Stand Up.....Move Forward!!

Greetings Happy People,

For the following story, let me take you back to two years ago. I was sitting in a meeting room with my fellow co-workers. The Chief boss named “Dan” was ready to give his report to us. He was talking about a vacant position that was at our workplace. There were two people that were going for that position, myself and “Jim.” It was a shot a promotion for the both of us.

If you were to look at the qualifications on paper between myself and Jim, you would notice that I have a pretty good resume. I graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering, I have an Engineer Intern certificate from the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, and I also had a decent knowledge about that workplace. When I filled out my application for this position, I was ranked #1 due to my strong educational and work experience background. It seemed like a slam dunk that I would get that promotion over Jim right? Let’s go back to the meeting room.

As Dan was mentioning about the vacant position, he made a mistake. Before any hiring was done, before any interviews were held, he made a Freudian slip by mentioning that Jim was going to get the position. OUCH!! Realizing his slip up, he tried to take his words back. Unfortunately, it was too late.

After the meeting, people were asking me what I was going to do. First, I had to step back and ask myself what I was going to do. Would I confront Dan about this? Would I withdraw my name from the interview schedule? Or would I just do nothing? At that moment, I remembered the words of a past International Director from Toastmasters. He said “It is better to fail than quit.” When I heard those words in my mind, I knew what I had to do.

I picked out my best clothes, put on my best tie, and printed copies of my resume. Knowing that there was a good chance that I will not get promoted, I went to that interview. During the interview, I was asked plenty of questions. Thankfully, I answered the questions to my best ability. To be more honest, I rocked that interview to the point where Dan and the manager “Jane” were impressed. When the interview was over, I left the room with my head held high. Did I get that promotion? Nope. Jim still got it. What I got in return was my own satisfaction on moving on despite this misfortune. Anyway, it was a blessing that I did not get promoted to that position. I would have faced plenty of difficult situations had I been selected.

What is the overall point to this story? While we may have people that love to throw the monkey wrench into our plans, we as a people must stand on our feet and move forward!! There is nothing better than to get to a goal. Imagine if I were to quit. I would not get as far as I did. If I were to quit, I probably would not get another opportunity to get promoted. If I were to quit, I would let the negative people win!!

Whenever you feel the odds are stacked against you, just stand up, meet it face to face, and move forward. Once you are able to do that, YOU WILL WIN!!

That is all I have for you. Take care and thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Jesse I-I-I