Susan was looking for a job, so she sent her resume all over town. She scoured the newspapers every day, and by the end of the month, Susan had applied to over one hundred openings. “Surely,” Susan thought, “I will find my dream job soon!” But many days passed, and Susan’s phone didn’t ring once. She began to worry – was there something wrong with her resume?
Finally, two weeks after she sent her 107th resume, she got a call for her first interview! Soon after, Susan got two more calls, and she ended up with three scheduled interviews. “Finally,” she thought, “I’m one step closer to my dream job!”
1The Power Of Disappointment
So Susan went to her interviews, and she thought she made a wonderful impression, but to Susan’s disappointment, she only heard back about one job; it was the lowest paid, least fulfilling opportunity of the three. “Should I take it?” she wondered. The thought of working every day at a job she hated made her feel hopeless. Susan was afraid she might not find anything else, so she accepted the job but vowed to continue looking for something better.
A few weeks after accepting the low-paying, unfulfilling job, Susan got a call from a company that hadn’t gotten back to her for weeks. It turns out that they needed someone with Susan’s exact skill set! Finally, after some hard work and persistence, Susan was offered the job of her dreams – the money was good, and it was just the kind of work she was looking for.
2The Enemy Of Success
One great reminder is that discouragement is the number one enemy of our success. Discouragement is a more potent enemy than incompetence, more potent than illness, and more potent than poverty. All of those things can be overcome, but discouragement can overcome us if we allow it to!
Everyone has downtimes, and things don’t always go our way. But of course, everything can’t always go our way! If we were successful 100% of the time, we’d never try harder to get better, quicker, wiser, and kinder – we’d just wallow in our same old boring routine. So look at the disappointment in your life as an opportunity to gain; strive to do what needs to be done, then look for a way to do it better! There’s always a way around an obstacle.
3Opportunity Comes To Those Who Work
Susan didn’t give up when she didn’t hear anything after she sent her first resume, nor did she give up after her hundredth resume. She always kept moving one foot in front of the other and disallowed discouragement from keeping her down. When Susan took the job that seemed to be a dead-end job, she still didn’t give up. She took the job that was offered and kept looking for something better. She knew something else was out there, and there was!
When we put in our best effort, we create opportunities, and we find opportunities, and the opportunities find us. When we allow disappointment and discouragement to take over, we don’t see the hidden gems right in front of our own faces! What if Susan had stopped the pursuit of her dream job when she took the dead-end position? What if she had allowed her disappointment to dictate her actions? What if she ignored the phone call about her dream job offer?
Well, she wouldn’t be very happy at all. She would be experiencing an inner tension day in and day out. We’re so busy feeling sorry for ourselves that we often miss the chance to grow in patience, peace, and serenity as we work and wait for better chances to come along. Opportunities will come. They always do when we work, wait, and watch out for them.
Arlene Garretson is a proud resident of Daytona Beach, Florida, mother, and author. When she isn't writing about self-help, she enjoys hiking and photography: a great combination.
