By David Harder on June, 11, 2020

Today’s Unexpected Career Tip

If you are working in an industry that is shrinking, leave.

Why? The rise and fall of industries grow every day. In 1960, the average job tenure was over nine years. Today, the average college graduate will change careers, not jobs, 4-6 times.

Many of these organizations are having just as much difficulty changing than the rest of us. Most often, obsolete employers move from being appreciative of their employees to use that old chestnut, “You should be happy to have a job.” Then, they lay people off and hand the survivors more and more work.

The thing is, most creative and adaptive workers have already left. They have connectivity, the ability to build a robust support system. They become skilled in fluidly connecting with others. Most of us are not born with creativity and adaptability. It is learnable and the skillsets build our confidence to deal with anything the world dishes out to our careers.

Think of a shrinking industry like a sinking ship. The longer we remain, the more exhausting it is to stay alive. Our lives become dominated by the problem, and we lose precious energy for positive change.

The new mindset begins with courage. This is the outlook that any action than can improve our lives is the action that we must take, regardless of whether we are frightened or not.

Find organizations that are growing rather than shrinking. Right now, we can find an abundance of examples. For example, technology companies continue to grow in the pandemic. These are the companies that are building the future.

Social entrepreneurism is the most exciting trend in business today. These are business leaders that solve world problems by making the solution wildly profitable. What do social entrepreneurs do?

They make green energy profitable. Many are in the game of curing cancer, MS, diabetes, and yes, Coronavirus. Others are cleaning the environment, building revolutionary education (higher education without charging a dime), and thousands of other missions.

A new mindset can help us move beyond the pain of holding on. For the next few minutes, entertain the idea that technology isn’t taking your job, it is offering you freedom.

What do you want to do with your freedom?

There is nothing trivial about answering this question. In fact, we could not be more deadly serious.

The emerging workplace will not respond well to ambivalence.

Find the work that is meaningful to you, the work that makes this world better, the role that gives you a deep sense of purpose, the one that causes you to wake up enthused about the day ahead.

Pipe dreams? Oops. Cynicism and contempt have become our most effective weapons for killing personal change.

The need to find the work that you love and to learn how to make that financially successful will never be more urgent.

Besides, we need you.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)