My own weather

When I decided to take the previous job in Orillia, I worried a lot as I wrote in a previous post; I knew it would not lead me to a desired job. One day, I rented a car to visit the company to have a job interview. After the interview, I drove around a bit in Orillia and parked the car in a park beside Lake Couchiching. In October, it was like this photo. When no-one was around me, I told myself “this is a good place.” Eventually I decided to take the job.

As I wrote in another previous post, I am fired and now I’m looking for a new job. As I anticipated, the previous job did not bring anything to me except for “a job experience in Canada”. This is a very depressing situation. A few days ago, I visited the park to reset myself; I wanted to remember the positive feeling. However, there was no green or red and yellow like in the photo, and it was cold under an overcast sky; it was depressing weather. I was lost.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of my most favourite books. Habit 1 is Be Proactive; people have the freedom to choose between stimulus and response.

Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn’t a function of whether the weather is conductive to it or not. [1]

It is not about weather or the colour of woods. It is value. It is not whether the previous job brought something to me or not, but what I find in it and where I go from there.

Today I saw a blue sky between clouds after a couple of weeks of overcast days in Orillia. I felt better, and want to assume it is not because of the weather but because I talked to some people in Toronto and Hamilton the day before yesterday and thought of my value.

[1] S. R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York, NY: Fireside, 1989.

April 14, 2013Permalink