Professional growth tells you when it’s time for change
Moving onward in business
It was a Friday and I had miraculously recovered from getting my eyes dilated hours prior. I picked my daughter up from daycare and we ventured to the nearest frozen yogurt spot. Ironically it was their last day in business.
As my daughter and I sat down to eat our yogurt, other families trickled in. Each person more dramatic than the next when they found out that the business was closing. Everyone assumed it was because they were being forced to. They began to share stories about other business closures. The staff on duty didn’t seem to know why the business was closing either.
Since we are in the age of the internet I logged on to the company’s Facebook page. It turns out that the owner was going into semi-retirement. It also stated that the management team wanted to move on to new opportunities. Looking at the comments, this clear explanation turned into what others wanted it to be. People giving their own “dramatic ending”, to someone else’s “beautiful love story”. No one could comprehend that it is possible for people to want to move on. They didn’t understand that someone can recognize that they’ve reached their peak. Coming from someone who has been laid off once in her career, I know what it’s like to reach your peak.
Many people believe that growth is sticking with something for a long time. Riding with it until the wheels fall off. It doesn’t matter if you’ve grown from it. Or if your disdain for it completely destroys you and those around you. As long as you can say, your bills are paid. I’m not saying that paying bills isn’t important. I’m saying that that’s not professional growth.
Professional growth means understanding that we must re-evaluate our movements often. We must ensure that we are doing everything possible to advance ourselves. We must appreciate the opportunity to wake up everyday not just by saying we do. But by actually doing meaningful things. We must ensure that if we’ve stuck with a business for 20 years, each year we’ve grown from it.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed myself finding out about the frozen yogurt spot. It was a nice place close to our house. Then I realized all the times I’ve made changes in business and moved on. Even in good times people didn’t understand and many just didn’t want to. They wanted me to stay right where I was and how they remembered me. To be able to comprehend professional growth, you will have had to achieve professional growth.
