Working for someone else will eventually remind you that your ultimate fate lies in the hands of other people.
I get a number of people emailing me on a regular basis telling me about situations they’re facing at work – it’s often related to claims of favoritism shows to other staff members – and they wonder what they should do.
Typically they work for a small company, a family-owned company or similar business where decisions made by their superiors affects them on a daily basis.
Ultimately what they can do (ie. options that are available to them) will be based on their personal situation. At the end of the day though, they work for someone else and their ultimate fate is in their hands.
I recall getting comfortable in a job early in my career and thinking at one point that this was a job I’d like to hold for a long period of time. I was happy in the job and in the company and figured I’d like to stay there, feeling comfortable and happy.
Then the company I was working for got bought out and suddenly my plans of future happiness went out the window.
Again, other people had decided my fate and I couldn’t really do anything about it.
I know I’m not the only person who does this. I remember a friend of mine telling me he’d switched jobs and mentioned that he could see himself retiring with this company even though he was only in his mid twenties and had a long time to go in his work life.
About two years later he quit and got a new job elsewhere. Turns out his employer-for-life had soured on him and he no longer felt wanted there so he left and got a new job in a completely different industry.
The point being that getting comfortable as he’d done in his job – as I had done in mine – doesn’t always work out especially when you still have a long way to go in your career and your fate lies in the hands of others.
