Step 2.3: Careers Are Like Playlists Now
The End of the Greatest Hits Album
Remember albums? Forty minutes of carefully sequenced songs you had to play in order. That was your parents' career – 30 years at IBM, climbing the corporate ladder one rung at a time, waiting for the gold watch and the pension.
Today's careers? They're more like Spotify on shuffle.
The data tells us everything: The average person now changes jobs every 4.1 years. Your parents worked for 2-3 companies their entire career. You'll work for 12-15. The straight line to the corner office has become a squiggly line masterpiece that would make Jackson Pollock proud.
Here's the cold truth: Staying at one company for 15 years isn't loyalty anymore – it's career malpractice.
Your skills get stale faster than leftover sushi. Your network becomes an echo chamber, amplifying the same old ideas. Your market value flatlines like a dead battery. Innovation happens elsewhere while you're stuck in legacy systems. Worst of all, your comfort zone slowly becomes your career coffin.
Think of your career like a modern playlist. Every track doesn't need to be a chart-topper. Some songs are just bridges to the next album. Different genres keep your sound fresh. Sometimes you need to skip to the next track. And the best playlists evolve with your taste.
The market rewards people who curate their career like a DJ – mixing skills, experiences, and opportunities into something uniquely valuable. It punishes those who keep playing the same track on repeat.
Remember: Your career isn't an album you release once. It's a playlist you keep updating.
The squiggly line isn't a bug in your career path – it's the feature.
Time to press play on your next track.
Your Playbook:
Stop waiting for the perfect progression
Start collecting experiences like rare vinyl
Mix industries like genres
Sample new skills before they go mainstream
Drop tracks that don't make you move anymore