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When I was around 11 years old, a couple of friends of mine, Charlie and Dave, had found a use for an amazing garden of sculptured bushes that was behind Charlie’s house. I had never understood or appreciated how exciting a garden could really be.
Charlie’s dad was a very successful salesman of something or other, and he and his family lived in a giant corner house on a street called Sunningdale, in Grosse Pointe Woods, a nice suburb of Detroit. Charlie was about the richest kid in our elementary school class, and he was also a really nice guy. Charlie’s backyard had a giant garden of all sorts of topiaries and so forth. It must have been an acre in size; it alone was larger than the lots on which most of the houses around us were situated.
In contrast, Dave was one of the poorer kids in our class, and he was always getting in trouble. He had always been an incredible athlete and a very fast runner. However, when I saw him several years later, he was no longer playing sports. When I asked him about it, a classmate standing next to him spoke up and said, “Are you kidding, he’s on the weed team!”
David had moved to Detroit from Chicago. He had had all kinds of problems growing up, and his mother had been married several times. He had been in a juvenile detention center at one point and it seems he was headed for more trouble.
I sat between David and Charlie in my fifth-grade class. One day they started an inside joke in class.
“Grade A!” David would say.
“Yep. Nothing but Grade A,” Charlie would say back.
This went on all morning in class, and I had absolutely no idea what these guys were talking about, but I was curious. It was very strange to me that they kept going back and forth like this. At recess and lunch I pushed them to tell me what Grade A meant, but they refused. For the next couple of days they kept saying Grade A, and they told me that they could not tell me what it meant because if they did, they would get in trouble.
Finally, one day Charlie decided to let me in on the secret. “Come over to my house at 7:30 tonight and meet me in back, in the bush garden, and I will tell you what ‘Grade A’ means. You are going to need to bring three dollars though.”
Charlie’s enormous house was a decent bike ride from my neighborhood. Something inside of me told me that I should not go over to Charlie’s, but I decided to go anyway. I am not sure what it was, but I was a little scared, and my intuition told me that something bad was going to happen. What frightened me was not just meeting in some bush garden outside in the evening, or the words Grade A and the fact that they signified trouble, but the fact that Dave was involved. I knew if he was involved it was likely to not be good.
It was cold that evening and I arrived at the massive topiary collection at the appointed time. It is hard to know exactly how many ten-foot-high bushes there were, all carved and organized in the backyard–but it was quite a site. I stood next to a particularly menacing bush for some time, and then Charlie came out, wearing earmuffs and fancy wool gloves. Charlie was a country club kid, who wore things like earmuffs when the other kids wore dime-store hats.
“David should be here in a few minutes,” Charlie said. “He left for the grocery store 15 minutes ago and called me before he left. Did you bring your three dollars?”
“Of course. I have the three dollars right here.”
“Okay. Give it to Dave when he gets here.”
A few minutes later Dave pulled up on his crappy bike. He was holding on to the handlebars with only one hand. He had a giant brown paper grocery bag, which he was supporting with his other hand.
“Excellent!” Charlie exclaimed as Dave pulled up.
“Nothing but Grade A!” Dave responded.
Dave put down the bag on a curb and then, for reasons I did not understand, he went and hid his bike across the street in a neighbor’s yard. Charlie grabbed the bag and proceeded to unload several cartons of eggs. He handed me three cartons. Stamped on the packaging in giant letters, of course, were the words “Grade A.”
I quickly realized that we are about to start throwing eggs at passing cars, and it looked like it was going to be a lot of fun. I actually got pretty excited about the prospect of doing this. Given the massive amount of bushes, I realized that it would be next to impossible for anyone to catch us after throwing the eggs, because we could disappear into the bushes so quickly and easily.
Since they had been doing this for some time, Charlie and Dave had a ritual of sorts. Dave would watch for the cars and then hit them in the side, while Charlie would aim for the windshield. The cars would typically stop after getting hit. Then the owner would get out and look around, and then drive off. A few people tried to chase us, but the topiary collection was so extensive that we were able to hide behind one of 100-plus giant bushes, and when people ran in there they would give up looking for us after a few minutes.
After 30 minutes of this foolishness, it was dark outside, and we were down to our last few eggs. We saw a car coming down the street extremely fast, with its lights off, and it seemed peculiar, to say the least. The car must have been moving at least 60 miles an hour, and we were on a 25-mile-per-hour street. The vehicle was moving so fast that we certainly did not think we would be able to hit it–but we were all in position. The car approached rapidly, then, all of sudden, screeched to a halt directly in front of us. The door of the car opened and we ran into the bushes. Whatever was going on did not seem good.
We all went in separate directions, and as I took my hiding space I saw a man climbing along the ground with a flashlight, moving very rapidly. I realized that, because he was crawling, he could see our feet and where we were hiding as he got closer and closer to us. It was one of the most terrifying episodes of my life. As we did a military crawl through the bushes, the man spotted us one by one, yelling “Freeze” every time he saw us.
