Am I the only one who gets the idea that a lot of people these days are stuck in mediocrity? They’re not happy with where they are, but have no idea where they want to be; kind of just phoning it in. If you’re not sure you’re one of those, here are some warning signs. You may be phoning it in if, or when:
1. You start dreading going to work on Monday morning, Sunday afternoon.
2. You spend most of Monday morning in water-cooler talk, roaming around, dreading actually getting started; knowing you can get in a full day’s work in an hour or two anyway.
3. You complain about how bad the economy is as a justification for doing nothing about it.
4. You spend most of your “think time” worrying about losing the job you have. Even though you don’t like it, it does pay the bills.
5. You haven’t upgraded your skills in a long, long time.
6. You’re not reading books about best practices in your field, or at least something you’re passionate about.
7. You spend company time on monster.com looking for a better job, any job.
8. You complain about how you’re treated in the marketplace because of your age. And it can go both ways; young and old.
9. You’re a clock-watcher. You start counting down around 2:00 for when it’s time to go home, and you’re often one of the first people out of the parking garage.
10. You think, feel, and act as though your company, business, or organization owes you a job for life.
If more than one of these describes you, your attitude, and behavior, you’re going to get a wake-up call. It could be this Dave Rave, or it could be a pink-slip. You get to choose.