Since June of last year I have been carrying a fortune cookie note in my wallet that says “If you put up with small annoyances, you will gain great results.”  For quite some time now this has really rung true to me. I haven’t looked at the fortune for sometime now and it really hit me tonight on how important it is to put up with the small annoyances. As easy as it is to look at the glass half empty and pout about the, for lack of a better word: crappy economy, its better to look at this as a time to prepare  to launch yourself out of this recession.

Network with professionals, follow up on any job lead you can get, even if it is for a job you are under qualified for. You never know when a job that you are qualified for will open up and the person hiring will remember who you are. Attempt to meet the people who are hiring for the job you DREAM of having. Talk to them about the industry, the job they are hiring for and how you can get it or something like it. Pick their brain on how they broke into their industry and make sure they know you are interested in whatever they might have available, even if it is part-time, unpaid or contract.

Get over the unpaid part Generation Y, Z, P, whatever we are, this is the new world we live in. Prove yourself first, then get the pay check.  And I’m realizing: the ones who work hard now and don’t whine about it, will get a pay off later in life.

And yeah I’ll stop the whining