How Do You Stay Open to Possibility Without Waiting for Something to Go Wrong?

About once a week it seems, a recruiter message lands in my inbox and most of the time, I read it and move on. I'm happy doing what I'm currently doing and I'm not actively looking for something else right now.

But almost every time, another thought quietly follows…I really should update my LinkedIn and résumé.

Because what if, someday, the message is about something I actually want?

Earlier in my career, I worked for a senior president I liked and respected. Eventually, our careers took us in different directions, but we stayed in touch over the years.

There was no strategy behind staying in touch and I wasn't trying to keep a door open…I simply valued the relationship.

Years later, he called me out of the clear blue. He'd moved on to a very visible company and asked if I'd be interested in joining him in a very high-profile role.

I was incredibly flattered that he'd thought of me but ultimately, I said no.

The role required significant travel to Asia, and at that point in my life, it wasn't something I could make work with my family obligations.

But I've thought about that call many times since because I wasn't looking for an opportunity. I hadn't applied for anything and I hadn't strategically networked my way into the conversation. It found me. 

An opportunity found me because of a relationship I'd maintained long before I needed anything from it and even though I didn't take the job, I had something incredibly valuable…I had a choice.

I was thinking about this again because work feels uncertain for so many people right now.

AI is changing jobs and organizations are restructuring. People are wondering whether their expertise will still matter or whether they should be doing something different.

There's plenty of advice all over the news and social media telling us to prepare.

Update your résumé. Optimize your LinkedIn. Learn new skills. Build your personal brand. Network… and it’s all useful advice. 

But I think there's a difference between career preparedness and job-search readiness.

You don't have to live as though you're about to lose your job to invest in your future.

And you don't have to be unhappy with where you are to remain curious about where else your life could eventually take you.

Maybe staying open to possibility looks less like constantly preparing for an exit and more like remaining connected to the world outside your current role.

My advice is to get into rooms with interesting people. Meet someone new. Stay in touch with people you've enjoyed working with and have conversations with people who think differently than you do.

Pay attention to work that makes you curious, even when you have absolutely no intention of applying for it.

Because you never know what the future holds and careers don't always change because something goes wrong.

Sometimes something right unexpectedly appears.

The goal isn't to always be ready to leave but to make sure you've continued creating enough possibility that when life changes by force or by choice, you still have options.

ONE THING THIS WEEK

If you do only one extra thing this week, send three notes.

One to a former colleague. One to someone you know and respect. One to someone you've simply been meaning to reconnect with.

Say hello. Ask how they're doing.

That's it.

Don’t ask anything of them - no carefully disguised networking objective. No “I'd love to pick your brain.”

Just maintain the relationship because the person matters, not because you need something from them.

And I'm still probably going to update my LinkedIn and résumé eventually - 😄 even though staying open to possibility has much less to do with keeping a perfect résumé on your laptop.

It's about not letting your world become smaller simply because your happy where you are.

I want to keep meeting people who expand my thinking. Keep having interesting conversations. Keep being curious about work and ideas outside my immediate world.

Not because I'm planning an exit.

Not because I'm expecting something to go wrong.

Because I want to remain the author of what comes next, even when there are those times I have absolutely no idea what “next” will be.

I hope you keep creating that possibility for yourself too. 

Warmly,

Heather

Anchored in Possibility™ | The future belongs to those who know who they are when everything changes.