I’m hooked.
I only wish I’d been hooked sooner.
Stoic philosophy is a game-changer (for me) in an industry where it’s been a long-standing belief that only one in ten people makes recruiting a lifelong career. Why don’t more stick around? In a nutshell, it can be tough.
But it’s only as tough as we make it.
In this profession, most everything we hear is “no.” There are countless rejections before there is a single “yes.” And for those with thin skin, well, it can become too much to bear.
So what can stoicism teach us in recruiting? Consider the following from famous Stoic, Marcus Aurelius:
Nothing that goes on in anyone else’s mind can harm you. Nor can the shifts and changes in the world around you.
– Then where is harm to be found?
In your capacity to see it. Stop doing that and everything will be fine. Let the part of you that makes that judgement keep quiet, even if the body it’s attached to is stabbed or burnt, or stinking with pus, or consumed by cancer. Or to put it another way: it needs to realize that what happens to everyone – bad and good alike – is neither good nor bad. What happens in every life – lived naturally or not – is neither natural or unnatural.
The next time you find yourself frustrated, angry, or upset about circumstances out of your control, remember that if you do not chose to be harmed, you are not.
Or in the words of Jay Z, just get that dirt off your shoulder and keep it moving.
Onward!
One other thing. If you’ve never picked up or read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, get it on your reading list today. I feel so strongly about this that I’ll send a complimentary copy to the first person who tweets this post and mentions @brendenmwright with the hashtag #stoicrecruiter. Happy reading!
