Everybody wants their career to look like a straight line from the bottom left of the chart to the top right.
A better title every year. A bigger salary every raise. A better company every time you move.
Wouldn't that be nice.
Here's what it actually looks like. You get a promotion, then a layoff. You stay flat for two years. Then you jump ahead, and then you take a step back.
It's jagged, with peaks and drops and long stretches where nothing seems to happen.
I got a cheap lesson in this on the golf course.
When I picked up golf, it took roughly 40 rounds before I finally broke 100. That's a huge milestone for anyone who's tried to hit a small white ball where they meant to.
So what happened next?
I went backwards. For the next stretch of rounds, I couldn't even break 110. LOL.
That's just how golf goes. You get worse, then better, then worse again, and over time the low points keep getting a little lower.
The truth is this: your career works the same way. That's why a step back is sometimes the smartest move you can make.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Sometimes the right opportunity comes with a slightly smaller title or a small pay cut. But the right company, with the right people and room to grow, can be exactly what sets up your next leap forward.
Plenty of people turn that offer down because it doesn't look like the next step up on their chart. Then they spend another six months waiting for a perfect job that never comes.
Here's the point: don't judge your career by one round. Judge it by where your low points are heading.
If you want help finding the right next opportunity, even if it's not a straight line up, go here: