Even as a freelance consultant and designer, I found the prime motivating force behind many corporate positions to be PYA (protect your …). Projects remained in limbo for months, RFPs were constant, needing to reflect the ever-changing office politics and strategies. Yes, insecure middle/upper management will throw those under them to the wolves to protect their positions.

I give kudos to anyone who can navigate these waters! Your post gives much food for thought…and yes, there aren’t quick fixes. You have to dig down deep & discover the real stuff you’re made of before you act.

Judging from the comments this piece has garnered so far, it would seem choosing the latter really does end up giving us the chance to lead better and more fulfilling lives.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts on this piece, Renee.

It is hard to give up what we know for some as yet unknown opportunity. But like you, Rick, I’ve found in my own experiences that whenever I decided that it was indeed time to move on, it turned out to be the best thing for me.

Thanks again Rick for sharing your experience with this and adding your thoughts to this discussion.

It's always difficult to assess what you might be giving up. Change may bring completely unexpected opportunity that could not have been predicted and that greatly outweighed the benefits of staying.

In my own case, there were several times that I tortured myself over what I might be giving up, but moved on anyway. While it was never immediately obvious, each time moving on eventually turned out to be very positive.

Thanks for the post Tanveer!
.-= Rick Ross´s latest post … Taming Your Inbox, Part I =-.

Each seems an appropriate question for my “should I stay or should I go” inquiry.

As always, you’ve made me think.
.-= Frank Dickinson´s latest post … Just For Today. =-.

Since working through these questions with me, Mark has admitted that he's finding his decision to leave makes more and more sense each day. Also, he's finding the idea to be less scary than it was initially, though he's still wishing he could continue to work with his team leader.

I advised Mark that the best thing to do is to take those wonderful lessons she taught him about leadership and carry it forward, both in terms of what he should expect from future leaders as well as for those opportunities when he will be asked to step up to lead others. As for becoming more comfortable with his decision, I told him that's his mind's way of letting him know that he's given the situation the proper amount of introspection and he's come to terms with what he needs to do next.

Thanks again, Gwyn for the kind words and for sharing your thoughts.

@Dorothy – Thanks Dorothy. I wholeheartedly agree that while change can at first be at bit scary, assessing what that change will mean by asking questions like those I mention above will go a long way to abate that fear, helping you to determine what course you'd be best suited to take.

@Landon – Thanks Landon, I'm glad you enjoyed this piece. I'll definitely pass along your best wishes to Mark.

@Frank – Glad to hear I got you thinking again, Frank. That certainly is an interesting application for these questions. You'll have to let me know how it goes.

Again, my thanks to all of you for the kind words and for your contributions to this discussion.

Best of luck to your friend, Mark!

Cheers,
Landon Creasy
http://landoncreasy.wordpress.com
.-= Landon Creasy´s latest post … Want to Avoid Mission Creep? Practice. =-.

It’s interesting how you mention challenging yourself as often when we find ourselves in familiar territory, one of the things we can lack are opportunities to challenge our perceived boundaries/limitations. Indeed, that’s probably why the familiar seems so safe as we’re able to maintain the status quo as opposed to pondering ‘what if’.