Published: February 03, 2010 10:58 am      

Two steps forward, one step back

Recently Charles Krauthammer celebrated 25 years as a prominent national newspaper columnist by attributing his career path to serendipity, a term that means “accidental discoveries.” He said, “To be doing every day what you enjoy doing is rare. Rarer still is to be doing what you were meant to do, particularly if you got there by sheer serendipity. Until near 30, I'd fully expected to spend my life as a doctor. My present life was never planned or even imagined. An intern at The New Republic once asked me how to become a nationally syndicated columnist. “Well,” I replied, “first you go to medical school...”

How many people do you know that knew as a child what their profession would be, went to school for that profession and are now successfully employed in that profession? You may know some people in this category, but it is rare. Serendipity is more prevalent.

I recently met with a very successful business owner who started his business thirty years ago and today is seeing his business thrive. He commented that upon graduating from college he had no idea he would ever be in the industry he is in, nor did he envision owning his own business.

You’ve heard it before; life is two steps forward and one step back. Careers typically are a combination of well-planned (and some unplanned, yet fortuitous) steps forward, with the occasional bad choice or unfortunate circumstance causing a backward step along the way.

This is somewhat analogous to floating down a river without a map. You plan for a desired destination downstream, and encounter twists and turns to the river that you cannot see around until you go through them. The river may very well end up taking you to wonderful places that were far beyond your imagination when you embarked. But you may encounter rocks along the way (seen or unseen) that can cause some big problems unless you maneuver around them. The bottom line is you certainly don’t control the river; you navigate it.

There are inevitable circumstances greater than us that dictate our situations, and we must navigate through them. Call it fate, serendipity, or call it God’s plan, things are going to happen that we cannot anticipate or control, be they good or bad.

The challenge is that we all naturally want to be in complete control of our careers. When things don’t go as we desire, it is very frustrating and tough on the ego when we realize that someone or something else has more control over our careers than we do. This is particularly true in downsizing situations. Work hard, be loyal, pay our dues, only to have someone from way above make a decision based upon “business conditions” that throws a wrench in our career plans, and our lives in general.

We can do things to improve the odds for success in our favor. Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” Yet no matter how diligently we prepare, we must know that life will present us with these “rocks in the stream” now and then. But blessings come too, although sometimes disguised as challenges. The key is to accept both with the right attitude. Someone once said, “We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.”

Just before Christmas, my career took a step backward when I became subject to a company downsizing. I debated whether I should mention it in this column, because I have never wanted the column to be about me. I also did not want to appear as a hypocrite, rendering weekly career advice only to be, ironically, downsized myself.

Well, some very wise friends advised me to make it known because it is in the best interest of transparency and genuineness. And, per the theme of this column, it provides a rather immediate example of how these types of things are out of our control and can indeed happen to anybody — including career planning columnists.

After pondering it a bit, it became clear to me that I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t make mention of it. And who knows — this may be a little bit of career serendipity in disguise. That’s the way I am treating it.

Craig A. Edlin is a 10-year Zionsville resident and is working on his first book on career planning. He can be reached at cedlin@indy.rr.com