Are you sleeping in the control tower of your career?

A good <yawn> Monday morning,

Are you feeling a little bit sleepy behind the controls as we kick off another week in your career, Readers?

The serious news about snoozing at the nation's air traffic control switches is cause for concern and consternation (yet another incident occurred early Saturday morning in Miami). But to be truthful, the far bigger danger to you and your family's comfort and future is what's happening in your career, not some South Florida control tower.

As I travel around the country and talk to professionals like you, a most remarkable and common comment that I hear over and over is "I just wasn't thinking that something like this could happen to me / my career / my company. It came totally out of the blue."

We often find ourselves happily focused on the things that matter most in life — the kids' soccer game, helping out at church, weekends on the lake with family and friends — which is as it should be… most of the time. It's also really important that we keep an eye out for the dangers that threaten our domestic tranquility.

So what are the big blips on the radar to which you ought to be paying attention this week?

Trouble on the horizon

Have you taken the time to survey the horizon? If there's anything we've learned these past few years, it's that the world can change suddenly, and famous old names can fall in an instant. Have you taken stock of your industry, your profession, your area of expertise, and thought through the implications of incidents that might head your way?

What if your employer was involved in a scandal, was acquired by your largest competitor from overseas, or had the laws changed under your feet? Have you taken the time to consider what your contingency plan will be? What evasive maneuvers you'd take should it come to that?

The best time to make a plan is when you don't need one… may I suggest "now"?

What's your speed and altitude?

How is your career going right now? Are you hitting it out of the park, or are you just "phoning it in"?

Do you have the energy to make it happen, and is the work you're doing adding fuel to the fire or just dragging you down?

As the person at the wheel, er… yoke, you'll need to decide how important it is to go fast and high, and then you'll need to do something about it.

Where are you going?

Of course, most important to you should be the direction you're going. A blue sky and a fast plane don't make a bit of difference if you're just going in circles.

So now that your career has taken off, where do you want to land? Yeah, sure, that annoying old interview question where do you see yourself in ten years? has about as much relevance to you today as it ever will, but on a deeper level, what's your daydream?

When your mind wanders, when you catch yourself staring out the window or you're absent-mindedly driving along in traffic, who do you see? Who is the next person you'll be turning into?

Is it the next step up at the office, is it taking a bigger role someplace else, is it moving on to a different and greener pasture entirely?

Whatever it is, and more importantly, whoever it is that you want to become, just letting it happen to you isn't the best way to make sure you're getting out of life what you need.

So perhaps this is a good week to take a hint from the Air Traffic Controllers and wake up (and, yeah, sure, smell the coffee too… it cost you enough) and think through where you'd like your career to go.

I'll be here to help you think it through!

All the best,
Marc Cenedella, CEO & Founder

Follow me on Twitter here: @cenedella

P.S . Have a reaction to this week's newsletter? Please leave your comments on my blog here.

P.P.S. We're running a sale on the Kindle edition of our Amazon Top 50 seller: "You're Better Than Your Job Search" — for the rest of April, it's just $3.99 (marked down from $16.99).

P. P.P.S. And thanks so much everybody for the great comments over the past week about da Vinci's resume and birthday.