Consider the classic story of two shoe salesmen who traveled to an underdeveloped area in Africa and found that no one in the area was wearing any shoes. The salesman immediately sent simultaneous emails back to their corporate headquarters. The first man wrote, “This trip is a waste of time—no one wears shoes!” The second man wrote, “Double the original order. The demand will be at least twice what we originally expected!”
Keep in mind that how you characterize something impacts how you respond to it. Labeling an event as a problem compels you to adopt a negative approach, whereas labeling it as an opportunity compels you to adopt a positive approach. Positive people continue to move forward regardless of what is happening. Negative people use whatever is happening around them as a justification for remaining in the same place, moving backwards, or moving in the wrong direction. Viewing workplace changes as opportunities for growth increases the chances that you will uncover ways to produce significant rewards.
Workplace changes are stressful, unsettling, and may cause you to re-examine your place and purpose. And, when faced with any of these changes, rather than pull back and exert the minimal amount of work necessary to collect your paycheck, try seeing these crises as opportunities. In most cases, by stepping up you’ll put yourself in a position to reap immediate rewards, such as new titles or roles, before anyone else.
In many cases, rejections are actually valuable sources of information. Not only that, they may be the perfect launching pads for other opportunities. That’s because they provide you with a concrete road map about where you should direct your efforts.
The time and resources you dedicate to your job search are precious commodities. Use them as efficiently as possible. The more information you can gather—from whatever sources—the more effectively you can allocate your time and resources to situations that are most likely to yield significant results. Even more importantly, this feedback will enable you to stop wasting precious time and resources on opportunities that have little, if any, chance of success. The opportunities out there, you just need to grab them.
Best of luck with your search, I know you can do it!
Lori