Featured
View Count: 3095
One of the things I have learned over the years is anyone can be up when things are going well. However, the real challenge is when things are not going well. All businesses and all relationships go through problems, and how you deal with problems will determine the quality of your life. Far too few people know how to effectively deal with problems, and they end up having their lives sidetracked by them. The more you delay dealing with problems the more they build up. The more problems are allowed to build up, the more difficult your life ends up becoming.
Last night, my wife and I drove by a furniture store that’s going out of business. It was a beautiful furniture store and used to be the nicest one in Pasadena, where our company’s main office is located. I went inside and saw markdowns so extreme I could hardly believe my eyes. Various pieces of furniture were marked down 90%. This was extremely surprising, but even more surprising was the sale had been going on for several weeks and the store still had an incredible amount of inventory. I attribute this to the fact that Pasadena’s economy is so bad no one can be persuaded to spend money even when things are being given away for pennies on the dollar.
A year ago, I remember going into this same furniture store dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and couldn’t get anyone to help me. The people in the store were so “snooty” when someone finally asked to assist me, I felt self-conscious because I knew everything in the store was so expensive.
“It’s like the end of the world in here, eh?” I said to one of the sales people who was following me around trying to sell me anything and everything. “Have you ever seen anything like this economy?” I asked her. She looked like she could be in her late 50s.
“Never,” she said, “This is the worst I have ever seen. People just need to stop spending and get caught up. Then everything will be fine.”
What she said was an excellent approach to problems. For example, now that people are maxed out in their credit cards and are losing their homes and jobs, they finally have the opportunity to get caught up on their bills and improve their credit ratings. Despite a horrible economy and so many problems, there is a silver lining to what is going on in the economy today. I liked hearing that. There is something helpful and beneficial about every single problem we have. It is how we deal with problems that makes the difference.
Instead of looking at problems in a negative way, we can call them “challenges” or “lessons” or “opportunities.” There is no sense calling a problem a problem. We need to look for the silver lining in every problem because it is the silver lining that will allow us to grow. Whatever does not kill you can make you stronger. The woman in the furniture store asked herself, “What can we learn from these dire economic conditions?” and she found a solution. This is a way of thinking that really makes a difference. She asked herself what kind of opportunity this economy held for people. The opportunity is that people can clean up their accounts and balances.
How you manage the problems in your career will also determine your success and failure. The people who are best at solving problems in their jobs typically have long-term success. Those who keep avoiding problems typically have the least.
In my years in business, I have run numerous companies and some of them have been runaway successes at various points in time, while others have experienced turmoil when hit with forces beyond their control. One of the most interesting companies I was ever involved in was a student loan company that went from zero dollars to millions of dollars in monthly revenue almost overnight. When a business is a runaway success and the people working for the company are traditionally doing very well financially, the company has lots of extra money to spend. The company advertises all over the country and it is creating lots and lots of jobs. When a company is a major success like this, everyone wants to work for the company and all sorts of people appear on the scene ready to give the company whatever sort of assistance it needs. People are referring their friends and relatives to work for the company and it becomes ‘the’ place to work.
The biggest change I noticed when the student loan company took off was the fabric of the company began to change. People began showing up at the company who were different in many ways than most of our long-time employees. They were more polished and sharper. They were more worldly. They came from large, well-known companies and had worked for numerous well-known companies before. In contrast, most of our staff had been with us for years before the student loan company even started.
Last night, I was having dinner in Los Angeles in a club that’s been open since the early 1900s. During the dinner, a man came up and started talking to us about the club. He was an old man and today actually lives at the club and takes all of his meals there. He started talking to me about a different time in the club and how the managers who worked there used to stay for at least 30 years. Now, he told me, most managers are lucky to stay at least five years. He told me things have changed all over and people now will leave at the drop of the hat. He was, of course, speaking about things like loyalty to an employer. These days people will leave a company at the first sign of a problem. He implied today people do not know how to deal with problems in their jobs.
What ended up happening in my student loan business was the criteria to issue loans became increasingly strict and, as they did, more and more people began to leave because the job became more difficult. After several months, the people who remained at the company were the people who’d been there when it started. The people who had left went looking for another easy job. I am not angry about this and I wish all of these people the best. Many were quite talented. However, there is something wrong with this in many respects because this sort of attitude is something that holds back development. This sort of attitude can hold back your development, too.
One of the largest businesses I run is a commission-based business. Six months ago, most of the people working in this business were all doing very well. What has happened over the past several months has been amazing. The market in this commission-based business has become much more difficult than it used to be. Now, what used to be a fairly easy job has become much more difficult. When things were going very well, many people were taking certain shortcuts and not doing things the hard way. In today’s market, however, you need to work hard. People need to put in extra hours and go all out. They need to be available all the time. They need to make extra calls and meet with extra people. This is just the way things are.
