Now is the Best Opportunity You Will Ever Have
What You Will Learn
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Take a moment and look over your shoulder. What do you see? If you look closer, you will realize there is something quite sinister looming there: your own mortality.
You are going to die.
You might die today, next week, a year from now, or 75 years from now, but you are going to die. It is entirely up to you what you do with your remaining time on this earth. What are you going to do?
The terrorist attacks in India over the past few days got me thinking. I travel to India several times a year. In fact, I was about to go there today. My flight was going to leave at 9:00 pm out of Los Angeles.
I have also stayed in the hotels where they are currently holding hostages – the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi. A couple of years ago, I stayed in the Oberoi for around four nights. A year later, I spent two nights in the Taj Mahal Hotel. Over the past three years, based on the number of nights I have spent in these hotels, I figure I had a one in 200 chance of being there when the hotel was taken over. If I had been there, being the way I am, I would have created trouble and fought back or tried to negotiate. That’s just the way I am. The terrorists probably would not have liked me too much….
Several years ago, a robber came to the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Detroit where my stepsister was working. He shot her in the head and killed her.
A few years later, my uncle was flying an ambulance helicopter, going to pick up a drunk driver. He crashed into a tree and died.
My grandmother found out about this tragedy and died the next day in her sleep.
When I was in high school, a man who was going to write a college recommendation for me was blown-up on a Pan Am flight over Scotland.
The list of lives I have seen come to an abrupt end is quite long. I am sure you know of people whose lives have suddenly come to an end as well. Lives can end quickly and without notice. This could be the case for your life as well.
So when are you going to start living the life you want? When are you going to go after the career and job you want? When are you going to take charge of your life?
The time to have the career you want is right now. Not tomorrow, not later, but now. You need to take charge and have the career you want. No one else is going to do it for you. Your entire life and the quality of it is a product of your decisions. You can have, do, or be anything you want.
Everywhere you look, I am sure you see people who refuse to be what they want to be. These people comprise the majority of people in the world. What separates the best and happiest people is the ability to stop making excuses. This is the type of person I want you to be.
In Chapter 15 of Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, he lists several “ifs” people use to explain away their inability to take charge and live the lives they want. I think this is one of the most inspiring passages I have ever read. Which of these excuses apply to you and your own life?
IF I didn’t have a wife and family…
IF I had enough “pull”…
IF I had money…
IF I had a good education…
IF I could get a job…
IF I had good health…
IF only I had time…
IF times were better…
IF other people understood me…
IF only conditions around me were different…
IF I could live my life over again…
IF I did not fear what “THEY” would say…
IF I had been given a chance…
IF I now had a chance…
IF other people didn’t “have it in for me”…
IF nothing happens to stop me…
IF only I were younger…
IF only I could do what I want…
IF I had been born rich…
IF I could meet “the right people”…
IF I had the talent that some people have…
IF I dared assert myself…
IF only I had embraced past opportunities…
IF people didn’t get on my nerves…
IF I didn’t have to keep house and look after the children…
IF I could save some money…
IF only the boss appreciated me…
IF only I had somebody to help me…
IF my family understood me…
IF I lived in a big city…
IF I could just get started…
IF only I were free…
IF I had the personality of some people…
IF I were not so fat…
IF my talents were known…
IF I could just get a “break”…
IF I could only get out of debt…
IF I hadn’t failed…
IF only I knew how…
IF everybody didn’t oppose me…
IF I didn’t have so many worries…
IF I could marry the right person…
IF people weren’t so dumb…
IF my family were not so extravagant…
IF I were sure of myself…
IF luck were not against me…
IF I had not been born under the wrong star…
IF it were not true that “what is to be will be”…
IF I did not have to work so hard…
IF I hadn’t lost my money…
IF I lived in a different neighborhood…
IF I didn’t have a “past”…
IF I only had a business of my own…
IF other people would only listen to me…
If I had the courage to see myself as I really am, I would find out what is wrong with me, and correct it. Then I might have a chance to profit from my mistakes and learn something from the experience of others, for I know there is something WRONG with me, or I would now be where I WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I had spent more time analyzing my weaknesses, and less time building alibis to cover them.
Building alibis to explain away failure is a national pastime. The habit is as old as the human race, and is fatal to success. Why do people cling to their pet alibis? The answer is obvious. They defend their alibis because THEY CREATE them! A man’s alibi is the child of his own imagination. It is human nature to defend one’s own brain-child.
Building alibis is a deep-rooted habit. Habits are difficult to break, especially when they provide justification for something we do. Plato had this truth in mind when he said, “The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.”
I want you to realize now is the best opportunity you will ever have. There will never be a better time to live your dreams and find the job you want, a life and a future that will inspire generations. You are capable of it, and you deserve it.
When the economy gets tough, people in all positions suddenly find themselves challenged. However, wehn people are losing their jobs, companies are tightening their belts, and people are looking for new ways to save money, there is also massive opportunity. In fact, there is never a better time than a recession to really make the most of your opportunities. A recession is like a big sign from the world saying it needs innovation and change. There is a cycle of creation and destruction going on everywhere around us. As old businesses and ways of doing things crumble, they are typically replaced by new ways of doing things. New ways of doing things are being created right now. You should be a part of this.
Now is the time to live the life you want and have the career you want.
