Do you need a 'Wake-Up Call' to your career? In the movie 'Up In The Air', George Clooney's character, Ryan Bingham is firing a man named Bob in his late fifties who is complaining he has no idea what to do next.

Ryan replies in a powerful tone: "Look, I’m a wake-up call.” He explains to Bob he must follow his dreams. Bob doesn’t understand. Ryan looks through Bob’s resume. He minored in culinary arts in college and worked busing tables at an Italian restaurant before working here. “When were you going to do what makes you happy?” Ryan asks. “This is a rebirth,” he says. Bob takes the packet with a new direction for his career.

Sometimes there are internal and external forces knocking on your door — a career wake-up call — for you to change. Sometimes it's a light tap on the door — sometimes it's someone breaking the door down. Here are some examples of a 'wake-up call':

You HATE going to work. Not dislike — HATE. Step back and think, if I hate my job, what kind of effort and quality will I produce? Will it suffer?
You give a motivational speech to your company — and no one finds it motivational. Why aren't you speaking their language and firing up what important to them?
You find your support network of friends are dwindling. Are you taking regular steps to engage new people? Are you losing or retaining your current colleagues?
Your board turns down your request for expansion. Have you done the requisite politicking to each member to get their buy-in? Or are you resting on your laurels?

I can go on ad-infinitum. Fortunately, there is a common thread running through all of these examples:

What you've done before isn't working now. Something has changed — sometimes it's you, and most of the time it's external.

Bottom line — you need to change. Adapt. Evolve. Morph.

Because if you don't, that wake-up call will turn into something far, far worse. And don't hit the snooze bar either. Take action and change.

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P.S. The alarm bells are ringing at work — and you don’t know what to do next. Don’t worry – you and I can work on it together so you instantly develop a plan of attack - Let’s talk. I’ve worked with thousands of people who wanted to take assertive steps in this area — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

Image: Royalty-Free License from Dollar Photo Club 2014.