The Number One Reason You Are Not Getting the Jobs You Want

Transcript

[00:00:00] Depending on, what you get out of today's presentation. This could be, one of the most important presentations you ever hear in your legal career. And and there's really a lot of information here that the presentation isn't going to be all that long.

[00:00:16] But if you can understand what I'm talking about today and really think about it and it can make a major difference in your life. And it's really, what I'm going to share with you today is the number one secret of success that I've found. In speaking with the most successful people that I've encountered in my career in what they've done and the message of baddest is here.

[00:00:38]When I interview someone I'll typically be very, just open and try to connect with them. And I'm, I'll start with, some simple chat and it doesn't matter really what I'm interviewing them for. It could be a a candidate of mine looking for a position or it could be someone that's looking to work in our company.

[00:00:56] And I'll just say, what's going on. And and what that [00:01:00] question means is really is what, why are you applying for this job? And. A good employer, really.  If they get the answer to that, they can quickly and very efficiently eliminate people for positions. And they should use this question because if you don't have concrete reasons for wanting to work in a certain employer and and especially at a higher level as an attorney or Butler from that sort of thing, then.

[00:01:26] The employer really shouldn't be hiring you. And because the people that do the best in any position or any career are ones that have concrete reasons for wanting to do something. And and most people really don't have good reasons for applying to jobs and they don't have good reasons for, wanting to eat to do anything.

[00:01:47] And and consequently when you don't have reasons for one or to do something, you don't really get, fire yourself up and wanting to do something well the world ends up taking advantage of you and  your results that you get [00:02:00] hard, the results that other people say you should get, and you tend not to do anywhere near as well as you otherwise would.

[00:02:07] Yesterday, or it was actually not yesterday, but a few days ago. Interview someone for a position, a BCG attorney search that wanted to get into legal placement, I thought. And they'd gone to great schools and, top 10 law school, they were working in a, major law firm. But there was nothing in their background to indicate they were interested in legal placement.

[00:02:28]They had written a cover letter that indicated they were, but I didn't really see any reason anything that would indicate any interest. So I received the resume and I didn't interview the person, but, finally over a span of a few weeks, the person kept applying. For the position over and over again.

[00:02:46]And I thought they must be very interested and if they kept applying and, they definitely got my attention. And because of that, I assume that they must have some sort of passion for this job. And and I didn't really understand why they kept applying and why they were so interested.

[00:02:59] So [00:03:00] I was curious to find out, and even though I was curious to find out, I still had some doubts, like serious doubts. Like I was like, there's a 90% chance this isn't gonna work out. Just because of the way the resume read and and what happened is.

[00:03:14]No, the person entered the interview and they knew very little about what I did and what the company did. They knew nothing about the job. And mainly they were looking focused mainly on how much they can make. They were looking to be sold on the job. And and they also were bragging about their accomplishments and.

[00:03:32]One of the things that is very important and I'll just say this, right away or right up front is, when you're looking for a position you should know everything you possibly can about the employer. If you can you should speak with people there and get information.

[00:03:47]You should go out of your way. To really be sold on the employer and believe in the job and the employer before you ever get in there, because employers want to hire you, but they're only going to want to hire people that are sold on them and pre-sold, [00:04:00] and if you come in and you look like you're not pre-sold, or you haven't done your homework especially at the best jobs then the employer's not going to want to hire you.

[00:04:08]You'll get jobs, but you won't get jobs with the best employers. Cause the best employers can hire. Have the choice to hire a lot of people and the people that they tend to hire, the people that have the most interest and passion in them, because they know that those people are likely to stick around, add the most value.

[00:04:25] Listened to the sky, talks about himself and he said things like, I took calculus when I was only 14,  and that kind of came out of unrelated questions and And then at one point,  he said something to the effect of, I was probably trying to only talking to him because I was trying to recruit him to work in another law firm or work, and not in my company and and I was pretty amazed by that.

[00:04:47] And there's nothing wrong with making mistakes in interviews and everyone learns, it makes mistakes. And and a lot of people, having a lot of self-confidence is a good thing. But the mistakes that this person [00:05:00] made are quite common he was applying to positions, without knowing what the job was about what the setting was like, what the opportunity was like.

[00:05:08] And he wasn't, pre-sold on the job before interviewing and, there's no reason, to hire someone that you're going to need to hire and, sell on how great the job is. Unless you're. Cleaning sewers or something. You don't need to implode. Most employers do not need to do a lot of pre-sale.

[00:05:25]They do need. To tell people that they're the best platform. If the person already is in the profession or they may have the best, offer the best place to work, but they don't definitely need to be pre-sold. And I know lots of people in, in the legal profession and outside of it, who Rose, from literally nothing and and became.

[00:05:47]Something major because they committed to it. And I don't know Jeff Bezos by the way, but he's an example of, who was able to, you don't have a vision of a company that would sell everything and [00:06:00] and had it and just kept refining it over and over again. And I believe in it, from the,  and from the time he was.

[00:06:08]Working in his house and had a server in there that was  running the whole company,  believed in it and he and everyone that has, does something of kind of major significance in the world tends to have a major belief in what they want to do and the same thing with the best attorneys, you need to commit and you need to have a vision for what you want, and you need to have that when you go into interviews.  Most attorneys, students and others do not have goals. And they don't have mission statements. And I'm going to work with you guys on a mission statement today and show you what it is and how to do one.

