Featured
View Count: 3085
There is a story I heard some time ago about a man named Rabbi Akiva, who lived in Palestine. He was considered an extremely good person and also a sage. He became the greatest scholar of his time (he lived in the second century) through his consistency. He attended school later in life, at age 40, and it was at this same age that he became a ba’al teshuba (a Jew who returned to traditional Judaism). Prior to that time, it is said he actually hated the Jewish sages.
Following the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans, the then rulers of Palestine, in about 82 A.D., it was ordered that Rabbi Akiva be executed publicly. When the day for Akiva’s execution came, all of his students were in shock that such a great man could be executed. They could not believe that such a good man could be unfairly and wrongly executed. However, the Rabbi did not care who was responsible for the injustice against him, and he was very calm and content. He was not concerned with blaming anyone else for what had happened to him, and he chose not to be angry, fearful, or sad. He was being executed because he had violated the Roman decree of not teaching Torah in public. He had been warned but had disobeyed, because in his opinion Jews without Torah are like fish out of water–they will soon die. Several other sages had been executed for exactly the same reason prior to Rabbi Akiva’s execution.
What is so powerful about this portion of the story is that most of us in this situation would be concerned about being a victim. Many of us are always looking for one reason or another to label ourselves a victim. Someone else is responsible for an injustice against us or whatever else may have happened to us. It seems we have never possibly brought misfortune upon ourselves. Even those of us who have done something wrong never feel as if punishment is deserved. A great many people out there spend their entire lives blaming others for the circumstances that they face.
As Rabbi Akiva was being executed, the students standing near him were very upset about the tragedy and injustice occurring before their eyes. They asked him how he could appear so serene while he was about to be burned to death. He answered them that it was because he previously wasn’t sure if he would ever have had the chance to do a Kiddish Hashem (public sanctification of God’s name) before he died, and now he had that opportunity–by saying the Shema (a common Jewish prayer) as he was dying. In reality, this would be the best moment of his life on earth.
When I first heard this story, I wondered to myself how this particular episode could be the best moment in his life. How could a man, about to be executed for a crime that should have never been classified as a crime in the first place, believe that what was about to happen to him was going to be the best moment in his life? What good can possibly come out of accusing and killing an innocent man?
The reason that I believe Rabbi Akiva approached this the way he did is that he had been given the opportunity to come face to face with evil. He chose to see the worst thing that could possibly happen to him as an opportunity to confront and to rise above evil. He chose to see this act against him as a service to God and an opportunity to resist becoming angry, blameful, and negative. Instead, he confronted his execution with calmness and conviction, choosing to be a force for good in the world.
One of the most damaging things we can do is leave our minds open to others’ negative influences. When most of us come face to face with negative influences, thoughts, and ideas, we too turn negative. There is a lot of noise out there in the world, and most people become one with this noise instead of resisting it. For example, in facing an unjust execution, most ordinary men would be led kicking and screaming to their death. Here, however, Rabbi Akiva faced his execution with calmness and conviction, despite being wrongfully sentenced to death.
Life is about dealing with positively and negatively charged poles–light and darkness. Every situation and every emotion has its opposite, just as life itself has its opposite. We are continually facing either positive people and circumstances, or negative people and circumstances. We are facing the opportunity to move to the side of negativity or the opportunity to move to the side of positivity. Life is a struggle between bringing the light into our lives and bringing the darkness into our lives.
The best moments in our lives are when we allow the light to overcome us, and the worst moments are when we allow the darkness to overcome us. Darkness is represented by many things:
The way you think on a day-to-day basis, the people you associate with, the places you go, the things you do, what you read, what you watch on television, and the things you say are all an expression of either darkness or light, the positive or the negative.
What does any of this have to do with your career and life? I believe that what I have described above is among the most powerful of lessons that you can ever learn. When you are overcome by the light, the light cannot help but be part of who you are, a part of your entire world. The more time you spend around the light and what is positive, the more your life is likely to be positive as well. If you spend all of your time hanging around drug dealers, it would probably be very difficult for you to remain part of the light. Similarly, if you spend all of your time hanging out in a bar in a bad neighborhood with a bunch of drunks and strippers, it would also be very difficult for you to remain part of the light.
The light is everything that is positive and good in the world. The power of the light is something that transforms all those who are around it. You should do everything within your power to remain connected to the light. The more you are around the light, the more you become like the light. Your goal should be to become like the light and maintain contact with what is good, positive, happy, spiritual, and uplifting. Similarly, you should be doing everything within your power to avoid darkness.
The best piece of career advice I can give you is to do everything within your power to always move toward the light–and never away from it. The more you truly live going toward the light, the happier, more fulfilled, and better off you will be. The more you are going away from the light, the more pain and suffering you will encounter in your life.
THE LESSON
Life is all about the opposite extremes of light and darkness, and your likelihood of success directly correlates to the time you spend focused on the light and the positive. Every situation and emotion has its corresponding opposite. Do everything in your power to stay connected to the light, positive side of life, the more you do so, the more you become like the light. Maintain contact with the things that are good, positive, and uplifting in your life, and do everything in your power to avoid the dark.
