Beating the Recession- Get outside your comfort zone

Posted on 04. Feb, 2009 by Mike in Products

OK, I have mentioned working outside your comfort zone before but I did it again today and I want to share the experience. For the past 13+ years I’ve worked in engineering in the petro-chemical industry. It’s not a terrible gig but it’s an old boys club where you sometimes feel like a hamster on wheel with no where to go.

It’s a field where you can be really driven and move yourself up in responsibilities and pay, but to do that you’ve got to jump ship and move from company to company. The firms generally want to keep staff but historically, don’t make a real effort to keep good people.

As we face this recession and all of the job cuts, I have taken a different approach and have applied for positions outside my regular field and I bet I’m one of the few from my former company taking that approach. Is it daunting and even a little bit scary? You bet it is. I felt a little under utilized in my former position but I was good at it, knew what I was talking about and could display my skills very easily.

This potential new position is a whole new world. While I do know more than the average consumer on the topic, I still can’t help but feel a little anxiety. It’s ok, I feed off new challenges and will give it my all. The point is that the job is outside of my comfort zone and that excites me to some degree. It means that I’ve got the guts to try something new and that is what will set me apart from many of my former coworkers who will be sticking to the same old game plan just hoping for things to pick up and go their wayl

I’ll be posting some details and findings as things progress along. Stay tuned

Tags: recession