[00:06:40]But they really don't know what they're going or what's important to them, or they don't have goals. And there's, very few people. That I've ever met that actually had a written mission statement and then had goals, but did not achieve them. Most people and attorneys out there do not know what they want.

[00:06:55] And they don't know where they want to work. They're not a hundred percent committed [00:07:00] to. A certain practice setting. They don't know what they want or when they get there. And,  the old adage is, if an airplane, when an airplane takes off,  it, has to make, it knows exactly where it's going, but in order to get there, it has to make, thousands of adjustments and little turns and things to, to get there.

[00:07:18] And because if it just flies, it's not going to go anywhere. And it's the same thing with. You know your career, you have to know exactly where you want to go. And then you have to continually re refine that over and over again, to get to where you want to go and goals and having a direction for your career.

[00:07:35] Like really. Honestly like the most important thing. And they're just as important as your interviewing skills are just as important as your resume. And they're more important than where you went to law school or what your past has been, because once you commit to goals, you're going to do very well.

[00:07:52] And I call that a pre-sale and in order to get any job in advance, while you're there as well, you need to pre-sell [00:08:00] yourself, you need to work yourself. Up into a white hot frenzy about, whatever it is you want in your career in life. It could be working in a law firm.

[00:08:09] It could be working for the government. It could be working in house. It could be a certain type of company but regardless of what you're seeking you need to know. Where you want to go. And, in Hollywood, for example, like I've met lots of actors that have become successful and other people, and the people that do that, they don't become successful just because they show up at auditions and they're.

[00:08:29]Good-looking and they have acting talent. They get to where they want to go because they have just this massive passion that's networking. It comes through in everything that they do and how they present themselves. And that's what you need to, if you're going to be very successful and the practice of law, and you need to be able to pre-sell yourself on every interview going on and exactly what you want to do, and you need to have.

[00:08:53] Goal and a direction. And when you are enthusiastic for something it's apparent when you interview, [00:09:00] it comes through in height. Look how you talk the things you say, what you don't say everything that you communicate is going to come through when you're pre-sold and if you're not pre-sold and you show up to interviews or you show up to a job.

[00:09:13] And you're not, pre-sold on what the employer's doing, then it's going to mess you up. And everybody that has problems in their career tends not to be pre-sold. They think that they need to be doing something else. It's very common for, young people in particular to think that they need to.

[00:09:29]Be more powerful or start businesses or they need to get in, do something else and there, and then one foot in the door and one foot out the door. And you can certainly get into employers, based on your grades or whatever when you're young, but, in order to have a successful career at anything, you need to be completely pre-sold on.

[00:09:48] You know what it is you're doing and believe in it and then just throw everything you got into it. And if you look at what I do, I do nothing, I'm interested in the legal placement and career business and and that's a [00:10:00] legal career business and I'm a hundred percent pre-sold on it.

[00:10:02]It's all I think about it's, and professionally it's all I do. And it comes through, I'm loving it and it's, there's nothing that could dissuade me from that. And you need to be like that too, if you're going to do well, you need to. Pre yourself, presale yourself, not just on the job, but on the employer before interviewing and.

[00:10:22]And then, you need to, even before applying, ideally you would have pre-sold yourself, but everything needs to come through. I'm being pre-sold. One example would be at the location of the employer, you should have a reason for wanting to work wherever that location is you should be.

[00:10:37]Pre-sold on your peers. You should be presold on the reason the compensation is the way it is, whether it's higher, it's low you should be pre-sold on the work. The opportunities for upward mobility and how it fits in with their goals. And if you're not, it's not the right job for you, but you need to actually understand what that is.

[00:10:54] And, sometimes it takes awhile to develop an idea of exactly what you want. But [00:11:00] once you know exactly what you want you need to hold that into your mind because if you have that drive and you really come through is having that kind of enthusiasm, you're going to get better jobs.

[00:11:10] And your background and experience would indicate, people that are overachievers typically are overachievers because they work harder. But also because they're more focused and they know exactly what they want. And so being pre-sold  is very important. And if you're not pre-sold and your heart's not in it most employers are gonna pick up on that.

[00:11:29] And if there are know what they're doing they're going to hire someone else. It doesn't mean you won't get jobs. People will.  Use you for a couple of years to, to get certain things done because you look good on paper and it's good for clients, or, you can sometimes get jobs where the employers are desperate for someone to do the work, but in terms of going far at something and doing really well you need to presale yourself and you need to be very pre-sold in the world.

[00:11:53]If you think about it and you look around you there's so many people that are living just and working [00:12:00] soulless aimless lives. They go to work each day, say they're unhappy. They feel like they need to make a living. They think that they should be working in a certain type of position.

[00:12:09]And they may just be unhappy doing what they're doing. And one of the things about practicing law is a lot of people don't like it. And I'm going to tell you a story about how you can like it. And they don't like it because they surround themselves with too much negative messaging and they have certain thoughts about it and they don't pre-sell themselves.

[00:12:26]If you learn to pre-sell yourself, I'm telling you like anybody that doesn't think that they like it right now can like it. And and you can also,  if it's not really what you want and you don't think it's the best profession for you, you can do other things as well. But pre-selling yourself on being an attorney is hugely important.

[00:12:43] And the type of attorney you want to be regardless of the stage of your career, you can pre-sell yourself and tell your. In your eighties, being an attorney, but you need to be pre-sold and really believe in whatever aspect of practicing law you're doing.

[00:12:57] And if you don't have goals and you don't know what you want. [00:13:00] I'm just telling you right now, the world's going to take advantage of you. You're going to get plugged into certain types of things. And and people that have the ability to pre-sell themselves are going to lead you. And and it doesn't need to be that way.