He was a police officer.
Within minutes he had put us in the back of a police car, and one by one, he proceeded to drop us off at our homes and give our parents serious lectures about how we had frightened people by throwing eggs at their cars.
“The eggs are frozen on their paint, and some of the people may need to have their cars repainted!” he told us.
I actually felt pretty sorry for Dave when we got to his house. He did not seem at all upset about being caught by the police because he had apparently been through it so many times before.
“Just chill out,” he told us. “This cop will just take us home and that’s it.”
Dave’s mom and current stepfather were not home when we got to his little house. His brother came outside holding one of Dave’s many little brothers and sisters. This one was around 2 years old. The officer lectured the 14-year-old brother about Dave, then Dave went inside and that was it.
I was very upset with myself after that episode because it was no fun getting brought home by the police. My mother was extremely upset with me, and if I remember correctly, I was grounded for a few weeks for this episode. I also felt after this that I could not associate with Dave or Charlie ever again. I stopped speaking with them and their friends, and consequently, I was a bit of a loner for the rest of my time in elementary school. Because I had never been in such serious trouble before, I probably overreacted to what had happened. Getting brought home by the police left an impression on me that took years to shake. While this episode may not seem that significant in the grand scheme of things, for better or for worse, it made me more guarded and afraid to have fun doing stupid things throughout the rest of my life.
What was most upsetting to me about all of this was that I knew I should have listened to the voice inside of my head that had told me not to go over there that night. Intuitively, I just knew that something was very wrong and that I was going to get into serious trouble.
Each day we have intuitions about various things. Many of these intuitions are about various areas in which we want to improve or about things we want to avoid. These areas could be our finances, our relationships, or our careers. In most cases these little pieces of intuition are right. By trusting and following our intuition each of us can generally avoid bad things.
There are many famous episodes of intuition throughout history:
In addition to these episodes, there have been numerous cases of airline passengers refusing to fly on planes when they got to the gate, due to a premonition or intuition telling them that something bad was going to happen. Oftentimes the airplanes end up, in fact, crashing.
Every single one of us has strong intuitions about this and that throughout the average day. We get an intuition not to do something, to do something, or to change something. These intuitions are incredibly powerful, but most people simply ignore them and go about their business.
I believe you need to connect with your intuition at all times in your life. Our subconscious mind is always at work, even when we may not realize it, making all sorts of calculations, observations, conclusions, and so forth about everything around us. It is picking up all sorts of things from our surroundings, which we might not be aware of consciously.
Every single one of us knows our weaknesses and what is holding us back. It is just that not everyone is willing to acknowledge these weaknesses and to improve upon them. Knowledge of our weaknesses, of what we should and should not do, comes to us through intuition. You need to listen to your intuition and follow it.
The people I have known to be truly successful have listened to their intuition. Listening to our intuition is not easy and it often takes effort; however, when you listen to that intuition, you will take actions in your career and in your life that are to your benefit. People all over the world can rise higher and become the people they want to become. All they need to do is pay the price–which is usually a determined and focused effort. Each success or benefit that we seek out of life will only come to us if we pay the price. Acting on our intuition often requires us to pay a price; however, acting contradictory to our intuition is often far more dangerous and costly than doing nothing at all.
Most people do not realize the importance of listening to their intuition, and therefore, these people remain in the same place and never move forward. Whether it is their intuition about their career and a change they need to make, their intuition about a relationship, or an intuition about something even more important, they do not listen.
I remember meeting a very beautiful girl whom I became involved with a short time later; we were involved for several years. After knowing her for around 15 minutes, I thought to myself: “This woman will cheat and cheat again on any man she is ever involved with.” This was just something I knew and understood instinctively. I had never had this thought about someone before, but it was just something I sensed. I have no idea what it was that made me figure this out. However, I completely forgot about this major intuition and went full steam ahead with the relationship.
I ended up falling in love with the woman, and at one point, I proposed to her. On the night I proposed to her and she accepted, we had gone out for dinner. When we returned from dinner, she started crying. I asked her what was wrong.
“I have been seeing someone else behind your back!” she told me.
This was one of the most upsetting and devastating moments of my life. I was so upset that I actually punched a hole in a wall and almost broke my knuckles. This announcement had come out of nowhere, and apparently her affair had been going on for months without my realizing it. It took me some time, but I eventually got over it and forgave her.
Then it happened again.
Then it happened again.
Then it finally ended our relationship forever.
She had done the same thing before with other boyfriends, and I am sure she continued with the same pattern of behavior after we split. It was just her nature, and I picked up on it within moments of first meeting her. That relationship was something that I should have avoided. Had I followed my intuition, I would not have spent a good portion of my life as unhappy and confused as I was during my time with this woman. At times, not following our intuition can ruin our lives.
