There are rewarding benefits of staying on a job for years and years. Not only does it provide you with steady and secure income but it also allows you to become very familiar with your work responsibilities. However, with longevity comes complacency, which can lead to feeling stagnant and dissatisfied in your position. That’s not saying to leave a job the moment you feel “bored” in your position, but it could very well be a sign that it’s time to look for ways to grow in your career.

In this article, we’re going to highlight and focus on ways to enhance your skills and gain new experiences in your career field that will bring about a new satisfaction and reverence for your current position. With that, you’ll be increasing your longevity with the potential for advancement and ultimately, be able to see the brighter side of redundancy (temporarily) while you’re working to grow in your career.

Set Clear Goals You Want to Achieve Within the Company

Setting clear and concise goals is largely going to be your motivation for staying with your employer. Many companies have advancement opportunities, whether in your current department or another. It’s up to you to sit down and figure out who and where you want to be in the company.

Maybe you’ve been with your employer for five years now and have been in the same entry-level position with small raises. What is it about that company and position that makes you stay complacent? When we get bored in a position, it’s likely because our knowledge of the role has well exceeded our capabilities, and new responsibilities are needed.

By setting clear goals, you’ll be better able to see what you want to do next and map out the next steps as to how you can achieve the goals you’ve just set.

Let Your Need For Growth Be Known

Sometimes we can be sitting around dissatisfied in our positions all because we don’t speak up. In many instances, a lot of the successful people in higher-up positions gained their success simply from letting their supervisors know they want to cross-train or get involved in a management training program. Of course, when you’re good in your role, you have the potential to be recognized for your hard work alone, but it’s also important to note that there’s nothing wrong with seeking growth within your role on your own.

Connect With Other Professionals in Your Field

Inspiration for professional growth can come from all kinds of places, but it can be especially helpful when you get together with other professionals in your particular field. This type of interaction allows for helpful information to be shared and connections to be made. 

You might be someone who’s looking to enter the construction industry and focus on electrical work. Imagine linking up with local contractors and they tell you there are online courses in electrical to help you pass your contractor’s licensing exam. That might be information you didn’t know but will now look into, thanks to their helpful information and guidance. The same thing goes for cosmetology, customer service, and various other career paths.

Networking doesn’t always mean joining some elaborate group… sometimes it can be as simple as reaching out in your local community and asking questions.

Let Failure Be Your Motivator

In order to grow in your career, it means that you’re going to have to get uncomfortable, and in the working world, that oftentimes means that you’re going to have to be bad at something in order to get good at it.

Failing or being bad at something is often looked at as a negative time in one’s career when really it should be embraced. That’s not saying to embrace failure and to stay there, but more so to embrace it as a motivator to push you to do better next time. When you mess up at something, try retracing your footsteps and seeing exactly where you went wrong, then determining what you can do moving forward to not make that same mistake.

There are many different ways to grow in your career that can easily be done with a little bit of effort. Staying in your current role as an unhappy, complacent, and dissatisfied employee is not only unacceptable but it’s completely unnecessary as well. By setting clear goals and actively working on ways to achieve them, you’ll be well on your way to growing in your career and possibly advancing as well. Let your hard work and effort show.