[00:13:12] It doesn't matter if you don't think you're a leader, you can be a leader with your mind in terms of what you want to do. And maybe being a law professor, it could be, it may be writing books about. Legal history, it doesn't, or working in a government office, but you need to have a belief in something, because if the people that believe in things are the ones that rise to the top and do well in any organization or, even starting their own law firms or whatever it is you want to do, but you need to believe in what you're doing and you need to pre-sell yourself and especially for interviews, but  it's extremely important and.

[00:13:48] You know everything about my life and goals. Are the things I've pre-sold myself on. When I was  very, when I starting in the, 20 years ago, I told myself I would live on the [00:14:00] beach and do all these different things. And and I do, I did within very few years of pre-selling myself at that, my life became exactly how I wanted it to be.

[00:14:09] And I. Had a goal and I kept refining it and and I still do. And and I still keep refining goals and mission statements about what I want to represent what I want companies to represent and how I want to get more people, jobs and everything. And everyone that does this. And their profession succeeds people that don't are taken advantage of and by the world and and live much more boring lives and they're otherwise capable of, and I'm apologizing right now for being so direct with you.

[00:14:40]But I do want you to understand that you're in control of your life and your control of the person you become. And and you should be the best at whatever it is you're doing.  And you can be but you need to commit and tell yourself that you're going to improve and you need to have a mission.

[00:14:53]So I'll tell you a quick story. I Finished my first year of law school, I'd had a goal of going to law school. That was my only [00:15:00] goal before that. But I, I finished my first year of law school. At the end of my first year, I did very well, but not that great my first semester, but but I did very well in my second semester.

[00:15:09] And but I didn't really enjoy it very much. It just seemed I'd never seen so people so competitive. I saw people, line and hiding things. And and I didn't think that a lot of people very fun compared to the kind of people that I'd been associated with before that, because before I went to law school, I've been an asphalt contractor and.

[00:15:29]Actually, I really enjoyed that. It was fun, being outdoors in the sun driving around in a truck, meeting new people all the time talking to new people  seeing the product of my work feeling like I was in control of how much money I was making making a lot of money and then in contrast, The largest seemed like a very kind of competitive thing where everyone was fighting over a limited number of jobs and all this stuff.

[00:15:52] And there just seemed so many opportunities in the asphalt business, comparatively. And I really missed that,  missed it and and it [00:16:00] seemed like there was a lot more rejection and happiness stress, even much less money. Then than being an asphalt contractor, which was a lot of fun.

[00:16:08]And I was confused. I doubted that I was doing the right thing cause of my only goal at that point had been to go to law school. It hadn't been to. You know anything about working in a law firm? I knew nothing about it. I hadn't didn't really know any attorneys growing up. I'd had a goal early to get in to law school.

[00:16:25] And in order to do that goal  talked to people that went to law school. I went to, I got in touch with admissions office from the time it was the second year and I set goals and and I was able to. Go where I wanted  and do things, because of citing that goal.

[00:16:39] And that was an important thing. Even the, down to the exact law school being very motivated and I'd learned very early on that,  if you want to do something you just need to set a goal, and then and then you do need to do everything you can to go after it and be really very attractive to them.

[00:16:56] Cool. But again my first year of law school, [00:17:00] it made me very confused and I just, I, like many people I felt, quite long I was questioning the point of what I was doing. And and then I also knew I needed to get experienced. So I went to work at this program, in the justice department where I was lucky to get a job for free without getting paid that summer.

[00:17:18] And when I showed up in Washington, DC, and instead of doing the asphalt work I was staying in a cheap hotel that was, a couple hundred dollars a week. And literally in the gift shop it was pretty close. It was like right across the street from the justice department, by what used to be a planet Hollywood.

[00:17:34]But they literally sold more types of handcuffs and adult novelties then. Food and other sorts of things that you might need in a gift shop. And and I was sitting there and I was looking directly, at an industrial air conditioning unit that. It was a size of a small house in this kind of room that was in the middle and there was almost no light coming in and and rattled so loudly.

[00:17:58]So it was such a strong, [00:18:00] rattled that, when it was on Begley and scurry across the floor, it was when no one was in it. So it was just not a fun summer and just really. Bad time now, but anyway, so when you do now is trying to watch television, which is almost impossible to do because the volume wouldn't go up high enough to cover up the roar of the air conditioner.

[00:18:22] And I went to get a soda and there was someone peeing in the ice maker on the floor. It was just, this is the place it was. But I, I endured it. It was a very difficult summer and despite all this, I decided. That my best career option that this really was my best career option.

[00:18:37] I was committed to it and I'd done all this stuff to go to law school and and I knew that if I was going to succeed.  And do well and get jobs, so good law firms and so forth and be happy. I needed to become incredibly enthusiastic about practicing law and and law firms and the city I wanted to work in and what I needed to do.

[00:18:56] And so instead of feeling bad about my surroundings and feeling [00:19:00] bad about my job which most people would do. I decided that I would use that time to formulate a mission related to practicing law. And, my dad, I remember at the time, it always said to me that, you're not going to want to do asphalt when you're 40 and he was completely right.

[00:19:15]The people that were in their forties and fifties doing the work looked like lizards.  Because I spent so much time, they looked, like in their seventies, by the time they were, 50. And it was just a very unhealthy type of work. One day I was buying asphalt sealer from the factory owner son, and he just gotten an MBA from the university of Michigan was all.