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, Life Lessons
Tagged: career advice, career advice | a harrison barnes, friendly manner, how to find a job, job market, job search, job search guru, job seeker, lawfirm jobs, legal recruiter, light career, new job opportunities, offering forgiveness, potential employer, productive work
Job Market
recent posts
Do not be distracted by your insecurities and doubts, or you will never achieve success because you will not allow it to happen. Focus only on the message about your skills and capabilities. Identify your goals and create a gameplan, and fill your mind with positive and hopeful messages that will drive you towards said goal.
In this article Harrison explains how you can ensure success in your career by externalizing your opponents. Your job is like a game; if you work hard, play by the rules of the company and are seen as part of the team you will be viewed as a valuable player for the company. The most significant part of any game is the presence of an opponent. Don’t look for an opponent among your co-workers. Never speak negatively of your team members. Instead, concentrate on the external opponents. External opponents bring you and the team closer as you work towards a common goal. In order for you and your company to succeed it is important to have an external opponent. Harrison advises people to consistently work hard and not participate in the politics. This is a sure way to score big in your career.
In this article Harrison discusses how people who stand for something always do better than those who do not. Companies who stand for something always do better than companies who do not. The most successful companies not only stand for something, but they are completely consistent with their core principles. This is what keeps them going and this is what makes them successful. One of the largest problems that people have in their careers is when they diverge from what they are good at. When you do not stand for something, you divert from your true strength. Everything begins to crumble and slowly fall apart when you are not doing something that you are really good at. The biggest success comes when you stand for something and are good at it.
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.
In this article Harrison discusses that the meaning you give to things will control the quality of your life. How we feel about ourselves is all due to what we tell ourselves certain things will mean. The meaning you give things is crucial for your career success. You need to choose meanings that make you stronger. You need to ensure you interpret things in a way that serves you and does not hurt you. You need to reach your full potential. Don’t classify yourself as someone who is not fit to succeed at the level at which you’re capable. You need to take charge of your mind to have the career and the life that you deserve.
In this article Harrison discusses the importance of ‘energy’ over technical skills. When people are hiring you they are purchasing your “energy” more than they are purchasing your technical skills. They are interested in your ability to influence the world around you through your energy. When you are marketing yourself and seeking a job, or working in a job, there are essentially two things you are marketing. You are marketing your technical skills, but more importantly you are marketing an intangible sort of energy. The most successful people have mastered the art of projecting positive energy. The better your energy, the more employable you will be and the farther you will go.
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.
The most successful people in the world share the common characteristic of sharing, or concentrating on the value that they give back to others rather than on their own growth and profit. Focusing on yourself never leads to long-term success, but leads instead to unhappiness as well as emotional and financial challenges. Your greatest consideration, therefore, should be how you can contribute to others, and how your actions can impact their lives.
The best way to attain your goal is through small, incremental steps on which you can build. Establish a routine, and make sure you are consistently working towards some kind of goal. Start small, and always build upon what you have done before. Most people fail to achieve their goals because they believe everything should happen quickly and at the same time, instead of progressively building upon their past achievements.
Make sure that you are involved in groups that focus on positive things. Your success in life depends on your ability to focus on the outcomes you want, and the focus of the groups with which you associate will in turn shape your own focus. You must endeavor to always choose groups with a positive focus.
Everything you do is a form of preparation for your job interviews, as you are always under some form of scrutiny. The best employees can always spot other good employees, and you cannot “fake it”; merely doing a good job in your work is a form of interview preparation. Always put your all into your work, therefore, even if you do not have long-term plans to remain at your current employment. Switch jobs as infrequently as possible. The time to prepare for a job search is before you even realize that you need to do so.
Your greatest successes will come from some of the smallest actions in terms of meeting people. You will cause a “stacking effect” the more you meet and connect with people; conversely, people cannot connect with you when you are withdrawn and nothing will happen. You must do everything in your power to connect with as many people as possible.
When myriad candidates are applying to limited positions, practicing unusual tactics in your job hunt will prove far more helpful than following the established routine and waiting for positions to come to you. Much like in military strategy, well-planned and unconventional moves can help you conquer your goals without suffering significant losses. You can land an excellent position by focusing on companies’ needs, rather than depending on job and recruiting advertisements.
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 need to provide people what they want, otherwise you will not have a job. Although they might not always be the most desirable kinds of jobs, certain jobs always exist because they provide services that people will always require. The only secret to continual employment is to provide a service that people always need; if you do this, and nothing else, you will always find yourself employed. Give people what they want.
Your ability to help people will determine the extent of your success; the more powerful and effective your help, the greater rewards you will receive. One of the rarest and most profound achievements is to follow through on your goals and create a paradigm-shifting idea. The more revolutionary your work, the more people you will affect and the more memorable of a career you will have.
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.
The ability to fit into your work environment is among the most important parts of obtaining and retaining a job, even more so than your skill level. Fitting in means nothing more than being comfortable in one’s work environment, and making others similarly comfortable. Employers want to hire people who will embrace their approach to business and the world on physical and moral levels, so you must strive to fit in with their worldview.
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.
