I stood triumphantly looking down the hill my daughter and I had just hiked on a beautiful, albeit overcast afternoon on a Saturday in February.  We had arrived at a beautiful view that looks out across the vast silicon valley. There are many times when individuals doubt our capacity as human beings to achieve breakthroughs.  I have had in my career many who thought they might know better.  Or perhaps would see their own selfish take on how life's outcomes should come to pass.  Inwardly, they send a message that either through their body language, their perspective, et al, shows their own perspective of what is possible and to a large part based on circumstance that may be a negative world view.  I have on many occasions looked down on this valley here pictured:

When I do I set my goals for myself about what I wish to achieve - I am my own greatest critic, my own harshest ally, a keen contributor when I set my heart to something.  As I stood on that hill I made a pledge to myself - that I would go for 10 hires a month as a sourcer, that nothing would stop me in that resolve and that no one would keep me from it.  When the human mind sets out to do something, there is nothing on earth that can stop them but themselves.  In a sales driven environment, which is staffing, someone who is all about search and takes the time to try and find the needle in a haystack for hungry and often focused recruiters, there is nothing more fulfilling then achieving one's personal goals.

On this particular day, there having made the commitment I glanced back down and there I pondered the challenges, the persons, the day to day struggles that are part of existence, and I said to myself, never again will I let doubt of myself creep in, never again will I let OTHERS define WHO I AM.  I think we all have moments just like these, where life gives us perspective, looking down on a valley with my home and for that matter individuals who have in my career seen fit to cast the brush of perspective on me and others, there is something fulfilling about achieving one's goal, albeit humbly, and sharply attacking the perspectives of others and what they deemed possible, only to turn the power to the great outcomes never before imagined.  Steadily through several months I achieved top contributor status in my company for several months, but never could quite crack that 10 hire mark.  It was something extraordinary, it hadn't been accomplished for a while.  But inwardly, I knew the day would come.  As individuals around me showed their doubt and their inward belief of limiting outcomes, I knew it would take a belief in something greater than myself to get to the goal.

Try as we might in this life we will face setbacks, staffing is riddled and chalk full of those who take the high road only to be swallowed up when volume hits, or set backs strike, or the battle goes tough as candidates with competing offers, clients with slow turnarounds, and outcomes thick as molasses to slow the process assert themselves in our wake.  Try as we might to shake them, these cables holding us down need staffing sized, and life sized clippers to move the mountains.

It is quite remarkable how individuals perceive the world, in a short term themed success mantra - individuals lose sight of the vast bigger picture.  This month, this company you work for now, this job we have, is but one part of our lives, look at the bigger picture - family, friends, colleagues, outcomes, and opportunity that we have ahead and in front of us, well it is a wonder that no one can really fathom the keys to success, or rather some may try to down play the outcomes one puts on the board. 

During the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz back in 1997/98 - I think that is the year, Michael Jordan was sick and some were saying - "he will not perform well - he is sick".  He PROVED THEM WRONG - in a legendary performance, not 100%, and in a belief in his team and in himself he went to work and got 38 points in game 5, leading the Bulls to victory.

It was in May where I achieved my personal goal - 10 hires, not to be deterred when others said it couldn't be done and achieved a miracle with recruiting partners, and in finding a perfect marriage between quality resumes, and volume, it was then folks who once said it couldn't be done dared to dream.  It was something I will cherish for the rest of my life, having laid bare and to the dust the boundaries others laid for me, and proving them wrong, it is may I say it, perhaps the most fulfilling and most heart warming of memories that I can cherish for years to come.  Not only that - achieving financial success for my family in a down economy, well sometimes you just need a bit of luck, a heart that pushes to the goal, and a few good recruiting partners as a sourcer that makes all the difference.

Never again will I let the word "impossible" enter my vocabulary, never again will I hear the doubters - like a Goliath taunting the boy David - in the same token I will stand with my sling and stone and face down the giants in my life and overcome them with a wing and a prayer.  There will be the tremendous outcome that will forever put to rest the notion that the heart can't achieve what it sets out to do.  In short I will take my polished stone and inward determination and face down the challenges and Goliaths that roam my personal world and career path and lay them firmly to the dust overcoming the barriers others set is as sweet a thing to my memory as ever will be.  Forever more one can draw on such a thing to push them to new heights not before imagined.  Only then can one look down from a hill as I did this past weekend and say to myself - I DID IT.  It fills me with great satisfaction when one can go the distance to the goals they set deeply for themselves - it is only when you let nothing stop your inward resolve the outcomes you set out to achieve can not only be realized but done in such a way that naysayers, doubters, and what not are left scratching their heads and thinking - wow we were wrong.  That my friends is one of the most wonderful outcomes one could ever aspire to and hope for.  Amen.