[00:19:36]Wearing Oxford shirts and khakis and so forth and walking around the factory and and and he seemed amused by the whole kind of people he was selling the product to. And and he, I think he'd never actually worked in this factory. And I asked him where day for cause cancer and I was joking and yeah.

[00:19:51] He said not immediately. And, so it's dangerous stuff. It's not a good way to make a living and you can definitely make a better living doing other types of work than [00:20:00] you can.  Certainly doing asphalt, and being an attorney is better, but. So what I did to get, sufficiently enthusiastic started reading everything I could about being an attorney.

[00:20:12] And this is something that, every attorney should be doing, depending on what you want to do. I read books about law firms and how they operated. I read books about successful attorneys. I read lots of books about them. And I studied these books and I learned. You know what the most successful attorneys debt and incredibly, I even went out a year later and met some of them and that I read about and these books and I'd read a book by Katie Kurtz sister who's no longer alive.

[00:20:41] And and she's the newscaster. And I decided I would be litigated, not a corporate attorney. And I developed. All these reasons why it was a good fit for me. I saw myself doing this type of work. And I spent my free time really becoming very motivated to do that. I watched the attorneys I saw in Washington.

[00:20:58]Doing that [00:21:00] sort of work and I asked them questions, the law firm attorneys that I would meet. And there were attorneys of the justice department that we used to work in law firms, and I asked them about their experience and what they liked. And didn't like, and I started formulating goals to work in the best law firm I could and do litigation.

[00:21:15] And I made this, my focus. And another thing that I did. Is, all over our have negative messages about what it's like to work in a law firm. And and I would get negative messages, but I would ignore those messages and I would think as positively as I possibly could about it.

[00:21:32] And and I needed to do that in order. To be successful. I made sure that everything I listened to was positive and I kept reinforcing my goal and I decided I wanted to work in New York city. And so for several weeks in the summer I took after the the thing of the justice department and ended, and some weekends I visited.

[00:21:51]New York city where my girlfriend's family lived and I yeah. Met attorneys there as well. And I asked them questions and yeah. And then I put on the face and I learned [00:22:00] everything I could about it and different neighborhoods and everything, but the different firms and I made this one.

[00:22:05] Cool. And one of the things was that there should be really no reason for me to have been so enthusiastic, but I learned about the positives and I learned about. What I wanted to do. And in these positions paid  far less, even in a law firm than being a contractor, but they were much, they, weren't not as fun.

[00:22:25]Sitting inside of a place. I'll do, indoors all day, not being able to go outside just with something that. Really could have pre-sold me against the job. But it's something that I certainly, was not didn't did not allow myself to be, negatively impacted by.

[00:22:42] And I literally worked myself up into a frenzy. I sold myself on how much I wanted to work in a major law firm, how much I wanted to work in New York city. And then when I started interviewing I learned about all the people I was interviewing with. I was able to connect with the people I was interfering with.

[00:22:57]I tried to get as much  advice [00:23:00] as possible. I, looked the part, I did everything I possibly could. And and I put on the appearance of someone that was very. Suited to this and and did well in my interviews. But the thing was, is when I interviewed with law firms and other city, Cities, I would typically drop the ball because I didn't, I wasn't, pre-sold on working and even in the city, if someone in Washington DC, for example, ask me where I wanted to live.

[00:23:25]I remember one law firm dead. I just blurted out at Georgetown after kind of a pause because I was so taken back by the question and I realized I hadn't thought about it and the person picked up on it. And that's an example, like people. Can pick up very quickly if you're not a good fit for something, if you're not really interested in.

[00:23:42] And if you're not pre-sold and that law firm had certainly plenty of people they could have chosen for. To hire and they didn't. If someone had asked me a similar question about New York, I would have been able to engage in kind of a long conversation about a different neighborhoods and the pluses and minuses of each.

[00:23:58]I educated [00:24:00] myself about that market. And just one little thing. When you make something, your goal, like all this other stuff comes into play. And and it's very important because if you think about it, like if you were at the law firm in Washington, DC, And if they'd asked me about the neighborhoods and I was able to engage in an extended conversation and connect with them, and then they could have given me advice and we could have connected that would have been.

[00:24:22]Someone that really probably would have wanted to hire me in contrast I was just the exact opposite. And and so I didn't get a job, but I was able to get jobs in New York where I understood it. And I knew the geography where I was interviewing. I knew had lots of information about the firms I was talking to.

[00:24:39]I knew about the people I was speaking with. And I even, when I got their names, I imagine how it would connect with them because it was important to me. And I was under able to find it. Commonalities with them and the law firm, I ultimately went to work for a member.

[00:24:54] Someone had gone to a foreign law school, and I knew someone that had gone there and whose mother had [00:25:00] taught one of these Catholic schools. It was part of the consortium. And so I was able to. Relate to them that way. And that helped me. The more you're able to connect with the audience and you understand the audience the better you're going to do.

[00:25:13] And most people when they show up for interviews or in their careers in general and this is extremely important and I hope you guys are understanding this point, but they're not selling themselves. They're not. They're not able to commit to whatever it is they're doing. They're just wandering around aimlessly and because of that, they don't reach the level of success.

[00:25:34] They want to if you know the school you want to go to, then you understand things like the grades and the, who you need to talk to. And the.  And what you need to look like and say, and, and I don't know about look but in the things you need to reflect, and the same thing goes with working in a law firm, if you know exactly where you want to work, or, the market and, the type of firm, the kind of grades you need to get, you needed to be able to talk about it with enthusiasm and you don't need to be sold on [00:26:00] something.

