May 14 2008
Act as If Part II
Act As If II Podcast
On Sunday I posted an article about acting as if. Simple acting as if you already have something will bring more of that thing to you.
You want to be successful in business? Act as if you are and people will treat you that way. They will offer you more opportunities, more responsibility, and eventually more success.
So what can you do now? If you are spinning your wheels, wondering what can be done to get you out of where you are at, if you are looking for a change what can you do?
I have a little story for you. I told this to my 9th graders. I hope that you can translate it to something you can use.
I would guess that somewhere in your city there is some sort of financial district. Somewhere that has some really big buildings. You know the nice shiny ones with tinted windows that go right up to the clouds.
If you are in a small city like the one that I grew up in you may have to go to a larger city to find such a place. This will make it even easier since you will not know anyone there.
Go downtown to that area sometime during a normal work day. Make it a Tuesday or Wednesday. Help break up the monotony of a regular work week. Dress nicely but casual. Dress business casual. Dress to make an impression, but be humble, that is the sweet spot.
Look for the suits. They will look like bustling ants scurrying from building to building. Watch them for a few minutes. Look at which building has the most traffic, then follow them in. Ride the elevator up with them. Get out when they get out. Find the largest office on the floor and walk right in.
Now just before you go in look at the name on the door. Companies are proud and they will display on the door their name and what they do. Walk into “KIP Inc. Financial Services to the World”.
There will be a receptionist, secretary, or some other person sitting at a desk right up front. This person is the gate keeper of Midevil times. They will most likely ask if they can help you.
Say “Yes. I would like to get into Financial Services” or what ever else their door says “and possibly work for KIP Inc. I was wondering what I should do to be able to get a job. Is there a manager, or possibly the president that I can speak with for a few moments?”
About 85% of the time it will work. Say it with a smile (see my post on smiling) Stand at the desk and let them call the person in charge, don’t go away and sit down. Don’t leer, just stand there with a nice smile. Act as if they are going to do this for you.
Soon the president or manager will come in. They will probably say something like “Come on in but I only have about 5 minutes for you.” They really don’t but they like to act really busy.
They will probably lead you through the company. Past all the workers at their desks. Casually look around and observe what is going on. This will give you a good idea if you really want to work in this type of company. If you feel good about the people that are working around you then great, you may have found a place that you would like to work. If it is a bit scary for you then that is good too. You may not want to work at this company but you will still get something out of asking the manager for his opinion.
When he sits you down to talk to him simply ask one question.
“What do you do, and how can I do it?”
It is very powerful. Watch the beginning of In Pursuit of Happyness and see what happens. Watch the rest of the movie to see how hard you will have to work to really get what you want.
The manager/boss/president will be very happy to tell you all about what they do and how they got there. You may or may not want to do the same thing, after you ask a few of these people you will begin to see common things come up.
What can you learn? What can you find out? How valuable would this be?
SCARED? Good! How bad do you want change? Try it, it might even be fun.
