Are you an Agile coach, Scrum Master, Product Owner, or Product Manager?

Do you feel like you're being forced to play Russian Roulette with your career?

By that, I mean you're either hopping from contract role to contract role.

Unaware of what's coming next?

Or maybe you've recently been laid off.

Questioning the flimsy tightrope you're balancing on?

Buckle up, you're not the only one.

I've been in those exact same, nail-biting shoes.

• Jobless (or forced to work menial labor jobs just to make ends meet)

• Cringing at the thought of next month's bills.

• Baffled as to why the interview invitations were as rare as hens' teeth.

• Left hanging by organizations who seem to have put the interview feedback on a slow boat to China.

• Stumped by the inexplicable decisions of organizations who chose an alternate path.

This was my reality, my career abyss, seven agonizing years ago.

I was on the bench for more than a year, scurrying to fill the gaping financial void with a side hustle, selling myself short by trading my time and expertise for meager hourly rates instead of rightfully earning an income commensurate with the value I delivered.

If I could rewind, equipped with the wisdom I have now, I would've played the job search game like a grandmaster.

Not to mention, I would have aced the side hustle, potentially bypassing the need for a 9-5 grind altogether.

People often say, "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing."

What a load of baloney!

I would rewrite history faster than you can say agility!

But since time-travel isn't on the cards, I'm pouring my effort into sparing others from the career pitfalls I encountered.

Let's dodge the needless mental trauma of solitary trial and error, stop wasting invaluable time and losing potential income.

Here's a hard pill to swallow – being jobless equates to missing out on $2,000 to $4,000 weekly.

That's a colossal loss in terms of supporting your family, investing in your growth, advancing your career, and creating lasting memories.

Sure, money can't buy happiness.

We can't take it to the grave either

But while we're alive and breathing on this planet?

It is a powerful tool to bring positive impact to our lives and the lives of others.

Have you ever paused and calculated the cost of your career stagnation?

As agile professionals, we're accustomed to measuring the cost of delay in value delivery.

But what about the cost of delay in rebooting your career?

I wager that it's substantially higher than what you would need to invest in honing the very skills that will catapult you back into the game, propel you towards that elusive dream job or even supercharge your side hustle.

So, I pose the question again, what is your personal cost of delay?

It's often by tallying this cost that we can summon the will to seek help, devise a battle plan, and gather the guts to execute it–even if the thought sends shivers down your spine.

Stay tuned for more insights, inspiration, and support.

Read this next: Make Your Agile Resume More Magnetic (coming soon)

—Scott Showalter