[00:26:00] You need to be a hundred percent sold and ready when you show up. And if you are. Then people are so much like more likely to want to hire you and you're going to be you're. You're also going to have a launch activity to, to stay in the position and do well for a long period of time. And that's very helpful.

[00:26:20]Understanding these things is very important. And and most people never do that. And so you need to sell yourself, you need to be.  Understanding that you need to be able to become the person that the job is and commit to the, the practice area, the location, the type of practice, setting everything and most people when they're young, for example, a lot of them want to work in law firms make a lot of money.

[00:26:44]So you can set it up. They set a goal of going to a good law school or whatever, and doing well, but that's not enough. Money is also not enough. You need a purpose and the purpose needs to be something. That is motivating you on a constant [00:27:00] basis something that you stand for.

[00:27:01]And again, if you don't have goals, you're not going to get anywhere. And I really, this is so important. It's one of the most important things that a lot of people are not taught in school and it should be. You need to have a purpose behind everything that you do, and if you're just meandering along then nothing's ever going to happen.

[00:27:19] And there's so many people that are rudderless and both, law students and even attorneys that are several years out of law school and working in large law firms. If you know who you want to become and what you want to do you're going to do much better.

[00:27:34] Employers are going to pick up on it and you're going to have a much different life and career than you otherwise would.   I'm going to talk a little bit about what's called a statement of chief fame or definite purpose, and I'll tell stories to go with it. So it'll be a little bit interesting and I want you to hopefully understanding exactly what I'm talking about.

[00:27:53]But it should be something that's written down and it should be something that will guide everything that you do in your legal career. And you [00:28:00] can update it from time to time, but it's the sort of thing. That you should read to yourself on an ongoing basis. There's a book called thinking grow rich by Napoleon Hill.

[00:28:09] You don't need to buy it. You can actually get it on the Harrison Barnes website. If you just search for hairspray environments, I'm thinking grow rich. But it's it's really a great book and it's something that talks about this and it's I think more than any book in the world, it's something that a lot of people.

[00:28:25] And all sorts of professions credit for their success.  Read it in college when I was young, maybe 19 or 20 it helped me and it gave me the, pretty much the results that I've had in my life. A lot of them are, came from following this advice. I was once heard Anthony Robbins say that he's a motivational person, that he read it several times and.

[00:28:46]People that read it twice as much as him are, twice as accessible as him or those who've read at three times or three times as successful. So a lot of people read this book every year and get the message from it. And it's a very powerful message. If you understand [00:29:00] what I'm going to talk to you about today.

[00:29:03] So if you're going to be successful, you need to have a statement of a chief aim or definite purpose. And you write it down. And one of the most famous lines of the book that I like is anything that you can in the mind, a man can conceive and believe can be achieved. Meaning, you have to think, about yourself and about your career in a way.

[00:29:23]Where you have a vision for what you want to do and that guides everything. And he'll I'm the writer of the book. And he was given money by David by Dell, current carnet Carnegie or anyway to spend several years. Working on this, I think he might've worked on a two decades and during that time he spoke to more than 16,000 people and he found that over 95% of the people he spoke with didn't really have any aim in their lives.

[00:29:50]They were just they just were doing things and you realize that everyone that had a statement of purpose the people that have, those were the most successful and  you have a name you read [00:30:00] it over and over again. You're was supposed to read it at night.

[00:30:02]And it influences everything that happens to you in your career. If you follow the same on a consistent basis when you read it. So you need to, it's, he wrote to any definite aim that was deliberate fiction of mine. How there with a termination to realize that finally saturates the entire subconscious mind until it automatically influences a physical action or the body towards detainment of purpose.

[00:30:23]So he believed that, with, without a definite purpose, most people, go in many different directions. They do lots of different things. And this lack of focus leads not to power, but to indecision and weakness. And if you think about,  people that you may know that are trying a bunch of different things, aren't focused on practicing law, they're not, not much ever happens to those kinds of people.

[00:30:47]They. They their careers do not, nothing happens that should happen. They don't rise as far as they should. They just get taken advantage and carried along. And at some point, that's what happens to 95% of the people. So most [00:31:00] people do not have a lack of purpose and you really need to have that lack of purpose.

[00:31:06]You really need to have purpose to do well in your career. And if you understand this, your life and your career are going to change. You can change, you can really achieve anything you want. And your life and career when your efforts are focused and and you definitely need to make sure that you are focused at all times.

[00:31:25] It's very important. So according to Hill to reach any goal you need to have. Burning desire, which is me an example of me getting myself pumped up sitting next to the air conditioning unit reading books and then going out and talking to people and so forth. You need to have.

[00:31:42] Definite purpose. And then you need to take the appropriate action to reach that goal. And you need to have all three of these to be successful in anything that you're doing all three. And if you look at the most successful attorneys most of them have that the most successful businessmen.

[00:31:57]The most successful people in entertainment or any [00:32:00] type of endeavor. They always have that and you need to burn your desire if you're going to succeed as an attorney in your job search. And I'm going to talk to you a little bit about how  to get that desire, because what happens to most attorneys and people in the legal profession is.

[00:32:13]Any type of thing that you do regardless of what the career is, you're going to be surrounded by people that are going to have negative views of whatever it is that you're doing. And those people may be people that aren't doing well. Or they may be people that are just have other types of belief.

