What’s the single most valuable lesson you’ve learned in your professional life? originally appeared on Quora – the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
Answer by Tom Sullivan, Software Sales Professional, on Quora:
The most valuable professional lesson that I’ve ever learned is that if something is not working in your career you must pivot as soon as you can.
The consequences of not pivoting when things aren’t going well are dire. Years can be spent in a bad situation that could have easily been fixed, with a boss that you hate, or doing something that you thoroughly don’t enjoy.
Many people suffer their whole lives because they don’t believe they have to power to pivot when they actually do.
If you sit around in a bad career situation and all you do about it is complain to your family and friends, it is high time that you take action. If you are in this situation, and you know if you are, you must pivot, and you must do it as soon as possible.
Anything different would be a waste of your precious life.
Pivoting can mean a lot of different things in the workplace. Here are some examples:
- Working on different projects
- Switching work group or team
- Quitting
- Completely switching careers
- Asking for a promotion for a position you believe is more suitable to your ability
The reasons for pivoting can also vary:
- Bad boss
- Co-workers who conspire against you
- Mind-numbingly dull work that feels pointless
- Working for a company that you think is going in the wrong direction
- Yearning to make much more money than you currently do
Not long ago, I had a very good reason for pivoting. I had a baby. At age 28, I was not making enough money to support a family.
I had an okay office job doing work I didn’t completely hate, but I was only making $19/hr. This was a big problem for me. I really did not know what to do, nor did I have a safe and easy solution for how to move forward. All I knew is that I needed to start making more money fast.
I watched an episode of The Bachelor (which I don’t normally watch…for the record) and noticed that several of the shows contestants worked in ‘software sales.’ I thought, “If you’re eligible enough to be on the bachelor you need to have a decent career, so it must be a good paying job.” So the idea of doing ‘software sales’ was implanted into my brain from watching The Bachelor and I looked into it.
I did some research and realized that I could leverage my communication skills that I developed from working in several jobs into a typical entry level software sales. I jumped full on into re-doing my resume, researching the field, and applying for the types of jobs I thought I could land at the entry level.
Skip to today, I now make enough money to support my small family. In 2016, I’m proud to report that I earned over twice what I earned in 2015.
I badly needed to pivot, with a damn good reason, and I did.
Most people don’t think they can pivot that easily. They think that it takes some kind of courage that they personally don’t posses. They’re all wrong.
If you are in a bad situation at work, you must take action immediately to pivot and make better things happen, or they never will.
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