I bumped into an old school classmate of mine one day and it was a sad encounter. Here was this guy, brilliant, one of the top performers in school he sure helped me a lot with my assignments. He got into trouble for something he did wrong and got kicked out of school and I never heard from him since. Now he is a cleaner at a fast food restaurant. To cut the long story short, I got his contact details and tried to get him to do some professional exams that will help him get a job. But somehow, he hasn’t done any and this is one year ago. I know he is capable of ace-ing the exams and getting a good job but it seems as if he is somehow comfortable in his situation.
“There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” John F. Kennedy.
Inaction is a very common mistake that people make and you may not know it but it can single-handedly put a stranglehold on you career and snuff the life out of it. I am also guilty of inaction myself and this is why many people fail to live to their potential. Why is this so? Here are some reasons.
Fear of rejection
You might have a job right now which you terribly hate doing but you are somehow perversely comfortable in it. Maybe because your task at work is something you know how to do well and people look up to you and don’t want to lose that or you are scared of not living up to expectations at a new job. Someone once told me that the moment you achieve “guru” status in any field is the time you stop growing. Why? because you stop learning and people start learning from you. After they have received all they can from you, they move on to better things and you are left to teach the newbies. You should never stop trying to improve yourself.
Fear of the unknown
You are scared that if you quit your job now because you may not find another one. This is perfectly understandable in this economic climate. No one in their right mind will ask you to do that. You can always get training in your spare time and there are ways of finding a new job while keeping one. It does take more effort though.
Fear of failure
You are scared of taking that professional exam because you are not sure if you are up to the task you are scared that you will lose some money. See it from this point of view, you are investing in yourself and your knowledge. Since no knowledge is lost, this is the safest investment you can possibly make. There will always be a second chance to try again.
Plain old procrastination.
This is the group I belong to. David Allen, author of the book Getting Things Done split procrastination into two categories. The first, seeing some small tasks as an annoying interruption e.g like organizing a room. The second is seeing some larger tasks as too big to control and then tending to defer these tasks to later dates or times. There is no excuse for being a procrastinator.
Pat Flynn on his blog made a great post on his blog where he applied the laws of Physics to internet business, you can also apply these laws to your career.
I have decided to get up and take action. To take the next step in my professional life and get training in SAP business intelligence. I can get a better career and improve myself along the way. What is the worst that can happen? People in the financial world would say it in this way. The downside is limited, there is no cap in the upside.
Once again, life is all about constant improvement.
How to increase your chances of starting a successful SAP career
You might be asking yourself,
Is SAP right for me?
What are my chances of getting a good SAP job?
The good news is you are not alone. A lot of people have the same questions as well. What is even better news? I have written a series of articles that answer these questions and many more on SAP Unveiled.