[00:32:29]Beliefs or, that aren't focused or, are just being carried along by the system. And if you believe in what you're doing you're going to do much better. To become very good at being an attorney and to become very good at getting jobs you need to learn whatever you can about what you want to do.

[00:32:47] And why it's going to be a good fit for your skills and abilities. You need to believe in it. And you need to commit to it and your efforts need to be focused. You don't, you can't be the sort of person like the guy I was telling you about the showed up and want [00:33:00] him to be sold. You need to be pre-sold and you need to understand why it's good for you and what's not.

[00:33:05] And where your skills are most likely to be that value. And if you believe in something and want it, your odds of getting it are. So much better than if you don't believe in it and you need to believe in it and you need to work yourself up and really believe in it. And this is the difference between, success and failure.

[00:33:24]People that believe in something and commit to something are the ones that get it and people that don't are the ones that don't. I come across so many examples. I'm going to tell you some about some today, but attorneys that. Are so enthusiastic about practicing law in one setting and a practice area  or a location they want it.

[00:33:43] And it's so important and there's so much that goes along with this that I could talk about, but what happens is,  when people have this sort of belief and they really want something. All these things happen that normally wouldn't happen. And I don't know why that is.

[00:33:57]But it's true. So a few years ago I was [00:34:00] working for. A woman that was clerking for a bankruptcy judge. And she was in a small mountain state. And she literally never worked for a law firm. And she had below average grades at a law school that was barely in the top 100, if it was there.

[00:34:16] And, she was a good candidate, not the kind of candidate you would expect to get a position. With a major law firm in their bankruptcy department, in New York city. And in addition at the time the economy was doing very well and there were hardly any bankruptcy jobs and she hadn't even taken the New York bar but she was completely committed to working in New York city.

[00:34:39] And wouldn't listen to any form of logic that maybe she should, at least try to find some jobs in the location she was in and her where she was from. She just wanted nothing more than to work in New York city. And I explained to her that not only did it. Most of these firms  the kind of firms you wanted to work from New York, not hierarch, bankruptcy [00:35:00] clerks most of the time, but they wouldn't hire her.

[00:35:02]Without her having been a summer associate and she didn't care. Right now, when the economy is not doing well, for example, bankruptcy clerks are marketable. But back then when the economy was booming and there was only a few. The firms, big law firms with work it was difficult.

[00:35:16] And I also explained to her that, law firms, weren't hiring people with below average degrades in New York city, from her law school. And even if she had top grades, it would have been difficult. And again, she didn't care. And I told her there were hardly any bankruptcy jobs at the time and she didn't care.

[00:35:31]I told her she was committing career suicide. It was July. Her clerkship ended in August. I wanted her to get a job and but she just, none of this seemed to bother her. She knew what she wanted and she was very committed and. And I explained to her Sammy contacts and and there's, when she got there, she hadn't spent really time in New York.

[00:35:50] She just didn't care. She knew what she wanted. She had gone to knew some people from college had gone to better law schools and gotten jobs in New York and she wanted to be like [00:36:00] them. And that's actually a big source of motivation that I've noticed with many attorneys they.

[00:36:05]They get motivated by someone that they know that became successful and then they modify it and they have goals around that. And that's very effective. That's an example of getting a goal and a purpose and committing to it and doing it to prove something to someone. And you may be proving it to a parent.

[00:36:22] You may be proving it to. Yourself or someone else or, but that it's an example of someone that did very well because of this. And she, she seen attorneys from New York that came into her court and she talked to them and she looked at the stuff they wrote and she decided she wanted to be like that.

[00:36:39] So she had these two shift people from college, and then she had the attorneys that came into her court and she would see when they came to your court. Everyone was like, cause this wasn't a huge market, some attorneys from big New York law firms and everyone was in awe, at this courthouse.

[00:36:54] And I remember I was clerking in a Northern Michigan courthouse when attorneys from New York come in and I was [00:37:00] also impressed with them. So the idea is that she was able to, really give her a purpose and not only that. But she spent weeks investigating and interviewing recruiters in New York.

[00:37:11] And the one she thought would do the best to work the hardest for her and open the most doors. And and and then before contacting me and and who had worked the hardest for her and she really did everything possible. And then and then she emailed me and contacted me personally several times.

[00:37:26]Wanted me to represent her. And it was just, this woman was just completely, motivated and had a purpose, knew exactly what she wanted. And and I did represent her and I did everything I could. To get her a job. And I explained to firms, her passion for New York and her inability to, her focus and why that would make her do well.

[00:37:46] And and I represented a firms that even have openings  and and that would have to lower their hiring standards if they were to bring her in with. And and and I, and explained why she would do well because of, everything in her level of commitment, her [00:38:00] passion, her purpose.

[00:38:01] And and at the same time,  is. , she was, I wasn't even, I didn't think anything would happen cause bankruptcy attorneys at the time were just weren't getting openings. They're, they weren't getting jobs because there weren't really any openings and there wasn't enough work and and there was no reason a law firm in New York bring someone in and the thing is I've noticed in my career is every time I represent someone like this, that's just completely soul.

[00:38:25] And knows exactly what they want and has this in them. They do well. It's even when I'm not. So even when I don't pick up the signals about why this person should do well, why they would do well and so forth, I just, I'm wrong. And even though I'm telling you this today, and that's something that I believe I don't always I'm not always sold a lot of times and.

[00:38:47] She didn't get a job. It wasn't me that got her a job. I did my best to, as her and the firms had interviewed her. I don't know what happened. But. And how it happened, but,  she got interviews and even with the first [00:39:00] firm she interviewed her  she got an offer and she was just completely on, they, she connected, she did everything.

