“You are living in your comfort zone and you don’t want to take risk…” My girlfriend said this to me last week and until now I am still thinking about what she said. I was discussing my career plan with her, and whether or not I should go for a change in my career. Initially I was quite pissed off with the company due to the offer they made to me (to be transferred to S’pore HQ) makes me feel that I am undervalued.

During the discussion with my Japanese boss I informed him that If the company cannot transfer me to HQ either in Singapore or Japan then I have to reevaluate whether or not I should continue working in the same company. At this point discussion is still in progress and I am not sure what the final outcome is. But I already gave indication to my boss that I need a clear answer within next 3 months as I don’t want to wait for another long discussion with no results.

My girlfriend’s opinion is that why not just quit this company and try to get a better job with greater opportunities. She felt that I am sticking to my own comfort zone and do not want to take risks. It makes me wonder whether what she said is true or not.

Actually there’s nothing seriously wrong with my current job, I am involved from planning, up to execution processes in my work, I have chances to visit and provide support to our sister companies in different countries, career path is ok (within 12 year I have been promoted 6 times, I think the most among 1000+ colleagues here). I am passionate about my work, pay is good (of course can be better). The only thing that I am looking for is to be able to learn more things at a greater scope. I hope to be able to work at HQ level, able to learn new processes from different business segments. I am hoping to be able to further develop my management skills so that in future I can manage at regional or HQ level. That’s the reason why I asked my management to consider my reallocation to either S’pore or Japan site.

I must admit that I am not a big risk taker. But I am taking calculated risks at the moment. If after 3 months the management still cannot give me a good offer then I think its time for me to start to look into other alternatives. I think at the end of the day it doesn’t matter whether I lived in a comfort zone or not because I think that’s not the point, the point is that whether I am enjoying my career life or not, whether I am fulfilling what I set to achieve or not. If I am happy with my career life and I can balance it with my private life then I have nothing to be regret of. Of course money is important but for me sense of satisfaction from my work will out-weight financial gain (at least for the moment).

Wish me luck…