I was working at a job that I enjoyed, however promotion was not on the horizon for me or my colleagues. The inability to rise in my role compelled me to look for other opportunities, I applied for a role that had what seemed like a clear career path. I was called in for an interview and told by one of the hiring managers that the interview went well. This was the day after the interview, three days later the same hiring manager let me know that the company went in another direction. I was not devastated but felt rejection and was surprised at how much I felt. I thought about how I could’ve interviewed differently and what questions I may have gotten wrong on the interview. Honestly, I was a little surprised at how much rejection like that affected me, then I read an article that had an excerpt in it. The excerpt explained what it meant to surrender the outcome, and just how powerful this was.
We cannot control many things, I could not control the way that the hiring managers at the software company looked at me and my resume and experience. Understanding that helped me deal with rejection. Now I take a moment and review all situations to understand what is in my control and what is not. That is what surrendering the outcome means. When you surrender the outcome you understand what you can control and focus on that. The outcome matters less than the journey to get to that outcome.
I coached little league and I would tell the players that, “win or lose doesn’t matter what matters is how we play the game.” This is a lesson I myself learned early on in life but quickly forgot as I grew up. I became more concerned with the outcome in the form of a paycheck or praise promotion and recognition. I lost focus of what was in front of me and what I could control and moved it to things I couldn’t control like the perception of myself in others and their recognition.
This year is a good time to teach ourselves that, we can only control what is right in front of us and we are foolish when we focus on things that we cannot control. Three things we can control are
Mindset
Be positive
Attitude
Treat others well
Actions
Work Hard
The Corrigan Encore 