It's official! Long term perspective is the key to success in life no matter what your endeavor. I think this blog post has been in the works in my brain for sometime, as I have witnessed changes in my life whizzing by me like a crazy race car. Vroom, Vroom, start your engines. No matter our undertaking, it is important as we begin to think about our New Years resolutions, and celebrate the season, to never forget our many blessings. This month I have had the privilege of witnessing changes mighty and strong blow me forward in new ever expanding ways. I look at this picture of my daughter having fun putting up a Christmas Star and have to smile. We have a great deal to life that we need to take at face value. Our careers are a very important thing. It has been a year of interesting moments, challenges, rebirth of perspective, and a long lasting memorial to what it means to tag your career assumptions with long term goals and forward thinking options. No career can be complete without a plan, past and present every thing hones and shapes you whether you like it or not. What is important is knowing what you want and putting a plan into action to make life move steadily in the way you want it to go. That is not easy, but it can be accomplished. In this picture above my daughter is putting a star on the Christmas tree, and the tree is covered with ornaments and some that show pictures of Christmases, and Holidays past. As I look at that tree I am enveloped in beautiful perspective. Positive energy is so paramount, as is persistence, focused effort and goal setting efforts. This year I have watched professionals in my network go their ways and others pass on from this life. I can't help but be grateful for perspective that I have. And one of the foremost lessons that I have learned is to make every day count, you get but one chance to live, and if it is not lived in such a way as to harness an enduring happiness and to set in motion the activities, professional development, the family awareness, the direction of passion that enables you to get incredible outcomes in every single endeavor. I think it is so important, so key, to place one's commitment to be square and true in every direction. This is not easy, it can be easy for someone to just want to take the course they have always travelled. But truth be told, in nearly 10 years of professional steps I have seen my share of moments which led me to know how important every minute, of every day is. So this leads me to write tonight about what I have seen, I have seen individuals lose their perspective, they go to work just for the check, but forget that it is important to give your best in every situation, and then they lose their professional happiness, and live a life where 40 hours of every week is miserable. It is important to know for yourself what will make you happy. Think of the job seekers we work with on a daily basis, are you more apt to send the candidate who knows who they are, and has the confidence and down to earth perspective that pushes you to hire them. That is success. In our family lives, do we view the responsibilities we have with disdain or do we take responsibility and enjoy the moments that come day by day? It is surely a question of someone knowing who they are, the best professionals, the best recruiters, and for that matter the most successful people I know love life, and live each day with the perspective and goals in mind. A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder, a lost soul seeking a safe harbor. Life doesn't just flow evenly, it is full of twists and turns, and it is so very important to know inwardly what you want out of that life. Consider your professional life cannot be separated from your personal one, you must have the integrity to know what it is that you have to offer, and how you can use that foundation to build a career, a home, a family, a key ingredient that makes you create the whole life you can only be the creator of. This is the key of perspective.

As we celebrate this holiday season, and as we prepare for our resolutions, let us remember resolutions that enhance our ability to be successful in any endeavor, good goals are those that are measurable, and offer a clear target in which to shoot for. As I attended the Los Gatos Christmas parade which traditionally brings and kicks off my holiday season, I was walking with my Dad and daughter to the holding area for parade participants. And then we spotted Santa Claus and were able to snap a great picture:

I keep learning more from my daughter, and she is a defining part of my goals. I think that as I set my resolutions that I also bear in mind my new son which is due on January 19th. What a miracle that is. And it makes me think inwardly how important is my perspective, that lifts me above the temporary survival "I just need to get by" mentality, and lets me keep the foot on the gas pedal in all endeavors of importance, it helps me persist by sourcing just a few more candidates, or setting a goal that helps me achieve just a bit more outcomes I didn't think possible. It is there that recruiting becomes real, and realizable, that putting someone back to work is larger than any metric, and that putting the right person in the right place, at the right time and being a facilitator to create viable matches between client and candidate is brought to pass more often, and in more powerful terms.

I read a book entitled "The Fred Factor" a few years back which talks about a perspective of service, that is the means to build life success, it is a whole life perspective. I stated earlier that I had seen many changes over the past few years as I have witnessed colleagues choose different paths, and change comes fast and furious. I could witness that the most successful professionals I had seen always had a larger perspective, a life perspective, their job just wasn't a job anymore but a larger perspective put that job as a place where greatness could be achieved. I have found over my career in staffing/HR that people think that a new job, or a new place will be the perfect "silver bullet" cure for their challenges at work/home/life, but that is not the case, often a change in perspective makes it possible to achieve far more to make a life that means something. Career is far more than just one part of your life, and family is one of life's most important possessions, it is also so important to know how service can enhance your direction and outcomes. As I saw my daughter climb into Santa's lap, I thought what is it that I want this year, and I want greater service in my life, greater perspective that leads to greater outcomes, that is the true spirit of Christmas, the true Holiday Direction that can be with us 365 days a year. It is a perspective that will allow you to fill any job, face any challenge, make your family life better, and enhance the overall quality of your life experience and well, add value to every relationship. That is trully worth everything that you could give for it. Thank goodness for a little Holiday Perspective.