Why You Should Work Weekends and Holidays
I cannot tell you how many people have ruined their careers by having the wrong attitude when it comes to working weekends and holidays. Although you may consider your work just a job, if you send this message to your superiors, you will be in trouble quickly. In order to really thrive in most jobs your work must be far, far more important to you than just a job. There is no better way to let your superiors know how important your work is to you than by working weekends and holidays. To get ahead, you must do this. You do not need to work every weekend and holiday. However, you should not make a major effort to avoid working during these times.
It is generally the youngest and most promising on paper whose careers take a hit due to their work ethic. Presumably because of past achievements, these individuals think they are exempt from having to work hard, they can simply coast along on the merits of their past accomplishments. However, unless a person works weekends and holidays, his or her career with most serious organizations will be fairly short.
What I am about to write may not appeal to you. However, if you are interested in holding a job through all economic climates and receiving repeated promotions and advancement in your current role, then you should consider what I have to say. Most jobs are very competitive. Do you want to win against your peers, or lose?
While this list is by no means exhaustive, you should be working weekends and holidays because (a) it is a privilege to be able to work; (b) there is only one way your organization makes money, and it involves work; (c) clients and customers do not care about your weekend; (d) there are only a certain number of opportunities for promotion in your company; (e) you will not always be expected to work weekends and holidays.
If you are in a job with a lot of work you should consider yourself very fortunate. The fact that an employer has a lot of work means the employer is doing something right. The presence of work means the company is generating money to pay your salary. An abundance of work means the company is probably getting repeat business from having done a good job with its current clients or customers. This also means the firm likely has opportunities for you to advance.
As someone who has been a legal recruiter for a long period of time, in good and bad economic cycles, I have personally seen and spoken with hundreds of associates who were laid off because there was not enough work, and the firms had to downsize. I am talking about numerous talented young attorneys. Believe me, when the work goes away, these associates are not happy. Everyone in a firm gets nervous when there is not enough work because this means everyone’s jobs are in jeopardy. There is no difference between the practice of law and any other industry. Work is always good!
There is also the potential situation in which your company may not have a lot of work, but you do. This is even better. If your employer is seeking you out and giving you a lot of work, this means he or she likes your work product and/or you personally. If your boss likes your work and gives you more, you are being recognized and are in a position where you have added job security. Employers rarely give you excessive amounts of work to punish you. They do this to reward you.
If you are asked to do work on a weekend or holiday, keep in mind there could be problems much worse than this. The company might not have any work to give, or your boss might think someone else’s work product is better than yours. Having work is a privilege.
The worst thing that can happen to you is to have your employer stop giving you work. This is a bad thing and it is very scary. You need work to survive. Work is your lifeblood.
Work is also important to your company. If your company is like most others, there is only one way it makes money: by you working.
Depending on your position, chances are you have no idea of the economics of your company. You may not know what your company’s office space or furniture costs, or what the company’s obligations are for salaries and the products or services it provides. Regardless, your company needs money – and lots of it – to survive. If you help your company make a lot of money, you will be contributing to its survival.
However, you should be concerned with your company making money for your own sake. When your bosses and other decision makers evaluate you, they will be concerned with how hard you are working because this is how they make money. If you were running a law firm, for example, would you rather have an associate taking up a desk who bills 1,500 hours a year, or an associate who bills 3,000 hours a year? Clearly, the harder working associate is going to be favored.
You need to work hard in order for your employer to make money. This is essential. When it comes right down to it, your relationship with your employer hinges on your ability to make the company money. The employer does not care if you do this on a weekday, holiday, or weekend.
Similarly, clients and customers do not care about your weekend. I am sometimes astonished when I speak with associates in law firms, who are upset about working weekends. The reason I feel this way is because I am putting myself in the shoes of one of their clients. In a large law firm, clients typically have major problems and transactions the attorneys are working on – whether it is “bet the company” litigation, a major bankruptcy filing, or defending an important patent. When you are working on matters like this you must remember they are important to the client. Clients need attorneys who take their legal matters as seriously as they do.
Most businesses are similar to the practice of law. They have clients and those clients’ needs are ongoing, regardless of whether it is a holiday or not.
If you have issues with working weekends and holidays on important or time-sensitive matters for clients, I have a question for you: “Why are you in a job in which others are dependent upon you?” The people depending on you need someone who is not afraid to work weekends and holidays.
While it’s important you work weekends and holidays on pressing and time-sensitive matters for your employer, the opposite is also somewhat true. Your employers want to know you have their backs covered at all times. Your employers pay your salary. If your employers think your assignments are important enough to you that you are working on the weekends, they will be grateful. Employers also want to know the work you are doing for them is the most important thing on your agenda.
Also keep in mind there are only a certain number of promotions your employer can give. Because of this, your employer will be looking for reasons not to advance you when comparing your contribution to others. Notice I used the word ‘not’. When choosing between two people for advancement, employers generally seek reasons to exclude one candidate from consideration because the number of available spots is so limited. In a major New York firm with 40 associates in an entering class, for example, it would be exceedingly rare for more than one or two of those first-year associates to ever make partner.
You will not always have to work weekends and holidays. Those who expect you to work weekends and holidays almost certainly did the same thing before they became your supervisors. In fact, they probably were among the hardest working people in the company. Because they did this, they see absolutely nothing wrong with you doing the same. In order to rise, you must bond with your superiors. You can bond with your superiors by showing them you are sharing the same experiences they had.
While much can be said against working weekends and holidays, you need to understand that doing so is important to your company, your clients, and your own advancement. If doing so is offensive to you, then you should learn to be happy with your current position and no advancement. Certainly, working weekends and holidays is not expected at all companies. Nevertheless, doing so will only help you if your objective is to get ahead.
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.