|
Greetings!
 Power is good, pain is...
Now that raises an interesting question, don't you think? Can we just automatically state that pain is bad? But let's turn right back to power before we struggle for an answer. As a recruiter, surely you realize you must build and hold power, don't you? It is an important form of power to have someone recognize your name and take your call. You have greater power when they jump up and shut the door to their office when they realize it's you calling. And it is a form of vast power that you can guide and direct the decisions of great corporations and the players that both run them and perform the fundamental work of the firm.
The ultimate goal of every recruiter is - or should be - to become what is endearingly called a Power Broker! Honor to Bob Marshall for that term.
Let us be clear, power is good, very good.
So, now back to the question of pain. In a word, the justification for pain (its redeeming trait) is that it is a necessary element of your journey to power. I'll state this categorically as a principle:
There is NO such thing as the pain-free journey to power. All paths to power entail pain along the way.
The difficult thing about pain, though, is that it is no guarantee of power at all. All those recruiters who painfully lost their faith and then washed out - and how many 10's of thousands more of those have there been then those who have made it? - they all felt great pain along the way but never won the power that would have made the pain worthwhile. While these dynamics are absolutely cogent to your life as a recruiter, they transcend work and apply to your entire life as a human being, too.
You may not know it but you carry a tremendous load, a great burden of hidden pain. This is equally true in your body and soul. Following this introduction, in coming lessons of this 4-part series, we'll discuss:
 Lesson 2: Your body's hidden pain load; how to find it, heal it and claim your path to health and physical fitness first.
Lesson 3: Then we'll turn to your soul's pain and follow a similar spiritual path to healing, release and fulfillment.
Lesson 4: And finally, we'll consider the pain you bear as a recruiter and the paths to recruiting power that healing your pain will make possible.
In today's lesson, in addition to our overview of the topic, I'll share a point taught to me many years ago by the great Power Broker, Andy Miller, that led me to these meditations. Then, in the following three lessons, we'll focus in turn on each of our points listed above.
Please understand it is only by discovering your pain and uncovering it that you can heal it. Even more importantly, your hidden pain is precisely what covers up more deeply still all of your hidden powers. The reason to uncover your pain, beyond how wonderful it feels to heal it, is that only then can you find and release your true power to perform.
Before I share Andy Miller's take on all this, I'd like to explain something about my teachers in general. My greatest teachers have always been my consulting clients. Owning a recruiting shop somehow stirs something in the soul of the owner that few other experiences in life can match. Whether you bought a franchise, were an AE first and bought the business from your boss, opened up a shop in your bedroom (or bedroom closet or possibly your converted garage), there is a transformation that owning and running a recruiting operation always entails. I'm not sure how to express it but I'll try.
For the rest of the normal folks out there, there can be a line between life and work. Even for normal entrepreneurs and small business people, who tend to have no lives other than their work, there still remains a different dynamic driving the work itself. In recruiting, your only limit is actually that of your ambition and your work ethic. You can generate so much wealth, in any economic condition, that what you build ends up coming right from your very soul itself, somehow.
 No, I can't tell you that only beautiful souls succeed as recruiters or as those who own recruiting operations. But I can tell you that if you come to know, to truly know the spirit driving any recruiting shop as a business, you will find the very soul of its owner right there.
At any rate, of the many beautiful souls I've known and served, none is more wonderful than Andy Miller. Without sharing any details of our work or friendship, let me give you his picture and his thoughts, right now. Do notice the picture on the wall to Andy's right? Part of the power of Andy's soul is his relationship to, as he himself always writes the word: BASEBALL.
Here is the quote Andy shared with me many years ago:
'The wounds of a man shall not deny him his kingship; rather they shall exalt him to it.'
And this is what Andy has to say:
"Here is my view of that quote. Human nature is such that we look to avoid pain or not experience it; yet part of being human and having a physical existence is we will feel pain. If we have the courage and the persistence to push through and work with the pain, it holds some great gifts and insights into our growth and development.
"What is the relevance to my recruiting practice? What's the pain I feel? For me, there is real pain I feel from clients who don't return calls, and marketing calls that don't produce results.
"While the GOLD or gift that one discovers is different for each person and you MUST find it for yourself; my personal wounds seem to center around not being seen and heard. So when I don't get a return call or a particular call doesn't generate the results I want, I often get frustrated or angry. In looking carefully at my pain, though, I've come to realize that these moments actually make me feel week and incompetent. But, the truth is that I really am VERY EFFECTIVE. When I look at my actual results, rewards, and the life I live, there can be no disputing this. My clients validate this truth too, and the proof is actually right there, everywhere around me! What I've been able to see inside my pain, and through it, is that sometimes a no is just that and more often a no callback has nothing to do with me or my presentation. The GIFT or GOLD for me is persisting and keeping my self-worth.
"If you find where your business pain points and you have the courage and determination to push through the pain, you will find GOLD. The answers will not only make you money but bring you deeper happiness."
In closing for today, please know that you suffer no pain that can't be healed. As you step forward to find the gold hidden inside your pain you will uncover your own healing powers. We'll detail those in lessons to come. For now, though, be like Andy. Have faith that you will find your own path to power and glory by facing and healing the pain you carry.
|
