Is Career Advancement Dead?

Is career advancement dead?

Are we destined to stay in the same job all of our working life?

It's a widely known fact, and a much spoken-about topic, that upper management, the guy in the penthouse, the CEO, the owner of the company, etc., isn't going to come down, give you “the tap” on the shoulder and say “it's your time.”

If we already know that “the tap” isn't coming, are we behaving any different?

I'm currently reading The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. Godin writes in his book, and I agree, that no one is coming to pick you; we have to pick ourselves.

Here is my question to you:

How do we pick ourselves? If we already know that no one is coming, if we already know that the boss is not going to come down from the corner office to promote us, and if we believe that we have to pick ourselves, how do we shift our own lives into drive? 

So, how do we do that? How do we make our own way in the world, do our own thing, and show people that we are worth their time, their trust, their attention and money?

I think we have to start by doing today what we want to do tomorrow. We can't wait for someone to give us “the tap” on the shoulder and say “it's your time.” We have to choose to act today, before we can act tomorrow. After all isn't today, this moment, the only thing that we really have?

When you look at career advancement, what do you want to do next? Who do you want to be as a person? Do you want to be a teacher? A coach? A surgeon? A dentist, doctor or a construction worker?

If no one's going to tap you on the shoulder, and you have to choose yourself, and you already know what you want to do, why not start doing it today and drive your career advancement on your own terms and under your control?

Why not start being a better leader, being that better teammate and gaining those new skills, today? Why not start that process now?

Then, when the position does open up, or when the opportunity does present itself, we prepared and practiced and we've already been doing the job the way we want to do it.

So whatever project you'd like to start, start it. Whichever opportunity you'd choose for yourself, choose it. Whoever you want to be, be that person.

In the end, is career advancement dead?

No, I don’t think so.

But the landscape, and the tools we use to traverse it, have changed. I think it's time we shift into drive and take control of our own future. But in order to do that, we must behave differently.