Incredibly, the people in this commission-based business who were performing so well a year previously have continued to do so, even in a poor economic climate. They are literally making as much money and working the same amount as they were a year ago. The people who were performing the worst a year ago are also working the same amount. They are performing badly, if not worse.
What is going on? Why do the best stay at the same level and the worst sink to new lows? The same thing is happening with the average workers. They, too, are sinking to new lows. This, in my opinion, has a lot to do with how different people choose to deal with problems, and the way they’ve been dealing with problems their entire careers. The more problems you face with discipline the stronger person you will be in the long run.
THE LESSON
Anyone can be up when things are going well, but the real challenge comes when things are not. Do not look at problems, which are inevitable for any person or business, in a negative light. Instead, think of them as challenges, lessons, or opportunities. There is a silver lining to be found in every problem, and finding that silver lining will enable you to grow.
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
Filed Under : Featured, Getting Ahead, Life Lessons
Tagged: career, career blog, commission-based business, credit cards, credit ratings, deal with problems, determine your success, easy job, job search guru | a harrison barnes, lots of jobs, quality of your life, student loan business, student loan company
Job Market
recent posts
In this article Harrison discusses the role of self-motivation and self management. Self-motivated and self managed people always perform well. In contrast people who are forced to follow massive amounts of procedures and rules can never perform. It is important that our rituals and sense of responsibility is internal, and something we learn to do naturally–not something we only do when it is imposed on us by people on the outside. The best people in every job are self- managed and responsible individuals. Also, the more self-managed people there are working for an organization, the stronger the organization generally is. Instead of creating problems in the workplace, you should seek out responsibilities, and ritualize your work routine. These responsibilities will drive you forward in your daily work, in your career, and in your life.
Your must always strive to create value for your organization, and your organization must in turn strive to add value to the world. Since value comes from teams of individuals rather than any single person, the best companies strive to maximize their staffs’ efficiency. You must also ensure that your company weeds out the employees who do not create value in favor of those who do, and that you belong to the latter group.
When you try to mask or suppress aspects of your personality, those traits will inevitably come to the fore anyway. You need to develop a comprehensive understanding of yourself, including your darker or deeply buried traits; once you know how your dark side limits and controls you, the better you will do in your life and career. Self-discovery will ultimately lead to inner peace, which in turn will enable you to more fully develop your goals.
The number one thing that makes people fail and not reach their potential is competition. If get into an area where there is not much competition and you genuinely have something to offer, you will succeed. Everyone is successful to the extent they are doing something others around them are not that provides value.
Creating a sense of urgency is one of the most important things you can do in your job search. Understand that your career is itself a commodity and you need to sell yourself, and your salesmanship will determine your career success. Creating a sense of urgency will always help you close your sale.
Companies necessarily seek to employ positive, forward-minded people. A firm’s success depends on their employees, and they seek people who will enhance them rather than merely contribute to the bottom line. People with positive natures, who contribute to a healthy social environment, prove essential to the growth and success of their employers.
You can never become too comfortable if you wish to be successful. Your success will largely depend on your ability to become dissatisfied with your current position. Successful people are never satisfied with the status quo, and constantly push beyond their comfort zone. When do you this and succeed, you set a new standard for normality in your life. Be continually dissatisfied, and always pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone.
Resourcefulness can make you better at everything you do, and separates the truly extraordinary people from the general herd. Do everything within your power to be resourceful in your job search, life, and career to give yourself the best possible chance of achieving your goals, and learn how to employ the resources currently at your disposal for maximum impact.
Adopting a positive attitude will always bring you closer to success, as nobody wants to be associated with a losing side. Everyone wants to associate with and hire winners, and avoids losers. Nothing is more important than maintaining a positive attitude, as many employers hire people based primarily on attitude; with the right attitude, everything else will fall into place. You must look like you are on the winning team, even if times are tough; nobody wants to hire a loser.
You can change your life forever by harnessing the power of persistence. Think about the people in your life, and whether they empower you or hinder you in achieving your goals. You must win at all costs, and persist until you succeed.
You will greatly benefit your career by helping and promoting your company’s expansion. A common belief is that expansion is fundamentally positive, and a lack of expansion is fundamentally negative. You must be on the side of expansion rather than contraction in every area of your life. All employers seek people who will help them expand, and the more your ability to contribute to this expansion will provide you increased job security and a greater likelihood of being hired.
Focus on what you are doing, not what others around you are doing. There are people to take action towards their goals, and then there people who sit on the sidelines and comment on the first group of people. People who are mostly interested in gossip and watching others usually lack the confidence and determination to take action themselves. The most successful people go account and accomplish things rather than sit back and watch others make things happen.
