Pete's Blog: Are You Spending Time 'Hoping' or Busy 'Doing?'

If you’re waiting for your ship to come in, wishing you’d win millions in the lottery, or hoping for that perfect job to come along; I’ve got bad news. The ship’s not coming. Your numbers are not going to be drawn. The perfect job will not magically appear. In fact, there is no ship. (Don’t worry, I’ve got something better.)

Too many of us put all of our eggs in the ‘hope’ basket, waiting for something to happen. I was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago and I know first hand the importance of hope. Some days it really is all you have. Hope is powerful, but so is chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Doing something is always a better bet.

I have a frustrated friend who happens to be looking for a job. Steve gets up in the morning, looks through the classifieds, maybe finds an ad that interests him (but more likely finds nothing), closes the paper, makes a call. Maybe gets an interview (but more likely not). Decides to try again tomorrow. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

That is not doing. That is hope.

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Steve will tell you there’s nothing out there. I’ll ask him how in world he could know. If a different situation is really what he wants, his current full-time ‘job,’ should be using every ounce of his energy to do things that can actually change it. Need ideas? Part of the plan should be surrounding himself with people that have ‘em.

If you ask Steve how many Facebook friends he has, he’ll tell you,”around 500.” Now that’s a network. Every single one of those 500 people should know that he’s looking for a job. They’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. (What shampoo commercial was that from?)

“But Pete, nobody’s hiring.” Probably wrong again Steve. I have already told you, “The classifieds are dead.” Take control brother. Find the companies you want to work for. Take the initiative and call them. Go hunting. Don’t wait for the damn deer to have to walk right up to you in your living room.

There’s a sign in our office that says, “Three months from now what will you wish you had started today?” I like that. Dr. House says, “Time doesn’t change things, doing things changes things does.” I like that also.

I hope you do too.

Pete Hanson is on 98.1 Minnesota's New Country weekday mornings from 5:30 to 10:00.