
Today someone posted this little image on Facebook stating "Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself!!" It reminded me of a blog that I wrote on another website a few months ago, and since I've pretty much integrated myself to only blogging here I thought I would transfer it over to share with you. Life may not always be easy, but that is the beauty of it, to go through the good the bad and the ugly and to grow and make a life for yourself.
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Luck, Fate, Dedication and a lot of Gumption. ~Written by Me on 9/1/11
Today was my last day at the job I was at for little over a year.
When I took the position the pay was fine, however I was in a
relationship and there were two incomes. Supporting yourself is not so
easy on a low wage. Over the past several months I realized that though
I loved my job and my coworkers it was time to move on for bigger and
better things. I tried working my way up in the department I was in,
unfortunately I was unable to. There was a lot of frustration and
heartbreak involved in the process. I then began applying for
promotions within the university in other departments.
After weeks of applying for positions I was called in for an
interview! It happened to be with the first department that I had
applied for and the night that I applied it was the last night that the
posting was available to apply for. I then did more in depth research
as to what the department actually did. I sat down carefully thought
out questions that I wanted to ask the people who would be interviewing
me and wrote them down. I also went through the job posting and
reviewed the listed job duties and preferred qualifications and wrote
down everything that I felt would show myself as an asset as pointers to
glance at when in the interview in case I had a loss for words.
Sell yourself as someone that they feel like they need to have working for them and then you will be a front runner candidate.
Before even applying for positions I put together a carefully thought
out and professional resume. I also like to ask supervisors when I am
leaving a job, or when they are perhaps leaving, for a letter of
recommendation. A great resume, cover letter, and letters of
recommendation are what sell you to even land you the interview. Out of
105 candidates I was chosen for the 10 that they brought in for
interviews. After giving the interviewers a good idea of who I was and
selling myself as the valuable employee that I truly am, I was then
chosen for the top 2 to come back and interview again with the head
honcho. It felt like I was on Survivor!
Would I be voted off the island or would I win the grand prize?
Out of 105 candidates I ended up being NUMBER 1!!! I cannot wait to start tomorrow. The promotion in position of course comes with a pay raise, that was
the whole purpose of this process to begin with so that as a single
person I could live a better quality of life, and stop depending upon Top Ramen to sustain me, the department I am
transferring to also has a few added perks that I did not have in the
old one.
This long story to get to about 8:05 this morning. I was walking
through the office and a coworker at the job I was leaving was standing
there talking to someone else, looks at me and says “Barbara today is
your last day.” and I say “Yep it sure is!” as I’m walking away I hear
her saying to the other person “I really hate lucky people.” This truly
struck a nerve within me.
“I really hate lucky people.”
- Luck: Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.
- Fate: The development of events outside a person’s control.
- Dedication: The quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose.
- Gumption: Shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.
Perhaps some of the process that happened was a little luck, perhaps
some was fate, but if it were not for my dedication and determination to
find a better job to improve my life it would not have happened. It
was not like I sat there for years moaning about my situation never
doing anything to fix it and was just walking down the street one day
and BLAM new job offered to me just out of the blue. That would be
truly lucky. No I truly struggled, and had some “bad luck” in the
process as well. I persevered and saw what I was trying to accomplish
through until I achieved success.
If you are a person who finds yourself quoting that same line of
hating the lucky look at the circumstances that got the person there.
What effort did they actually put in to get to where they are, or have,
or whatever it is you may be coveting that they have going in their life
that you do not? Make a goal, come up with a plan, deal with the
obstacles, be flexible, vent when things aren’t going your way but keep
going, and in the end make a better life for yourself. Being “lucky”
isn’t always just happenstance by itself and it’s not always easy.
When you achieve success do not forget to thank those who
helped get you there even if all they did was lend you an ear (or read
your rantings on Facebook).
“Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche
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And just an update, if you are wondering, I LOVE my new job and
department even after 3 months of being there. Taking the reigns of you own life is a good thing.
Much Love!