What are Career Shocks?

Our careers are non-linear. There is no rule book, or bible to follow that will lead us all down the yellow brick road to success. Success itself looks completely different for each person, based on what we each value.

The twists and turns of our career stories consist of high-high's and low low’s, mundane tasks, and extraordinary rare opportunities. Beauty is often in the simplistic things that lay a solid foundation to build a sustainable career. Often we tend to forget to appreciate the small things that go right, until they go wrong.

Those moments where despite all your hard work, practice, creativity, time, and effort it just didn’t go to plan. You didn’t get the offer, you lost out on a promotion, or your idea was shut down. You feel disappointed, embarrassed, frustrated, maybe even devastated.

These moments, are our career shocks. But we should process the negative emotions we feel during these moments, it is something we can use in a positive way to grow and gain new experiences on our career journey.

As cliché as it may seem, the closing of one door more often than not leads to the opening of another door full of promise. Learn to own your career shocks, along with your career gains to build your own sustainable career story. This story is our past, present, and future. It helps us navigate change and shift perspectives, in a non-linear fashion, on your non-linear career journey.