By Dicky Sykes

And I don’t mean with your fist, that’s what you did in grade school when someone ate your lunch.  That’s what you did when you lacked impulse control, emotional intelligence and the poetry, beauty and magic of the power of words.

I’m talking about fighting to reinvent yourself and change course in an ever changing economic climate, fighting to grab hold of a new career, a new destiny, fighting to get back in the game, fighting to get the job you want, deserve and can have if you know how to fight.  Fight with words and perseverance; don’t take rejection sitting down. Call and write that employer and tell them why you are the best person for the job. Tell them that rejection makes you stronger, more determined than ever to show them what you can do. Ask that employer to hire you for a 30 day trail period because you know after that, they’ll want you full-time.

Fight.  Don’t stand for the status quo, fight to change what’s not working. I know how you feel and sometimes you’re just plain ole beat up and want to give up.  Your head is in that bad place and your evil twin is constantly telling you you’re not good enough to succeed.  Believe me I’ve wanted to give up lots of times; few clients, lackluster sales, lots of bills and so little time but what has kept me going is my absolute belief in my skills and talent. You must believe in yourself too. You’re not going to hear accolades and praise all the time, even when you don’t hear it, you must know that you are still successful and have lots of rivers to cross and mountains to climb.  Know that you are capable and ready for the next challenge but in today’s economic climate you must go after that challenge and be prepared to fight for it, so slap that evil twin and forge ahead.

Have you ever heard of Barbara Corcoran?  Barbara Corcoran, a former real estate tycoon gave the New York real estate elite a run for their money. She was not born into wealth or privilege, nor did she have lots of influential contacts, yet she transformed a $1,000 loan from a boyfriend who said should couldn’t make it without him into a company with 700 agents and $2billion in sales. However, when she sold the company, she couldn’t land another gig. The famous, multi millionaire, Barbara Corcoran couldn’t land a gig so don’t you dare be down on yourself.  Finally, Barbara audition for a job out in Hollywood and was rejected but what did the feisty Corcoran do, she fought back.

Now I know what you’re thinking, she’s just a better fighter than I am, wrong. She just decided she had nothing to lose and put the power of words into action.  She wrote a letter and told them (in my words not hers) you can’t keep a good woman down. She told them all the adversity she had overcome so overcoming their rejection could be added to the list because she would overcome that as well.  She didn’t whine, complain or decide to tell herself a daily reoccurring sad story about how rotten her life was. That would have been far worst and much more detrimental than Hollywood’s rejection as she would have been condemning her spirit, her soul, the essence of Barbara. They were so impressed by her letter that she was called back and subsequently hired.

Lesson learned, fight. What I’ve learned in going through my own personal journey is intellectual intelligence alone does not make one successful. It’s much more about how well you handle rejection, how you process rejection to turn it into positive motivation, how much confidence and bravado you have or are willing to fake and how long and hard you’ll fight to get the life you say you want.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the national unemployment rate still holds at 9.6%. From January 2007 through December 2009, 6.9 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, nearly twice as many as for the survey period covering January 2005 to December 2007. However, I peruse the job boards daily and see lots of postings.  What I can tell you for sure about the jobs available and people applying is that there is a huge disconnect of skills and talent.  Make sure you include additional training or education in your fight plan.

Take the line spoken by Sean Connery who played Irish American officer Jimmy Malone in the 1987 blockbuster movie The Untouchables, he said in his Irish brogue to Kevin Costner who played Federal Agent Elliot Ness who was trying to take down Al Capone, “What are you prepared to do?”  How hard are you willing to fight to get back in the game?

Leave a comment on my blog http://askdickie.dgsconsultingllc.com telling me what you’re prepared to do and how you’re fighting back.