Dirty Hands

A Chinese proverb explains that the best time to plant a tree  🌳 was 20 years ago...

...and the second best time is now.

In other words: don't wait. If you want trees, start plantin', son!

PLANTING SEASON

Over the last several weeks (at least in the northern hemisphere) many farmers have been planting because they know future harvests 🌾 depend on what's sown now. The best farmers are always innovating by asking questions like:

"What happens if we plant here instead of there?"

"What happens if we plant now instead of then?"

"What happens if we give it a little more/less water, or sun, or fertilizer?"

"What happens if we plant this seed instead of that one?"

THIS ISN'T A ONE-OFF

Smart farmers 🧑‍🌾 know real success rests in willingness to try different things, in different places, at different times, in different ways.

And yet, in the workplace - and especially in a job search - sometimes it's easy to forget about the opportunity to iterate, creatively, A LOT.

Look, let's be really clear: job-searching is NOT for the faint-of-heart. It's rarely very logical or fair....so let's just put THAT out there front and center.

AND - all too often, job-seekers tell me how they've sent the same resume out like a 1000 times in the same way to the same kind of organizations for the same kind of opportunities. 

Would any smart farmer continue to plant the same seeds at the same time in the same place in the same way even though nothing grows? No way. 

THERE ARE LEVERS

A farmer has levers. She can optimize her yield by adjusting place, time, soil, water, fertilizer, seed, sunlight, and much more in an infinite combination of ways. Does the unpredictable sometimes happen? Sure. There are no guarantees. And she runs experiments anyway, all the time. 

YOU have levers in your job search. You can optimize the results you get by adjusting your mindset, cover letters, resumes, follow-up, networking, interviews, and how you handle offers. Are there guarantees? Nope. And you can run experiments anyway, all the time.

DISRUPT THE SOIL

And sometimes, regardless of sun or water or soil or all of it - the thing that needs to happen most in order for things to start growing is a great big plow. Sometimes, before anything else will really matter, the farmer just needs to TILL THE SOIL.

If your job search or career is feeling fallow - what can you do to disrupt the soil in your work and life in a healthy way? Where do you want to MIX THINGS UP?

Whatever you do - please - don't just keep doing the same thing over and over in the hope of getting a different result. The person you're waiting on to rescue you is you.

Get some dirt on your hands, Eric