss out on the 4 months bonus, which is a lot of money. The offer although pretty tempting is in a similar position and salary than his current one, so he decided not to take up on the offer and stay where he is.
What he may have missed out Being in a much bigger company, there are endless of challenges and opportunities that will present itself. Not to mention, the higher ceiling for you to climb, unrestricted by hierarchy. As tempting as it is just to take the bonus, it is worth it to think about your career growth and potentially a wider exposure, new networking circle. This might just be the step that you take to make you invaluable to your industry.
Scenario 3 Jacqueline is offered a position to work in a different culture, different language country at the opposite end of the world. She has no family within her current vicinity, and she has no commitment that ties her down but she fear the unknown, and she prefers to stay where she is hence she rejected her company’s offer, and someone else is chosen.
What she may have missed out A great opportunity to explore outside her comfort zone and challenge herself both personally, socially and work wise. Sometimes, it is the unknown that makes us stronger, test our limits and even open up bigger opportunities out there for us.
The above 3 scenarios are very real and very common, a lot more common than you will think so. I have countless times been giving counsel on the above crossroads situations. Of course, there are factors to be taken into considerations before one takes the leap and that is why I called it calculated risk.
You need to take 3 big areas into calculations: – What is your current situation (current company/role) – What direction/goal do you want to achieve (in 5 – 10 years time) – What potential/future you will gain/lost if you leap
Finally, when you come to a decision, ask yourself if you will regret the decision made today in 3 years time. There are no right or wrong decisions in choosing what you want for your career, however, choose wisely and with your eyes open so that you will not look back and think you should have taken another path instead.
Do you agree with me? If you are them, will you make the leap? Share your opinions down in the comments below.
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