You’ll never believe what happened while I was in Virginia.
My best friend and I take a selfie my first day in Virginia
June 27th, while my best friend and I were driving through Maryland on our way to a conference in DC, I received an unsolicited call from a friend asking me to apply for a temporary full-time job. After ten minutes of conversation where I listened to her describe all of the reasons why this job was perfect for me, we ended the call. I clicked on a link that she’d text me and began reading the job duties..
- This role will hire, train and manage a remote team of 1 full-time and up to 20 part-time employees. Got it.
- Be responsible for the scheduling, logistics and quality of virtual events. Check.
- Communicate, convey and implement changing tactics. Check.
- Always on top of deadlines. Check.
O.K. This job was built for me.
I continued reading.
Desired qualifications…
- Organized, detail oriented, self motivated team player with a proven track record of meeting goals and deadlines with the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Check.
- Ability to work remotely yet collaboratively. Hell, yeah!
- Can quickly build and lead a positive and supportive team culture. Sign me the fuck up.
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where tactics and priorities are constantly shifting….hmmmm…–can think on one’s feet and embrace change with an open mind and solutions-oriented personality. O.K. Shifting priorities….not a fan, but all right.
There were other qualifications which I scaled with ease. But I found myself getting stuck on that last one: Tactics and priorities are constantly shifting. Definitely outside of my comfort zone. Definitely makes me feel queasy. Sounds like a whole lot of discomfort.
Don’t you just love it when the Universe decides to spring a pop quiz on you?
That one qualification, which I was hyper focused on, triggered my perfectionism to rear its ugly head. We’re talkin’ the kind of perfectionism that makes it easy to fail. To not even try. To not even apply.
And so I asked myself, “Would I be getting in my own way by not applying? Am I deciding how hard this is gonna be ahead of time? Am I willing to not know?”
I decided I was. And so I applied.
Fast forward to last week. I was asked to interview, and I did. And I loved every minute of it. And guess what? They liked me too. Here’s how I know: By the time you listen to this episode I will have had my second interview.
Is perfectionism still showing up on the regular to try to talk me out of this? You know it! Nearly every day. So what am I doing about it? Whenever doubt creeps in, I remind myself of my past successes. I ask myself, “What would this position look like if it were easy?” And I continue to remind myself that when I’m terrified, there’s a huge payoff in showing up, making mistakes, and doing my best. That my success is inevitable.
So what have I been doing to get ready? In addition to spending time preparing for the actual interviews, I’ve been pretending I already have the job. Yeah, you heard that right. I even canceled my annual trip to Montana which was scheduled for the first day the job starts.
And I’m asking myself, How can I set myself up to feel amazing? Here’s the answer: I’m letting myself be excited about the prospect of doing this job. Because for me it all comes down to the feeling. How do I want to feel? Excited, energized, passionate, optimistic. When I feel those things, everything else falls into place.
Lisa Nichols says, “You’ve got to jump to the edge of your own stage.” I’m showing up. And I’m jumping. The rest is out of my hands.
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