[00:39:06] She could she came across as so passionate and so enthusiastic. And she still is. That and she, now she's just all networked in New York and part of all these major committees and knows all these people and it's just incredibly successful.

[00:39:20] And and it's just this commitment and it, that, that got her this work it's. It's really incredible because she had a purpose and and she keeps refining her purpose. Even now she wants to work at, maybe even better firms and she's at, and she's doing everything she can, she's getting business and.

[00:39:39]And I have no doubts or probably be, among the top bankruptcy attorneys in New York and make partner at a major firm and all this stuff. And, it's all because of, having a purpose and wanting something and, think about how much work she did convince you me, and then how much work I did convincing others.

[00:39:55] And and how that focus on one thing has made her successful, where she's at now [00:40:00] and how it's changed and how it's made someone. That, maybe didn't have the skills to get the good grades or to get into the best law school and,  and took a clerkship in a, in a relatively small market, that person has got ahead and it's crazy.

[00:40:13] And, it's just, it's something that happens when you commit and you have a purpose regardless of your whatever you're doing and, whatever you're doing. You need to, you need to develop a passion. Like I know an example and this is another example of someone drawing out a parents, extremely successful litigator someone that, makes, it was a very young attorney and,  makes millions of dollars a year as an attorney and.

[00:40:37]And you just telling me a story that his father was an immigrant and never felt he could get ahead because he had an accent and didn't, use English properly. And, the father always felt, that very bad because of that. And then this litigator became.

[00:40:51]Very successful and did very well when he learned to write well. And and that made him stand out. He's got other skills too. [00:41:00] That he's a very good writer and that helped him advance. So a lot of people develop an interest in the practice of law, or you can develop our practice setting or doing something well because things that have happened to you, people you've met or your parents role models and other people that kind of give you a passion to do something and you need.

[00:41:16] You know that passion in,  to prove something. You need something that's motivating you in a purpose and you can develop it on your own. I becoming an attorney. I had nothing to prove. It's just, to, to myself, but I knew instinctively that I needed to have a purpose after reading think and grow rich and seeing the power of it.

[00:41:36]Another attorney I know had a father that went to jail for several weeks and he had sold a business and then continued to use the trademark of the business and and and then had been sued and had to file for bankruptcy and then had actually gone to jail.

[00:41:56]For using the trademark  after he [00:42:00] was told to not use it anymore. And and he lost his house, his business, his cars, everything. Due to trademark infringement and his daughter, who was growing up with us at the time I was devastated. She was very upset.

[00:42:12]The family had to move to a, a small apartment after living in a,  basically, I dunno mansion's the right word, but a multi-million dollar house in a nice neighborhood and she was determined to help her family recover. She used that as something that motivated her to.

[00:42:27]Excel in college and getting, incredible grades do very well in law school. And then she became a trademark attorney, one of the top us law firms, and then went and succeeded in. Getting rid of the judgment against her father and helping her family recover and incredibly after she did that she'd lost interest in the practice of law and being a trademark attorney.

[00:42:48]But at the same time, that's an example of a passion and, you need this passion as an attorney to do well. You need to have a passion for the law and the practice setting you're in and your practice area. And if you don't have [00:43:00] this, you're not going to get the jobs you can't.

[00:43:01] And nothing of significance is going to happen that would otherwise happen. Your efforts are going to be scattered. You're never going to get to where you want to go. And a lot of times, if you have those effort, if you have that passion, you. You really know what you want. It's going to force you sometimes to look at other jobs.

[00:43:17] It will force you to take other detours with your career, to go to other cities, to do other things that are going to help you. And that's something that no buddy in my position can tell you what you need. I can show you, I'm going to show you today, how to develop that. But if you don't have that, your efforts are going to be scattered.

[00:43:34] People pick up on your energy even when we're not around them. And they're far away energy and enthusiasm are contagious. I don't know why it is but they are. And that's how it works. And that energy,  something that everyone picks up on that woman in New York to cut up those jobs that.

[00:43:52] The bankruptcy attorney people could pick up on her energy, not just from the things I was saying, but over the phone when they matter. And that energy [00:44:00] exists when you have a focus, if your efforts are just all over the place, you don't have a focus, but if they're focused, everything you say is directed towards that energy.

[00:44:10] And it's a huge thing that just makes a major difference in people's careers and lives.  Had an example  You know of another person that wanted to work for me. And she called me and to talk to me on the phone  and typically I don't always pick up my phone cause I'm on calls and so forth and she just kept leaving all these messages that she wanted to work for me and to call her back and.

[00:44:32]And that's not the typical kind of message I receive,  people call up and are looking for jobs, but they don't say this is important. I need to, I want to work for you please call me. This is, and so finally I call her back and I talked to her and then and then she worked during the week.

[00:44:45] So she flew out to interview with me on a Saturday morning. And I showed up at the meeting or at the, my office 15 minutes early. And she was sitting outside the door dressed in the. In a suit. And I was, wearing shorts cause of Saturday, which probably inappropriate in [00:45:00] my fault. But anyway, and,  she just was completely focused on getting the job and and then she, and she didn't really have the law school qualifications or the quite the experience to work in the company.

[00:45:12] But I would have been crazy not to hire her. She was so enthusiastic and. One of the jobs so much. And then when she started it, she did incredibly well. And then became the top performing person in our firm within two years and it all came from wanting something and believe in it.

