Expanding My Range: A Veteran Salaryman's Resolve

This is what I have been thinking about lately.

I am about to enter my 25th year since I first entered the entertainment content industry. During this time, I have been caught up in M&As and organizational changes, living a rather turbulent life as a corporate employee, but in a sense, things have always been going well.

From a sales position, I gradually expanded my scope of involvement to marketing and then planning, and I have experienced over 10 years in management throughout my career. My network has grown, and I believe I have been able to accomplish what I wanted to do based on my own judgment.

However, at this age, I have begun to feel a stagnant atmosphere that is hard to call smooth sailing.

First of all, stepping into new fields becomes extremely daunting. It is a stagnation of the spirit. If possible, I want to work in the same environment as before, using the network and know-how I have built up, and work just as I always have. I find myself thinking things like that.

On the other hand, as someone integrated into an organization, as you get older, you are no longer treated the same way as when you were young. There is a trend of giving opportunities to young people with absorption capacity and room for growth, while having veterans take a step back.

Both in terms of my mindset and my work environment, I am increasingly encountering situations where I feel stagnant.

The stagnant atmosphere of society as a whole due to the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred this on, and for the past year or two, I have felt an anxiety about the future that I have never experienced since I started working.

Is it okay to stay like this?
Can I stay like this?
There is no way it should be okay to stay like this.

Various things run through my mind, and anxieties I have never felt before cross my path. Then, my body, linked to my mind, gradually stops listening to me.

However, I believe that it is ultimately up to me to break through the stagnant air that covers me.

Changing my mindset is ultimately up to me. I will change my state of mind and change how I perceive the situation I am in.

For example, suppose my work until now is taken over by a younger employee. But that is nothing to be depressed about.

What I have built up over 25 years exists firmly, so there is no need to be impatient. It is obviously better to leave work that can be done with 10 years of experience to an employee in their 10th year.

And I should just do the work that only I, in my 25th year, can do.

However, on the flip side, this also means that if I cannot perform at the level of a 25-year veteran, I risk becoming nothing more than useless.

Once you reach the level of a veteran player, the organization no longer assigns you specific tasks.As a professional, you must create your own work.There is a need for this.

What becomes important here is realizing that completing the work placed in front of you and creating new work are entirely different concepts.

If my work up until now has been about taking 1 and turning it into 2, 5, or 100, then my work from here on out isabout creating 1 from 0.It is something that requires this.

To do that, I must completely change my way of thinking about work.

After turning these thoughts over in my mind, I have arrived at a certainresolvethat I must now expand my range of skills.

Since the goal is to create 1 from 0, if I challenge myself with something and fail, I just return to 0. In that case, I should just keep setting up mechanisms to create things. It is the image of bubbles rising one after another from boiling water.

From a passive range of skills to an aggressive one.

When I thought about it that way, I decided that I would just keep taking shots. If I take enough shots, one might eventually hit. But if I leave it alone, it remains just a quiet water surface. Nothing will be born.

I have to heat the water to a boil and make it bubble vigorously. To do that, I must expand my range beyond my current style.

However,my existing know-how and connections will still be useful.There is no doubt about that. It is precisely because I am confident that the accumulation of these 25 years is supporting me that I can dive into new challenges.