On Being Goal Oriented...

The world's longest job search continues... or maybe it only seems that way to me. How many times can one person be told that (a) he's too experienced, (b) the prospective employer knows that he can do the job but still wants someone whose experience is precisely on point, (c) the prospective employer is certain that he really wants a higher level position, position with more responsibility, etc. despites assurances to the contrary or (d) he's the ideal candidate but the company has decided not to fill the position? Times are tough out there, unless you have a following/clientele/book of business, and sometimes even that's not enough.

So what keeps me going? Well, aside from the obvious (I have a family to support, I'm getting a bit tired of draining my savings and I enjoy what I do (did?) for a living), I'm too stubborn to give up on a goal. The short list of things I have always wanted to do is as follows:

1. Get married (I am.)
2. Have children (I do.)
3. Run a marathon (I have completed three, although if I ran one today, I'd have to drive the last 15 miles.)
4. Be a game show contestant (Wheel of Fortune, 1987)
5. Be a lawyer (I am. Or was.)
6. Play guitar (OK, nobody's perfect. See below.)

So far I'm 5 for 6. As for number 6, I did take a guitar class for beginners last summer but haven't picked it up since. (Ed, if you're out there in cyberspace, I know I have failed you.) There still time, though. I just don't have it in me to give up. And I have certainly tried some unorthodox approaches to finding my next position. Sometimes I really feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. (Imagine a man with a linear, progressive employment history....)

It occurs to me that like most of us, I have always been a net consumer of the popular culture. I don't act, I watch movies. I don't sing (and you should all be grateful for that), I listen to music. And I read. A lot. So now, in some small way, I feel like I am actually contributing something to the world's collective work product. And I have you to thank, for what is text if nobody reads it? If a blog falls in a forest, does it make a sound?