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Disrupt Your Comfort Zone
Would you rather step out of your career and life management comfort zone willingly, or be forced into discomfort? When I asked this question in 2024, over 85% of managers and leaders said they’d rather be forced into discomfort because they don’t know how to disrupt their comfort zones on their own.
Just because a particular expertise, job, or skill might not be in demand in a few years doesn't have to mean you, as a person, are not in demand. There are many threats, but it's not the threats themselves that make us vulnerable—it's our inability to respond, be nimble, demonstrate resilience, and reinvent.
Most people have been navigating their careers based on the particular rules of each specific job, rather than on what matters to them. They've stepped into the sand and adapted their ways to the corporate ways. They've forgotten how to have new ideas after being taught that success depends on how well they execute old ideas. They're stuck in career quicksand.
Career Quicksand Diagnosis
After working with hundreds of managers and leaders in 2024, most of them have followed everyone else’s playbook but their own. Career quicksand is the state of not only feeling stuck in your career, but also a realization that your current job and/or career trajectory no longer has any real meaning, purpose and significance. It fails to generate any personal value to one’s life and their network. Career quicksand reminds me of what social media influencer, Brad Lea recently shared with me, “there are winners and losers in life, but nowadays there are a lot more winners that are losing because they keep following someone else’s ambitions and are afraid to place a bet on themselves.”
Escaping career quicksand requires you to create your own playbook based on what matters to you. Following someone else’s playbook will likely not work for you because your values, beliefs, experiences and aspirations are not the same as anyone else’s. Perhaps we are beginning to understand why millions of people the world over may be in a state of career quicksand and have not yet accepted this profound realization.
Possibilities of Letting Go and Starting Over
Confronting career quicksand should be viewed as a growth opportunity. See it as a healthy process of escaping the tread mill of being what others want you to be, rather than what you seek to be yourself. It’s the ultimate acceptance that what got you to where you are today won't prepare you for the changes of tomorrow. Especially if you are ready to be honest with yourself.
Escaping career quicksand requires an ongoing commitment to learn, unlearn, relearn, and repeat. This process forces you to deconstruct what you've become, how you've adapted yourself to achieve in the world as it was. Concurrently, you must learn to reconstruct who you are, to be ready to thrive in a future that's still unclear. The most challenging part of this journey is to confront what you must unlearn. The career advice you were given over the years by your colleagues, bosses and/or mentors didn’t align with your beliefs and values. Unlearning can be hard because it requires you to look inward and reassess what you are truly in search of not only in your career, but also in life.
Here are 5 strategies to escape career quicksand in 2025. They serve as a guide for you to create your own career management playbook:
1. Harness your natural curiosity to discover something new and your career and life management desires
Curiosity can lead you to career opportunities. Pay attention to your surroundings and stay open to new ideas or connections that come your way. Being flexible might be an idea, a person, a skill, or even a challenge that changes your path. Use what you discover to explore more possibilities and focus on solutions that help you grow. This mindset turns curiosity into a powerful tool for progress in your career.
Consider the following: What was your most recent career path that intrigued you? How did you come up with the idea? What do you like about it? Now, using that as a starting point, list 10 additional ideas.
2. Ground yourself in an open, always-learning mindset to anticipate what career approach suits you best.
Stay open to learning by assessing your skills, interests, and opportunities, even when it’s tough. Use self-regulation to stay focused and make thoughtful decisions. Stay aware of your environment and align it with your goals. Face challenges with resilience, turning them into growth opportunities for career success.
Consider the following: Is there a hard truth that you have been denying or avoiding about your existing career? Does this hard truth pose a risk to your career aspirations? If so, how can you best mitigate that risk?
3. Pursue by revving up the engines of your career and life management ambitions
Fuel your career ambition by staying curious and using it to find new opportunities. Trust your abilities and let your confidence guide you to success. Strive for excellence by delivering your best work and exceeding expectations. Be bold, take action, and stay determined. Combine your enthusiasm with a strong work ethic, and your ambition will drive you toward success.
Consider the following: Do you consider yourself bold? Do you have an all-encompassing will to act, regardless of the circumstances before you? Describe a time when you took bold action, when you did something that was exciting but scary.
4. Build your career by taking action with and for others.
Build your career by maximizing resources and turning them into opportunities. Promote innovation by advancing ideas, even with limited support. Strengthen collaboration by listening and learning from others. Stay persistent and focused on shared goals to foster growth, connection, and contribution.
Consider the following: Is there something about your career that you’ve wanted to put into motion but haven’t? Why not? What is the smallest step you can take today that will create forward movement?
5. Cultivate a deeply rooted sense of your career goals and your ability to elevate others.
A meaningful career grows from knowing your goals and using them to uplift others. Treat challenges as chances to learn and adapt while staying focused. Trust and vulnerability build strong teams, while generosity fosters mutual support. True success lies in achieving your goals while helping others achieve theirs, creating shared progress and collaboration.
Consider the following: What career possibilities might open up if you asked someone for help, rather than pretending you already know and remain stuck in your ignorance?
Almost without exception, no matter what job you have, what role you serve, what expertise you've developed, what standing you've built within your sphere of influence there's something in the works that could make your career and life management goals seem obsolete in a flash. At least, that's how it feels. As you navigate your career goals in 2025, expand how you see yourself in search of a purposeful career and focus on accelerating and multiplying your career impact through others.
