Keep Moving Forward
Three questions to help you decide what to do next in your career
I’m on the verge of taking on a new role at Amazon.
A friend jokingly said “I deeply appreciate your commitment to never stay in a job more than 18 months. 😂” (I reminded them I had been on my current team over 2 years, thank you.)
I am once again moving into a role I know little about—leading a brand new initiative for how AWS goes to market with partners. I’m excited to take on this new challenge and maybe a little scared, too.
But being scared isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and anyway … it is time for a change. I’ve written before about knowing when it’s time to move on from your job.
When you decide the time is right to change jobs—what then? How do you determine what the right next step is for you?
Some people have their whole careers mapped out in front of them. They know exactly what they want to do and the steps they need to take to get there.
Not me. I’ve frequently said I tripped into a my first CIO role—and I’m only half joking when I say this.
I’ve subscribed to only one philosophy across my entire career:
Keep moving forward.
I look at each opportunity in front of me and ask these three questions:
Does it advance my career in some way?
Will it allow me to continue to learn and grow?
What will this role enable me to do next (i.e., what future opportunities could this lead to or close me off from)?
If the job opportunity enables forward progress, then I take the leap—even if that means doing something totally new and a little scary.
But that’s just me. 🤷🏼♀️
If you are someone who knows exactly what you want to do in life, that’s fantastic. You keep doing you.
And if you are someone who doesn’t know what you want to be when you grow up—or even what you want to do next in life—that’s A-okay, too.
Just keep moving forward.
I actually started my new role this past week, although I wrote this post before I started. I’m still excited, still a little scared, and more convinced than ever that it was the right decision to make this move. Onward!