Did you ever ask yourself, “How did it all go wrong so fast?” This usually means that the tide has turned, usually not for the good. What changed? How and why did things go wrong? What accelerated the unfortunate events?

I remember when I was just out of graduate school in one of my first healthcare jobs. I became work friends with one of the directors of the company. Being older and wise than me, she was an alumnus from my MHA program. We both loved business books, often recommending or copying articles for each other.

Our work environment was changing, as our marketing department was losing people right and left. My colleagues were leaving for better jobs or to get away from our VP. By that time, my director friend asked me with resignation in her voice, “How did it all go wrong so fast?” Pausing, she looked at me, as we both pondered the question. We had lost nine employees by the time we realized how bad our work environment had become. Why were we still working there?

I thought about her question, and then I figured it out. It all went wrong, when one particular director left. He was a buffer that protected the department from its VP. After the buffer’s departure, that’s when all the dominoes fell down. Shortly after our realization, my director friend left before I did. I eventually escaped.

Think back to your experience. Has this happened to you? Could you have prevented things from going wrong? Would you or should have prevented events? Was it better to leave? Should you have stayed?

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12 Questions for Career Mindfulness Series

The 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness Series reflects on twelve questions to help you reflect about the course of your career. Perhaps once you see your answers, you’ll see patterns or maybe you won’t. These questions conjure up memories of jobs that may still create some undercurrent of discomfort. I hope some questions validate your strengths or your weaknesses, while some questions provoke a memory that you thought you forgot.

1. How was the first day of your last job? How was the last day of your first job?
2. If you wrote an email to yourself on attitude adjustment, how would it read?
3. What things did you do or love as a child that explains how your work today?
4. Write about a phone call that changed everything in your life.
5. Write about the book that changed everything in your career.
6. If you could ask a former boss a question you wanted to ask, what would that question be?
7. Have you experienced a painful loyalty?
8. What happened on a workday that was different?
9. How did it all go wrong so fast?
10. What if you didn’t get that job?
11. What is the elephant in the room?
12. What if you finally get to do what you always wanted?

I’ll post one question on career mindfulness per work day for the rest of June 2009. For previous entries in this series, click here.

Similar Posts:

• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #4 Write about a Phone Call that Changed Everything
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #6 If you could ask a former boss a question, what would you ask?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #11 What is the elephant in the room?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #12 What if you finally get to do what you always wanted?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #2 If you wrote an email to yourself on attitude adjustment, how would it read?