“Wow, I really want this job.” You fill out the online application and send it off through cyberspace. Thinking that a phone call might be better, you make the call and leave a voicemail. You open another tab on your browser and pull up the company website. It seems perfect. You finally make the connection and set up the interview. You make getting this job your number one goal in life.
“Each minute in life should be a divine quest.” Paramansa Yogananda (1893-1952)
You wake early on the morning of the interview. You meticulously prepare, your hair and clothes are perfect. Your resume is updated. You leave early and arrive twenty minutes before you’re supposed to be there. Your stomach is tied in knots.
“Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.” – Jim Rohn (1930-2009)
You walk into the office and meet the Manager for the first time. She stands and walks around the desk and meets you half way. You are both smiling. You share a warm handshake. You talk about the job, its qualifications, responsibilities and compensation. You both agree that you are the perfect person for the job. It seems like all of your life experience has been leading you to this point. But has it? Let’s stop and examine this moment for a second.
“Time is not a line but a series of Now points.” Taisen Deshimaru (1914-1982)
Let’s imagine a few variables in this perfect occasion. Maybe the Manager spills her coffee right before you walk into her office, making her irritable. Maybe a car on the sidewalk splashes you out front, shattering your confidence. Maybe you cut yourself shaving, making you look less professional. Maybe the Manager used to work at one of your old jobs, or knows one of your references. Any little thing can spoil this perfect, magical moment. But is it a really magical?
“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln – American President
In truth, the future never comes. Just as we have no control over the past, we cannot control the future. We spin the past in ever-increasing fantasies, interpretations that fit our self- and world-views. At some point the past becomes some mixture of fact and fiction. If you don’t believe me, just pick up any history book and ask the winners and losers for their interpretations of it.
We try to guide our future. We plan meticulously. We prepare for that special day. Then we spill the coffee, cut ourselves shaving, get splashed on the street or say the wrong thing. Our plans go awry. All we can truly do is the best that we can and hope for the best. But there is one thing that we can control.
Let’s rewind to that moment when you stride confidently into that office and shake your future Manager’s hand. Even if any one of those variables has thrown up a roadblock, you can still salvage one good moment. And the one after that. You can only control the physical moment that you are in. If you walk into this same office one hundred days in a row, prepare just as meticulously, say all of the same things in the same order. You can never, ever, have a Groundhog Day moment. Something will always be different, even if it’s just that you wore the shamrock boxer shorts instead of the ones with the Tasmanian Devil. You and the Manager can never share this same moment again. As soon it is gone, that is when the legends begin to be written. So why not make that moment the best it can be?
“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks to another day of loving.” Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
You have the power to make this moment the best that it can be. You can choose to be happy and share that happiness with everyone who crosses your path. The past is gone and the future is nothing but a dream. All you have is now. So seize this moment and really live it. I know that I am.
The Tao Of Brother T 