Anyone can be up when things are going well, but the real challenge comes when things are not. Do not look at problems, which are inevitable for any person or business, in a negative light; think of them instead as challenges, lessons, or opportunities. There is a silver lining to be found in every problem, and finding that silver lining will enable you to grow.
It is absolutely vital to be in control of your life and career. When you fail to control your life, someone else will step in to do so and fit your life into their plans. Understand that it is in others’ interests to establish control over your life and work, and instead exert control yourself over your life and the events around you.
In this article Harrison explains how you can do better in your career by selling. The most successful people are absolute masters at sales. Selling is among the most important career skills you can have. When you know how to sell something you can do exceptionally well wherever you go. Knowing how to sell something is a key to survival, advancement, fame, and fortune. Everything we do is about making a sale. Selling yourself is about showing others the value you can bring them. So package yourself to the best of your ability, always be at your best and sell yourself. Develop your sales skills and do not be afraid to sell anything. Whatever your goal in life, becoming an effective salesman will help you achieve it.
Your résumé is an extremely important document. There are entire books written about how to craft them. I have written at least one myself. There are scores of résumé consultants, companies, and others that will work on your résumé for a fee. Hiring one of these services can be useful and can improve your résumé. Nevertheless, most résumés can improve dramatically by following the below advice.
It is extremely important that you enjoy your job. Most people find themselves in jobs that they resent, and eventually make this resentment known by appearing disinterested and distracted. Success comes from being engaged in and grateful for your work. You can define your job according to your own vision; you can either choose to engage with your work, or avoid and despise what you do. People recognize and appreciate those who are enthusiastic about their work.
Do not be a dabbler, or someone who turns away in the face of stress; the secret to long-term happiness is to instead confront and push through these stress factors. Do not be discouraged by difficulties, but find ways to persist and deal with the stress. Confronting problems head-on is the key to improvement, and will take you much further than the dabblers who fail to approach their careers with commitment.
When faced with difficult times, you must develop the ability to transcend the trouble around you instead of giving up or assuming that nothing can be done about your situation. Keep your wits about you and take charge of the situation, and you will find yourself on track for constant improvement and career success.
In this article Harrison talks about releasing the lack that you feel, in order to reach your full potential. If a sense of lack dominates your thinking, it will affect your interaction with the world and how the world sees you. There are many areas of your life where you are coming from a position of lack. Your ability to release this lack and go forward with your life can create a tremendous sense of peace and more natural accomplishments in your world. The amount of lack that people see out there is profound and it has a massive impact on their lives. According to Harrison, the most successful people in the world see the world as a place of opportunity and not lack.
Determine whether you are a global or specific person. Most people are either too general or too specific in the way they treat information, and overly detail-oriented people risk losing sight of the bigger picture. General people are more comfortable in managerial positions, while detail-oriented people prefer everything to conform to a logical sequence. Understand which sort of person you are, and seek work that best harnesses your natural inclination.
Recent immigrants exemplify the benefits of willpower, passion, and excitement in the way that they work so much harder for their goals than the people who have been here for most or all of their lives. Like most Americans, you need to rekindle the spirit of your immigrant ancestors and become hungry for what you want. The entrepreneurial spirit that brought people to America has often faded over time; adopt the fire and work ethic of new immigrants in order to achieve your goals.
You must plant seeds in the minds of others, so that they will be more likely than otherwise to think of you when a future need arises. In planting seeds, you are making people aware of what you have to offer; you must make sure that you are ever present in the minds of your potential employers. Planting seeds is the most effective way to generate top-of-mind awareness, and ensure that the right people remember you at the appropriate time.
A recommendation from a powerful person can make a huge difference in your job search; a reference from an influential person makes a tremendous difference to a prospective employer, and thus can be a major advantage for you. When an important person whom the company trusts recommends you, you instantly qualify for positions that may previously have been unattainable. Make the absolute most of your connections with the powerful people in your life, because doing so can instantaneously change your career and life.
Maintaining a routine in both life and work is important to success. Not only do you need to establish a routine, you must make that routine demanding and push yourself to the limit. Budget a certain amount of time each week for networking, applying to jobs, brushing up your interview skills, and following up with employers. Such consistent effort on a daily basis will make a huge difference to your career success.
You can better market yourself by taking a stand against something. Peoples’ personal beliefs, including the things with which they do not agree, define who they are as people. Standing against something differentiates you from the crowd; when done in the correct manner, without disrespecting others’ opinions, such a stance can help you land your dream job.
