Why your work life is like climbing stairs

"Above all, try something"
Franklin D Roosevelt

At any job we all feel like we need to climb the ladder - by patiently putting one foot in front of the other we ascend the rungs of employment, climbing higher and higher up the ladder to success.

Really it's more akin to climbing a staircase, and here's why.

As you climb the first set of stairs you make out the landing at the top. You can take these stairs two at a time or tread carefully, but eventually you're going to reach that landing. That landing represents job plateau - the point where you feel that you've progressed as much as the confines of work allow you to. You take a look back down the way you came and feel good about the journey, but you're aware that there are further steps to take. 

At this point you can stay where you are. Over time you'll begin to notice the intricacies of the landing, the way the light refracts off the textured surface of the brick walls, or that one chip in the flooring by the pot plant you've come to love. Perhaps no one will understand the detail like you do, no one will have the same grip on how things work, and in truth that is something to be proud of. But if you look up to your left you may notice another set of stairs going off in a different direction.

This is often the choice in your employment, and those stairs may take you somewhere different, somewhere new that you weren't expecting opening up a whole new floor of possibility. It can be a little daunting (a new unexpected direction often is) but if you don't have any expectations and just keep a positive open mind you may just surprise yourself.

Tom Wood