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How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time

apoorvagovind.substack.com · 1,952 words · saved by 11 readers

I recently saw this tweet asking people about their career's most expensive mistake. The most common one was people staying too long at their jobs and not switching sooner. I've seen people make this mistake over and over. Hell, I've made this mistake myself. Change can be scary. It requires you to get out of your comfort zone. But, in my experience, staying too long is one of the worst mistakes you can make in your career. One common trait I've observed in all great engineers is their sense of adventure. People who pigeonhole themselves into a specialty and do the exact same job for years tend to grow complacent. The problem is that stability is an innate human instinct. So you need to deliberately counterbalance this tendency. Taking risks and being uncomfortable is a muscle you have to train. A friend of mine told me this story about wild ducks — Wild ducks migrate in the winter not because of the cold but because of the food. If you feed them, they won't migrate. Keep feeding them

How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time Apoorva Govind Sep 28, 2020 1,945 285 Share I recently saw this tweet asking people about their career's most expensive mistake. The most common one was people staying too long at their jobs and not switching sooner. Flo Crivello @Altimor What's the most expensive mistake you've made in your career, and what did you learn from it? 1:42 AM · Sep 17, 2020 60 Reposts · 599 Likes @Altimor</span> Spent six years in dead end jobs where I was learning very little because I thought that was basically the only option early in one’s career.","user

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