In this article, Harrison advises you to live the lives you wish to have, do the jobs you want to do, and basically live your dreams to your best possible ability. Life is fleeting and no one knows what tomorrow holds. So Harrison puts forward certain questions – when are you going to start living the life you want and when are you going to take charge of your life. The time to have the career you want is right now, not tomorrow, and not later. You need to take charge of your career and life and no one else is going to do it for you. Your entire life and the quality of it is a product of your decisions. You can have, do, or be anything you want. Do not create alibis for making comprises in life. What separates the best and the happiest people is the ability to stop to making excuses and Harrison wants you to be this person.
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.
Understanding what you do for a living is very important for your career. You should understand the generality of your specific profession. You and your career are a product. You need to know where and how to market yourself in the best way possible. You need to be relevant and understand the skills you are offering. Being a relevant product is essential for your success. It’s easy to be relevant when you understand what you are doing and what purpose you serve. Being relevant is more than just getting a job. Being relevant also relates to serving the employers with the skills they need. You need to understand your market and what your customers want. This is the way to stay employed, and it is also the means to continual improvement.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Related Posts:
Harrison Barnes:
Getting Ahead:
The Role of Jobs in Today's World:
Career Advice:
© 2025 Harrisonbarnes All Rights Reserved
It is absolutely the best advice – “always do everything within your power to move towards the light–and never away from it”. Getting closer to the light, the happier and more fulfilled we are,
It is the best thing that could ever happen to have a hope to find the light and move towards to it.
however, if some people (it depends on how strong they are) look for the light too long, they finally may get used to live without the brightness;
if it is taking too long to get the dream job, some people may not find any more energy to look it further,
if someone has incurable disease, he/she may realize the light won’t come,
if someone was disappointed with his/her love, they may not want to look for another and may choose to go to monastery/convent, etc…
Have you ever thought about adding more videos with your site articles to keep the readers even more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire post and it was quite excellent but since I am more of a visual learner, I found videos to be far more helpful. well, let me know what you feel.
Lakiesha,
That’s a great idea. I have been working on getting videos live for most of the articles and you reminded me I need to speed this up!
–Harrison
Very nice, thank you for the positive inspirational story of Mr. Rabbi Akiva.
I will have my employees read it.
I like thge spirit, but always wondered what woiuld have happened if every one was disgusted with injustice and saved the poor man facing a faith that he could not possibly alone confront.
What I mean is, be positive, but also be part of a team, help one another fight darkness, otherwise if you battle alone, you have no choice but to be a victim of a reality too big to oppose. People need to join forces in the light.
I guess… May the light be with you (rabbi Ben Kenoby) lol
Very nice, thank you for the positive inspirational story of Mr. Rabbi Akiva.
I will have my employees read it.
I like thge spirit, but always wondered what woiuld have happened if every one was disgusted with injustice and saved the poor man facing a faith that he could not possibly alone confront.
What I mean is, be positive, but also be part of a team, help one another fight darkness, otherwise if you battle alone, you have no choice but to be a victim of a reality too big to oppose. People need to join forces in the light.
I guess… May the light be with you (rabbi Ben Kenoby) lol
Very nice, thank you for the positive inspirational story of Mr. Rabbi Akiva.
I will have my employees read it.
I like thge spirit, but always wondered what woiuld have happened if every one was disgusted with injustice and saved the poor man facing a faith that he could not possibly alone confront.
What I mean is, be positive, but also be part of a team, help one another fight darkness, otherwise if you battle alone, you have no choice but to be a victim of a reality too big to oppose. People need to join forces in the light.
I guess… May the light be with you (rabbi Ben Kenoby) lol
Very nice, thank you for the positive inspirational story of Mr. Rabbi Akiva.
I will have my employees read it.
I like thge spirit, but always wondered what woiuld have happened if every one was disgusted with injustice and saved the poor man facing a faith that he could not possibly alone confront.
What I mean is, be positive, but also be part of a team, help one another fight darkness, otherwise if you battle alone, you have no choice but to be a victim of a reality too big to oppose. People need to join forces in the light.
I guess… May the light be with you (rabbi Ben Kenoby) lol
Very nice, thank you for the positive inspirational story of Mr. Rabbi Akiva.
I will have my employees read it.
I like thge spirit, but always wondered what woiuld have happened if every one was disgusted with injustice and saved the poor man facing a faith that he could not possibly alone confront.
What I mean is, be positive, but also be part of a team, help one another fight darkness, otherwise if you battle alone, you have no choice but to be a victim of a reality too big to oppose. People need to join forces in the light.
I guess… May the light be with you (rabbi Ben Kenoby) lol
A very insightful post. Thanks for venturing beyond the “job/career” arena to share this inspiration.
A very interesting and illuminating tale, one of which seems to be of an archetypal nature. Thank You.
I am reminded that we as humans are an “open system” that can not resist the flow of influence from other humans or groups of organized humans. In this case our “emotional impressionability” can be our greatest asset or enemy, depending upon our perception of things.
The interesting point is it seems that darkness is easily obtainable and “cheap”. Whereas the light is harder won and largely maligned by a media culture that seems to benefit from an individuals fear and loss. And corporations that based there whole business on an individuals lack of confidence and desperation.