Intuition has also been incredibly good to me. Several years ago, I had been practicing law with a large law firm and no longer wanted to. I decided I would be much better off if I formed my own law practice. Instead of diving headfirst into my own law practice, my law firm suggested that, since I was so unhappy in their law firm, I should talk with recruiters to see if I might be happier in another law firm–before starting my own practice. This is exactly what I did. By the time I left my law firm, I had many clients lined up and more than enough work to keep me busy. Looking at what recruiters did, however, I realized that I would be far better off doing recruiting work than practicing law. It felt more natural to me, and I understood instinctively what the job entailed.
I ended up turning down several law firm job offers and gave away all of my legal cases. To the astonishment of everyone who knew me, I started legal recruiting. I loved it, did very well at it, and was incredibly happy. The decision to become a legal recruiter changed my life and enabled me to start a business in the career industry–which I love. None of this would have happened had I not followed my intuition.
When you trust your intuition in your career and life, you will always come out far more ahead than if you do not.
THE LESSON
Many people have intuitions about areas in which they would like to improve or things that they would like to avoid. Your intuition is usually correct, and trusting it can help you avoid bad things that might befall others who ignore their intuition. People are all aware, on some level, of the things holding them back, but few people are willing to acknowledge and address these things. Knowledge of your weaknesses and what you should do about them comes from your intuition.
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, How to Succeed
Tagged: career advice, career advice | a harrison barnes, how to find a job, intuition value, job market, job seeker, legal recruiter, new job opportunities, subconscious mind
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In this article Harrison discusses how persistent pursuit of something you believe in, against all obstacles, is one of the most important keys to success. So many of us just decide at some point not to push through and not to keep going even when a little bit of extra effort would push us through. The secret to being incredibly good at everything is pushing through and getting better and better when others around you are quitting. Even while hiring, employers want experts and people who are the best at what they are doing–they do not want dabblers. They want to hire the person who is incredibly committed to a job and has persisted against odds in one direction when others have given up.
In this article Harrison suggests that you actually may be safer getting a job without the help of family or friends. It is exceedingly rare that a friend or family member will ever be able to get you a position. They may not even want to help you get a job for various reasons. Their involvement in your job search may actually hurt you. The organization may actually look upon you negatively if you try to use a friend or family member to get a job. So going through a close contact is often counterproductive to your job search. Even if you get a position through a friend or family member, you could harm your relationship with that person in the process. Your friend or family member’s act of kindness may ultimately unbalance your relationship. The risks involved in this kind of job far outweigh the potential rewards.
A powerful sense of self will make all the difference in your life. You must understand that your sense of yourself and your capabilities come from inside of you, not from the external forces that have brought you to your current place in life. What you feel internally might be completely different from what the world is telling you, and you must learn to focus on the former rather than the latter.
In this article, Harrison explains the importance of making an effort in your job which is way above what is expected of you. When you have been given certain responsibilities, it means that someone is dependent on you for certain things. When you fulfill these duties far more efficiently, put in a lot more time and effort, and even stay back on weekends and holidays to complete or do extra work, your employers get the message that you are sharing their burden of pressures with them and begin to place tremendous trust in you. This is what paves the path to your promotion and growth in the company. Harrison believes that you need to develop the correct attitude and possess an extraordinary work ethic to thrive in the job you do.
In this article Harrison discusses how resisting change and not taking necessary and relevant action can be the biggest obstacles to a better career and better life. Resistance is something that prevents most people from ever changing. Resisting change can be highly damaging to your growth in your career and life. Instead of allowing your life to be controlled by external circumstances, choose to take action and bring about a change. Conduct a brutal self analysis if needed, to clear the blocks you have in your mind and to bring about change that is necessary. Most people give up. They do not persist. You need strategies and beliefs that will allow you to persist and persevere, so that you can change. The best strategy is to be focused, and this focus will help you overcome the resistance you face whenever you make an effort to begin changing.
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.
The past does not dictate the future, so you should not use inductive reasoning to make conclusions about your life or career. Recognize when you are making incorrect conclusions based on past events, and switch to deductive reasoning in which you are not limited by the past. You will find your conclusions to be much more accurate, and you will succeed as a result.
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This site provide many important information and advise how i get a good job.
Your article is very informative! This will help people find easier a new job. I think that everybody should read useful thips before trying to find a new job. Thank you very much!
i ended up turning down several law firm job offers, and gave away all of my legal cases. To the astonishment of everyone who knew me, I started legal recruiting. I loved it, did very well at it, and was incredibly happy. The decision to become a legal recruiter changed my life and enabled me to start a business in the career industry–which I love. None of this would have happened had I not followed my intuition…i lik the blog
thank you for interesting article