To reach the goals to which you aspire, you must compare yourself with people superior to you for motivation. Most people prefer to look at life the way they wish it to be, rather than as it truly is. Move out of your comfort zones and face reality. Don’t seek out or compare yourself with the average people around you, as doing so will only mire you in mediocrity rather than push you forward.
In this article Harrison discusses what a good hiring manager should look for. Many people who make hiring decisions really do not know what they are doing. In fact, they often make mistakes when hiring. They put too much emphasis on skills and experience. But the single most important aspect of hiring is evaluating the person’s unique outlook on the world. If the person does not have a positive outlook on the world, he/she will bring down the morale of the other workers. The person will harm the company through the negative outlook. The key to success is having the power to stick it out in jobs and finding happiness wherever you are. Hiring people who do good work and are always able to find happiness should be the number one objective of hiring managers.
Don’t ever give up, and make the most of the tools at your disposal. Take chances and invest in your best skills, and persist in the face of unfortunate events. Have faith in your considerable work and capabilities, and use them to create value for others.
Things will not always go the way that you want them to go, so you must not be discouraged by adversity in your job hunt. When you persist and consistently put forth your best effort, things are much more likely to go in your favor. Also, you must resist others’ efforts to undermine your efforts and potential; focus instead on doing everything in your power to fight on and complete the task at hand.
Having a goal or vision will propel you towards greater career success and happiness. Without a purpose, you will find yourself depressed and ultimately fail to achieve your goals. Do not subscribe to the unrealistic problem that you should never have problems, but instead regard problems as part of your overall growth strategy.
Related Posts:
Harrison Barnes:
Getting Ahead:
The Role of Jobs in Today's World:
Career Advice:
© 2025 Harrisonbarnes All Rights Reserved
Hi,
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your article and your insight based on your experience. I had a question based on the perspective you shared. I was surprised you didn’t balance out how companies have also changed how they handle employees. Capital One not too long ago layed off approximately 11,000 people. We were one of these unfortunate people. They had purchased 2 additional companies, liquidated assets, etc. and due to poor choices ran short of operating cash. During the following year after these peoples lives were turned upside down, they decided to redo their logo and branding nationwide and now have a whole new look… interesting. Companies today treat employees as if they were another financial asset to be used and discarded as easily as computers. So, please, among your accurate and detailed insights, please balance it out with the plethora of companies that are functioning with a new business ethic. People don’t retire anymore because they can’t, they aren’t given the option to stick it out through thick and thin. You are correct, there are young “sharks” that want to latch onto a thriving company and wish to ride the “high.” But please remember the older generation of mid 30’s plus that would love a chance to do a great job and go through highs and lows…
Thank you,
Lori
Very well spoken Harrison and Lori, I feel all of our professions lack “loyalty”. Over the years I have worked with companies that I have been very loyal to giving the 110%, staying through the “Company Restructuring” to fine my self laid off again. It feels that once you have contributed enough to help “Streamline” a company during its challenging times or their “Growing Pains” to find a common ending point.
I also understand that in the “Big Picture” we all are in the same mind set, meaning that if you’re the employer or employee we all want the best for our dollar spent. With this in mind we all need to be fluid, and evolve as our clients, projects, and budgets change and try to be as competitive as possible.
Thanks,
Shawn
I’ve not been disciplined lately in dealing with problems, and it has negatively affected me. I have printed your article and am going to keep it nearby as encouragement to be disciplined in facing challenges I encounter. Thank you!
The import of the article should go well with any hardworking human being. The worst is when companies aren’t doing well fail to move people away who are blocks and hang on to them when they should ask them to go away. What most hurts creative people and compels them to move is when people not worth and seniors are rewarded and try to inhibit creativity. In a country like India seniors want to use the talents of their juniors to escalate in their careers by hampering juniors from growing and firing fresh talent into the busting companies due to emerging adverse busiess eco system momentarily.
Problems never die. I say this because if we don’t face problems at home we can end up facing them at work. However, it’s necessary to know how to manage these problems in order for us to grow up get heading in the right direction. Life doesn’t just offer presents to everyone. All of us are called to face problems and find solutions to our problems every day, no matter where we are. If people don’t face any problems, they will not end up getting any stronger in this life…Here are a few of my words about your article as I understand it which I can express in a little paragraph. My history is long, which is why I cannot explain everything about it. But I know one thing: I have overcome many problems in my past, and I give thanks to the Almighty God and Jesus His Son for that. Now I try to be wise everyday and to pursue success. I know it’s not easy to do, but the success will come at the end of my efforts…
I hope you and your family have a good day! Thanks!
Friendly Greetings,
Michael Tine
I enjoy your articles.
Please print the body-copy in black ink — this grey-ink treatment is hard to read.
Thanks,
dave