Brian Tracy said in Global Competition, “A recent study said more than 90% of everything you know about your job or field today will be obsolete in 5 years. It will be irrelevant and have nothing to do with your work. It will have to all be replaced with new information, ideas and understanding.”
That was said more than 13 years ago.
In 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.4. To apply it differently, the average number of workers would change jobs before their fifth year in the same position. The most obvious explanation is that the job changed, not them. After more than a year, very few workers do the same thing as they did the day they began the position. The rate at which a job changes by means of information replacement, idea improvement and administrative direction is so high that the job you entered will be completely different a year from now.
It is now 2012, would you agree with me that this information still stands true, but the number of years until the information you know about your field becomes obsolete is now only two to three years? Four years tops.
The answer behind it is that only a select few go into a position with the hope to climb the success totem pole. Not to mention, the average number of jobs that allow position advancement (promotions) with reasonable ease is 4/10. The reason for the number being so low is that those who continue to gobble up new information, form the improvement concepts and devote themselves to further understanding of the occupation, not only take the higher positions in the workplace, but they keep them.
If you’re not constantly devouring new information, if you’re not consistently getting better, you are getting worse. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, people die standing still.
For me, I would prefer that instead of changing jobs nearly every other year, we incorporate an aggressive “success” mindset. It’s also wise to consider the fact that when you start a new job, you have to learn all new information anyway. New information and the same low wage and respect? Or new information and a higher wage and more respect? Both of which require the same amount of effort.
Stay Positive & Keep In Mind That Changing Jobs To Keep Yourself Low On The Totem Pole Is The Same As Standing Still
Garth E. Beyer
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