My client, who had been out of work for two years, four if you count the years before a contract position, received three job offers in two weeks. Two are paying jobs and two are in an industry he has been hoping to break into. He asked me, “What’s going on?” It’s called momentum. When it’s on your side, you have power and choice. It’s never very far away, and sometimes, especially if you have the front end work done, in one day you can create the same momentum.
How long do you think it would take you to chop down a tree if you had a dull ax? How hard would it be, and how could you be sure that you would cut the tree precisely enough to avoid it falling where you don’t want to fall? At TedxPhoenixville last month, I saw Peter Muir. He’s a coach. I was expecting him to come out and talk about usual coaching topics. He came out with a chainsaw and a safety suit, and I thought, “where is this going?” The topic was “Learning a skill that could kill you.” The skill was felling a tree. You may watch the video, but to summarize, his point was –
Do your homework to avoid disaster and achieve success.
My client was able to elicit an offer because he did his homework. He spent time perusing news related to his passion and discovered an opportunity. Then he learned who was influencing decisions and what personal and professional interests they had. He stood out, his passion was evident, and his desire to make a valuable contribution was declared.
Another lesson that I took away from his presentation that may not of even been intentional, but was evident from my client’s ability to land three jobs in two weeks, was –
Commit to taking action, and follow through.
Just following up with a simple e-mail to someone he did a project for uncovered new work for my client. We can’t assume that just because we delivered top notch work for someone in the past that they are going to keep us top of mind when a new challenge presents itself, but we may present ourselves as a solution by putting ourselves right in front of the person at the right time.
Whether you chop down that tree or not, it may come down anyway, and do you want to be in control of where it lands, or do you want to wait to see if disaster happens or if, at a minimum, you escape with your life?