Career Goals

A recent panel discussion at work by some members of senior management have confirmed my belief that I will never become a part of senior management myself.  And that is through choice.  They talked a lot about challenging yourself, embracing change, speaking up, don’t be afraid to do different things, working hard, etc. in order to succeed in the workplace.  I don’t want to do any of that.  I’m in my comfort zone, and I am very reluctant to leave it.  I earn a decent wage in a job that I am rarely challenged in, and which has been for the last few years relatively stress-free.  I’m in no way proactive – I just get on with what I’m asked to do in a quiet and efficient manner, and be done with it.  There is the chance that I might get promoted at the end of this year – on the one hand this is something that I think is long overdue, but on the other hand this could jeopardize my current contentedness with work.  I don’t want more managerial responsibilities – I currently don’t have anyone reporting to me (permanent or contractors), and that is so preferable because I then only have work responsibilities to worry about.  That might change.  But at least I now have a manager who has known me for a while, and I think actually respects me because she knows I do a good job of everything I’m asked to do.  More than that, I think she knows that I left this company before because I was pushed too hard – something which is only partially true, there were also a lot of other reasons why I left – so I don’t think she will put too much on my plate.  Which is fine by me.  Hopefully it will stay like this for a while (I STRONGLY suspect it won’t, at some point I know I’ll get dragged into something that is demanding and stressful and time-consuming) which is why I haven’t been looking into other job opportunities recently.  But I think if things do take a turn for the worse and I want to get out, I am much more inclined to take a sabbatical rather than go straight into a new job – a chance to decompress, to travel, to enjoy life and some totally pressure-free time on my own terms with no responsibilities.  I suspect I won’t live to enjoy a long and healthy retirement, so I’d rather do retirement type things whilst I still can.  But for the moment I’m happy to be in my comfortable job saving up money for whenever I might need it.