Ahh, this song by Dave Matthews band, it is perhaps a description of February for me.  I quote:

So that is a perfect description of how I start my day and how 1 day rolls to the next, and then this as Dave Matthew's continues:

And so I drive in to work, cars everywhere, busy day coming near, and into the office I arrive.  As I come in email after email, deleting those that don't apply to me, the one that appears to be a "to do" goes in the "to do" folder and Voila....I start the emailing of resumes to hungry recruiters destined to make incredible fills as their day unfolds.   But it all begins with that busy sorting out of all the detail, all the information overload, and with the busy life and day that we face, how does shining the light through the "smoke and mirrors" effect drown out the battle cry of the volume that so richly blesses and causes us to defend our course?

Well, organization, masterful follow-up, maybe 2-3 times per day, being unapologetic about who you are, and making a difference.  You know what?  Sourcing is so key to recruiting, and so connected to it, that each piece flows step by step into the other.  Over my course and time in this business, I can't help but be in awe when I take a step back for a minute, and give myself the once over, and let the world know, "hey I'm not an ant" I can't be ignored, but yet, in this crazy rat race of life, isn't it comforting to know that sticking out and being firm in your persistence yields the monumental outcomes that you are seeking? 

Recruiting is like life, there is no substitute for out and out persistence, it is the bellweather of greatness.  When you feel like an ant, and your antennae are waving, and you just want that fill to come swooping in out of the sky, well, that is the essence of patience testing criteria, I mean can't we all just have some patience.

The greatest lessons we learn are tied to our world view.  I don't know how many times this oft-quoted part of Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" advice in Chapter 1, comes to mind - "Live in Day Tight Compartments"  Time tested, vastly challenging, and wise as the ages, this advice, to live in the moment, to do now what you can do with the knowledge at hand, and come to a decision, and then to achieve your greatness, 1 day tight compartment at a time, worry becomes a dormant part of your life, your fills and hire ratio goes up, your very fabric of seeing what you are capable of rises within you like a course on how to organize.  It is the very essence of your success.  How many times have I seen poor folks lose their heart in the staffing game, only to realize, it isn't really about what they achieved in the past, or what they will do tomorrow, it is about living TODAY.  I now quote from these words of wisdom and their source, from Dale Carnegie's book "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" Chapter 1.  He speaks of a Sir William Osler, who was knighted for his valiant efforts in the medical field and celebrated medical accomplishments:

"Here are the 21 words that he read in the spring of 1871--21 words from Thomas Carlyle that helped him lead a life free from worry: "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand"

Forty-two years later, on a soft spring night when tulips were blooming on the campus, this man, Sir William Osler, addressed the students of Yale University.  He told those Yale students that a man like himself who had been a professor in four universities and had written a popular book was supposed to have "brains of a special quality".  He declared that that was untrue.  He said that his intimate friends knew that his brains were "of the most mediocre character."

What then, was the secret of his success?  He stated that it was owing to what he called living in "day-tight compartments."  What did he mean by that?  A few months before he spoke at Yale, Sir William Osler had crossed the Atlantic on a great ocean liner where the captain, standing on the bridge, could press a button and--presto!--there was a clanging of machinery, and various parts of the ship were immediately shut off from one another - shut off into watertight compartments.  "Now, each one of you," Dr. Osler said to those Yale students, "is a much more marvelous organization than the great liner and bound on a longer voyage.  What I urge is that you so learn to control the machinery as to live with 'day tight compartments' as the most certain way to ensure safety on the voyage.  Get on the bridge, and see that at least the great bulkheads are in working order.  Touch a button and hear, at every level of your life, the iron doors shutting out the Past--the dead yesterdays.  Touch another and shut off, with a metal curtain, the Future--the unborn tomorrows. Then you are safe--safe for today!....Shut off the past!  Let the dead past bury its dead.....shut out the yesterdays which have lighted fools away to dusty death....The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter.  Shut off the future as tightly as the past....The Future is TODAY....There is no tomorrow.  The day of man's salvation is now.  Waste of energy, mental distress, nervous worries dog the steps of a man who is anxious about the future....Shut close, then, the great fore and aft bulkheads, and prepare to cultivate the habit of a life of 'day-tight compartments.'"

I had privilege of serving as a Dale Carnegie Coach.  I am thinking of returning to the program in that capacity, which will continue to make this important standard the heart of my success.  I must say as soon as I saw clearly that this was the standard to make of my life, to live a day in the present, to "live in the now" to "live in day-tight compartments", well since that conviction of purpose, I have clearly had success, it is when I lose sight of that, that is when I find that there is lack of faith, or worry, or doubt.

I write tonight with conviction, as one who "walks the talk".  The question now is, how far can I go as a professional, where will the sky take me.  As I live the Dale Carnegie quest to live in "day tight compartments", I have realized more opportunity and accomplish much more than the average.  I exceed my own expectations, and realize that what I thought impossible at one time can actually become true.

This blog is certainly dedicated to my work team, stellar recruiters, and a fellow sourcer, whose passion has invigorated me to greatness - to a mentor who sees within his team the power to achieve miraculous outcomes - or what may have seemed at one time miraculous.  The miraculous will soon be the norm.  And then once we pass one mountain, perhaps others.  To a CEO who saw the time had come to find and empower others.  To those who embrace the Dale Carnegie mantra in very deed when they don't know that they are living the spirit of that very ideology.

I look at my family, supportive, hopeful, a wife who provides a strength where-in I am surely blessed.  "Day Tight Compartments" - who would have known that such a brilliant idea would have changed so many lives.  And today I a former Dale Carnegie Coach, who having seen the power of this life changing focus could deliver so many opportunities to me in such a short time.

netPolarity found me at the right time, I was coming into my own as a sourcer, discovering where my strengths were - social media sourcing, passion about finding the needle in a haystack, and a desire and hunger to apply the "day tight compartments" focus to my dayly routine.  When the economy hit in 2008-2009, I had taken my Dale Carnegie class as a gift from Mom, to better myself, it was at that time, I knew that my desired direction might take the course and ship of my life's desired goal off track.

Thankfully, Dale Carnegie came to the rescue, shoring up my marriage, strengthening key relationships, unlocking success with a vengeance, teaching me how to be humble yet confident, and persistent yet not rude.  It made me comfortable in my own skin.  It redefined my vision of my own possibilities, honing my course.

Last week I lost sight of my DC training for a day where I traded beleif for envy of the past.  Little did I know, that when I went on my drive down the Pacific Coast Highway for a perspective booster would I find as I sat on a beach in Carmel overlooking the mighty Pacific Ocean, the answers I sought, Dale Carnegie - living in Day TIGHT COMPARTMENTS, shutting the aft bulkheads, and forward doors.  Living in the present, not being worried about how I would provide for my family with a new baby, but rather how I would tackle what was AT HAND.

This lesson is so important in recruiting, I think the "day tight compartments" philosophy is DIRECTLY connected to success in Recruiting/Staffing.

As a sourcer, my persistence in Resourcing something is key, and has lead to fills.  Looking at new sources of potential talent is also key.

I am so grateful for a little bit of Dale Carnegie "day tight compartments" focus.  It was a brilliant and novel idea back then, and in our ever changing, challenging, and crazy world, now more relevent than ever.