3 Signs You Have Outgrown Your Career
Just a short few years ago, I sat in my office at my old corporate job surrounded by family pictures and numerous crystal trophies that I was awarded for my performance through my two decades of service. For the first time in my career, I sat with my head down feeling out of place. I vividly remember feeling so alone in a place I thought I knew so well. It was as if I was in a place where nobody spoke my language anymore.
You see, I had embarked on a personal growth journey which sent me down a totally new path in my life, both personally and professionally. A personal growth journey can be a very lonely experience and can create a lot of distance between you and your peers. I was so hungry to grow and do bigger things, yet there were times where I experienced others shutting me out. More specifically, they wanted nothing to do with personal growth. I did not feel supported in my growth. That realization hurt and the longer it went on, the more I realized this was no longer the place for me. In retrospect, I had arrived at a life-changing conclusion, for the positive.
The feeling that kept cycling back through my mind was why had I stayed in an environment that did not support me for so long? I suppose you could say false hope that things would change, wishful thinking, and a quest to remain optimistic. I had worked hard and given so much passion to my career for 20 years and I saw an opportunity that would bring innovation to an industry that needed something fresh. More importantly, I was learning the solutions that could solve various problems our customers were experiencing. But solutions often usher in change, which can be costly and even disruptive to an organization.
I had become too secure, too comfortable with my environment and it had created a fear of change, and I ended up staying past my prime. I should have experienced working in a variety of organizations and different company cultures. I had reached the ceiling of how much I was going to learn and how far I could take myself in that organization. The best analogy that comes to mind is it was beginning to feel like a t-shirt that had become too small — I had outgrown it and felt trapped.
A few other adjectives that come to mind: constricting, unimaginative, and too confining for my futuristic gift to flourish. It had come time to step out of the corporate bubble I had grown-up in and test my entrepreneurial skills.
What are the signs you can recognize you have stayed too long in your job?
1. Growth is not celebrated. You possess a strong desire to grow in your organization, but there is nowhere to grow into is the first sure sign. If you are feeling as if you must hide your passion to grow, it is time to go. The best leaders celebrate when others take the initiative to better themselves, and if you are not feeling the joy around you, then you have outstayed your welcome.
2. Innovation is not heard. If you bring ideas to the organization but they are not heard or are simply dismissed, it is time to take your ideas elsewhere. Your imagination needs to be shared and if you have an idea that can make your organization perform better and it is not at least able to be shared, then it is time to take your ideas elsewhere. Change is part of growth but if your organization is not open to change, it’s time for you to change. Why would you want to keep them in a box?
3. You are not learning anything. Growth is about new experiences and learning from people outside your organization at times. Fresh perspectives are immensely important to your growth. I worked with great people, but there came a time when I felt as though I had hit a wall and I was no longer learning anything new. You must realize when you have outgrown the class you are in and at that point, it’s time to find another class. One with new ideas, new challenges, and new concepts that will stretch your ability to learn new things that you have not been exposed to yet.
As hard as it is for those of us who have stayed for many years inside one organization, it is important for us to recognize when we have outgrown our environment. Celebrate the time you have learned over the years and look forward to the new growth you will experience in the future by being in a new environment that is waiting for you.
Think of it like this, it is like buying a new pair of shoes for a toddler. You never want to buy the current size they measure, you always purchase the next size up, so they have the room to grow. That same strategy applies to your personal growth.
To your growth,
Kelly