Where do you fit in retail?

The article maps Irish retail into three tiers — use that map now to diagnose your own professional position or ambition in a service-sector role.

Name your tension

Write one real decision or ambition you face right now in your current or target sector — not a general goal, a specific tension.

Sort the forces

Sort the factors pulling at your decision into two zones: forces pushing you toward change, and forces holding you in place.

Pushing forward

Holding back

How urgent is this, really?

Mark where your tension sits on the spectrum — then write one sentence justifying why you placed it there rather than closer to either end.

Can wait years

Must decide now

The obvious answer

Write the solution most people in your position would choose. Look back at your step 2 forces — does that obvious answer address all of them, or does it ignore some?

The hidden cost

Attack your obvious answer from step 4: what does it cost you that you haven't said aloud yet? Name the trade-off you've been avoiding, then write the one word that captures what you actually need to move forward.

Why that word?

Discuss Tell your partner your 'obvious answer' from step 4 — do they think it's really as obvious as you do?

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