New job; taking risks; philosophising on life.

I didn’t expect it would come so quick, the day when I would be leaving my job for another place. I’ve been there for over two and a half years, it’s the longest amount of time I’ve ever been with any one single employer, and I thought I would stay there for a while longer yet. But something came along that I wasn’t expecting, and persisted through my long months of apathy, refusing to go away, even after the first contract acceptance date expired. I get the feeling it’s somewhere I’m meant to be, otherwise I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked out the way it did.

I came across a blog today by Marc Andreessen, he’s that guy that co-wrote the first internet browser that brought internet to the digital masses – that had a profound affect on my day. Two things in particular he said really struck a chord with me.

The second rule of career planning: Instead of planning your career, focus on developing skills and pursuing opportunities.

The issue is that without taking risk, you can’t exploit any opportunities.

That’s exactly what this next move felt like to me; I wasn’t doing it for the money or because I disliked my current job… that much. No it was more because this was an opportunity that I had never seen before, and if I didn’t take this, then maybe I would never see another one like it again. I don’t actually believe there is any such thing as a truly once in a lifetime opportunity, but one like this one I won’t see it’s equivalent in this time, or in this place, after it passes. It is a risk to move for me right now, I’m comfortable and the business model of my current company is sound, so money is coming in. This next place is an internet startup, so it might not be around in 4 years. If it is however, I’m going to do well financially, and if it isn’t, I’m still going to do well with the skills I’ll get out of it, but I’m going to have to find something else to pay my way with.

There used to be a time in life when I was pretty big on taking big risks, and with that came big rewards. My life is still a testament to those risks I took over 10 years ago; I’m living in Europe, living a life that is a dream to many others, and something only a handful of people will ever experience. The last couple of years though, I stopped taking risks, any risks, and I noticed that I started to stagnate. Life wasn’t going backwards, but it wasn’t going forwards either. It was sitting in an idle gear waiting for something to happen. That only ever results in days going by, and not much else. I’m not someone with a lot to protect, I’m not married, and I don’t have kids, so I can still go out there and take a risk and see what comes of it. In the end, I know I will always be alright, and I will always be able to get a job to pay the bills and put food on the table.

I feel more motivated now than I have in a long time. I felt excited today as I took the 20 minute slow walk from the office to my friends house where I was visiting. I started thinking of all the possibilities that lay before me, not just in the immediate future, but in the long term future that really is only in the realms of dreams. They didn’t seem so hazy, but a little more tangible, as if they were on the horizon of possibility.

Perhaps this is a moment I have been waiting for, but I just haven’t realised it yet. At the very least I am happy that now the world is turning in new and exciting ways. What will be the outcome? Well that is very much a blank page waiting for the hand of fate to begin writing.

Padwanna!

The New job; taking risks; philosophising on life. by Mentalechoes, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.