Living in fear of losing what you have is a terrible way to spend your career.  This happens to people that become comfortable or just want to squeeze a few more years out of their vocation before “the next guy” comes along and takes their place. Why would you want to spend the next few years spiraling backwards just to keep collecting a check?  Yet, every day we see people do it.  It’s like a deer in the woods that squints and stands still when the hunter squeezes off his shot-instead of running.   

“Hanging on” is what speed bumps do.  Instead, you need to be a Viking; a trailblazer.  Dictating culture, owning your future and navigating your journey is imperative.  Placing your life’s outcome in someone else’s hands (that isn’t God… a whole other topic) is the equivalent of giving up and committing career suicide. 

It’s frustrating to watch people with tremendous talent continue to make excuses or create roadblocks for themselves.  You must have done something special in order to get to where you are today, right?  Why would you drop your talents just to get a better hold of the small piece of success you have accumulated through hard work and experience?  Get up and fight!

Are you a trigger puller or has the light inside of you been blown out by your own inability to no longer recognize what got you here?  Confidence can be easily stolen if it is built on insecurity.  Take a moment and do a gut check.  Do you have the stomach and energy for the next step?  If you don’t-you better find it because the “next guy” is going to have plenty of it and won’t think twice about taking it from you.  I’m not suggesting you should always look over your shoulder-Just suggesting that you need work to keep yourself from falling into a rut or getting complacent for the wrong reasons.  Getting  comfortable-healthy.  Standing still out of fear-bad.

Reinvent yourself.  Find that lost fire.  Pull the trigger.  Be a trailblazer.

Or make sure you leave the keys to your office for the next guy (empty the trash on your way out).