The world outside our comfort zone

During one of the interviews I had a few years ago, I have asked one candidate what made her stay for 5 years at a company where her experience was not valued. 

Her answer was: “Well… the colleagues are nice, I got used with everything in the company and the management is also not that bad.”

She knew the whole time that she could do much more. However she continued there for so long because it was cozy.

Recently I have had the chance to talk again with her and I have found out that she is still with the same company but much happier. What happened?

She had decided to take the risk and try something new. She has discussed with her manager, she has been assigned to new projects, had to learn new technologies, was noticed by the management and got promoted.  She had left her comfort zone and decided to go for more, take risks and work hard until she got what she wanted.

When was the last time you have tried doing something new? What was the biggest step you took out of your comfort zone?

Here is a good illustration about the comfort zone and what could happen if we dare to get out of it.  

How do we know when it’s time for the next step?

How do we decide when it’s time to leave a company? How do we know when it’s the right moment? When things are not going the way we wanted it’s quite easy. We are unhappy, so we know that something must be done.

But what if everything is fine?

For how long should one stay in a company where everything is alright? Until things get bad? Until retirement?

During our employment with a company we go through certain stages that are more or less the same from everyone:

-  The intensive learning period when we get used with the requirements of the job, learn to work in a different environment, maybe learn new technologies, new software, new industries and so on.

-  The period when we apply what we have learned and we perform at our highest potential.

- The stage in which we don't learn new things and we are not confronted with too many new situations.

The length of these stages is different depending on the each individual, company and  position. However, staying for too long in the second stage is dangerous because there is a point starting which time works against us.

This is a period when we are mostly applying what we have learned. It is comfortable, maybe overall everything looks fine but this can mean also that our career is going down.

But why should we keep on learning? Why should we always try to improve ourselves when we could do the one job that we are good at? Why do we have to step out of our comfort zone and find a new challenge?

Because everything is changing: the society, the way business is made, the technology used, everything. Companies die, new companies are created. Jobs disappear, new jobs are in demand. Our environment has a certain dynamic and in order not only to have a job but to improve our chances for a career, we should adapt and be ready to face the changes.

For career oriented people knowing when to make the next step is essential, especially because we don't want to be job hoppers either.

Coming back to the initial question, in order to know when is the right time to move on, we need a plan. Even if we don't know yet where exactly we want to be in the next 10 years, having a 3-4 years plan will definitely help.

Let's say that we are in a new position. We should already think what we would want as next job. Then think what of this current job will help you to get the next one. What we need to learn, what successes we need to have, maybe even for how long we need to stay in this current position. After having all that cleared, we need to focus all our energy in doing the best in the role we are at the present moment.

It will then be obvious for us when it's time to move on, even if everything is fine.

This is where the well-known "Where do you see yourself in five years?" question comes from. The employers want to know whether we want a career or just a job.