The Plateau

My search for a new job con­tin­ues. This week was pro­duc­tive but tough, as I have had to fight to get through what I term “The Plateau.” The Plateau is the point in the job search where the ini­tial rush of energy from being free begins to wane, and one must now dig a lit­tle deeper for inspi­ra­tion. It is the time when you have picked all the low hang­ing fruit (every­thing posted on the net that you are inter­ested in) and you have to begin to assess your next set of options. It is when you must push onward, stay focused, and main­tain your con­fi­dence. It is a crit­i­cal time. This week I have been on “The Plateau.” I have had some great inter­views this week, and I con­tinue to move closer to my goal, but I have not received “The Offer” for “The Job” just yet. Thank­fully, I am sur­rounded by fam­ily and friends who con­tinue to offer cre­ative sug­ges­tions and pro­vide new leads for me to explore. I recently read a great book called “Mas­tery” by George Leonard which deals with the con­cept of “The Plateau.” Accord­ing to Leonard, we spend more of our lives on the Plateau than in the peaks and val­leys. The way to really become a mas­ter at some­thing is to embrace this phase — to learn from it and evolve into some­thing or some­one bet­ter. Leonard’s advice has served me well. The plateau of my career search has led me to explore who I am as a mar­keter and as a pro­fes­sional. Recently, I have been for­tu­nate enough to have been given some chances to do some inde­pen­dent con­sult­ing work that has really helped me to bet­ter answer those ques­tions. I had a meet­ing yes­ter­day with a friend who owns a small busi­ness and is in need of mar­ket­ing assis­tance. I sat down with him for a few hours, and we cre­ated some great strate­gies for help­ing him to grow his com­pany. Sit­ting across the table, shar­ing my pas­sion­ate beliefs about mar­ket­ing was envig­o­rat­ing. Cre­at­ing makes me feel alive, and it is great to be alive. In terms of the search, this week may indeed rep­re­sent a pla­teu, but I am learn­ing to love the plateau. As for next week, I will just keep on mov­ing for­ward with faith that I will move closer to Mas­tery, and closer to my goal of find­ing my next job. Thank you to every­one who has been so help­ful. I appre­ci­ate it.