Employment Research Institute's Chief Executive Officer, A. Harrison Barnes, in a webinar as he discussed the importance of doing everything in your power to resist slipping or falling down.

In life and in career, most people seek to improve, get traction and stay in the game. No one wishes to slip and fall and yet all, at some point or another do. Slipping happens to everyone but it typically happens due to two major reasons. First for reasons within your control and second for reasons outside your control. For instance, professional athletes and rock stars begin to slip because of the age factor. It’s beyond their control. However, if you slip because of your work habits, your self-discipline, or your attitude, then it is within your power to fix it and move on. What Harrison is trying to explain here is that regardless of why you are slipping or falling, it is important that you take action. Look back and see if you have slipped or fallen. If you have fallen, look back and see if you have got up and started climbing again.

In your life and your career, ‘you are either in or you are out’, and this Harrison believes to be a terrific metaphor wherein you are either falling down or slipping backwards, or you are moving forward and growing. In life, falling is inevitable, but do you stop and give up? There is nothing wrong with slipping down and falling. We all slip at various points in time, but what makes a difference is what is done after that.  Gravity is a force that eventually slows down most people’s achievement and ability to reach various goals in their lives. Unless you continue to push through, that force of gravity in your career will eventually stop you in your tracks. Kerkorian, a successful person in finance, well into his 90’s, plays tennis and keeps busy in his profession. He has resisted gravity and has carried on moving forward despite his age!