[00:45:28] And. In her particular case she had  had a friend that was doing this type of job at another firm. And that person told her she wasn't good enough. She didn't go to good enough law school. She wouldn't be successful. And and this went on for years and years, and eventually she told she decided to prove that person wrong.

[00:45:50]And.  And had an incredible passion and then knew exactly. Where she would work. And someone told her that our company was like the rolls Royce of recruiting [00:46:00] firms or something. And and that made her even more hungry. But the point is that, that when you want something the universe opens up to you and people notice, and I noticed and and, definitely brought her in and hired her.

[00:46:12] And it wasn't a mistake. So you need a definite purpose and definite name. And the aim is something that guides, like I told you earlier, guide your subconscious mind and powerfully guide your thinking. And it helps you believe the positive things are going to happen to you. Instead of negative things, it's something that you repeat over and over again, I'm going to show you how to do it.

[00:46:32] So I know I keep talking about it, but I will show how to do it. And when he'll discusses it in think and grow rich, it focuses on money. And, I don't mind focus has never been on money. It's on, high field on my job or what I'm doing. But an example would be, is what Bruce Lee wrote after he wrote, think and grow rich.

[00:46:50] And it's interesting and I'm going to show you and you can take what I've written here. And or showing you what he wrote here and do something similar for yourself and they'll show you how to do it. But he [00:47:00] wanted to become the highest paid Asian actor and in 1969, he wrote, I, Bruce Lee will be the highest paid Oriental superstar in the United States in return.

[00:47:10] I'll get in the most exciting performances. And render the best quality in the actress capacity. By 1970, I will achieve world fame. And from then onwards, till the end of 1980, I will have in my possession, $10 million, I will live the way please and achieve inner harmony and happiness. And I think as everyone knows he did that  and very quickly became famous and, there's so many stories like this people that have a goal there's.

[00:47:33] And believe in it before they do. There's a story of Jim Carey carrying around a huge check, that he made out to himself and then got apart the paid exactly that amount. And he wrote that when he was before he was well known or had jobs, and th the idea is you have to commit something writing, and you have to write it down.

[00:47:52] And I do this, I have my own goals and I write them down. And and I look at them every day. [00:48:00] And and you should be doing the same Lee wanted to make money. So you, he wrote that down as his aim and an example would be. His aim is how much money he wanted to achieve.

[00:48:11] And you, so you have to ask yourself, according to Hill, how much money you want how much time, and then what are you planning on doing for it? And that's really it, so you you do that and and then you can achieve it. So this is a example that I want to show you today. And that I hope.

[00:48:28]You guys can do in your lives and your career, but, one example might be, you want to be the most sought out and famous class action attorney in United States. If you're practicing class action law. So instead of just being a class action attorney you want to be the one that everyone goes to and very few attorneys, by the way, having anything like this the ones that do.

[00:48:48]Would likely do well, but you need a purpose and so the idea you have to ask yourself in your career, what do you want to become?  And the answer is something along the lines of, if you want to [00:49:00] become a famous class action attorney and that's what you should write.

[00:49:03] And then you give yourself a period of time and then. And then you would say what you plan on doing. So I would say something like branding myself publicly is the best class action training, United States community. This practice here at bringing in the most significant cases and aligning myself with people who would support my goals and went on my cases.

[00:49:19] And so you write something down along those lines. And then once you write it down you have something that looks like this and then you read it every day. And I can't tell you how important this is. The big thing is that this formula, it works and. Almost, very few people do this but it's very simple.

[00:49:38]You read this every day and it aligns your thinking and it gives you something to focus on and gives your life meaning, and it gives your career meaning some people do this for their personal lives and their work lives. And, but you do, you, you set a goal for yourself and you make sure that you have this and then then you follow this and you return to it.

[00:49:57] Every single day. And [00:50:00] and you also set a goal in terms of the time you'll achieve it and you can have money as part of it, if you want if that's important to you or you can make it about that, but that's important. And, and that's really about it. And you sign a data and you're supposed to read it every morning.

[00:50:16]And then again, before you go to bed and this may sound like some, stuff that may not be.   Related to the practice of law, but in truth, it is because people that have goals are the ones that really ended up reaching what they want and having one overriding goal.

[00:50:33]You certainly are going to have a task lists and so forth, but God having a goal that guide you to where you want to go. It is going to make a difference. And I know people I've been doing this for, 20 plus years, and I know people that have taken my advice from, 15 years ago and are now at the very top of their profession doing this.

[00:50:51] And when I say the top, the top, where there's not a lot of people near them and and to follow this and you should too. It's incredibly important. [00:51:00] If you can do it. The third part, we've covered earlier was what, action you're going to take to to reach what you want.

[00:51:07] And the idea is what you're going to do. Someone needs to benefit. You need to talk about how they're going to benefit and you need to have a plan. And in the example above people are going to benefit because you're winning all of your cases. So that's really the formula and and, and people that become famous and become good at their careers and become leaders in their industries really know what they want, and Mary Lou Retton when she she won the first American gymnast to win the all around golden on the Olympics in 1984, a reporter asked her, how does it feel to win a perfect 10 and for the team?

[00:51:41] And she answered it always felt. And then they said, but you've never done. No one's ever done it before. And I'm sure I've done it thousands of times in my mind. So she had a goal and she knew what she wanted and she went after it. And if you want to shoot anything you really need to know where you're going and you're not going to get anywhere until you do.

[00:52:00] [00:51:59] And it's the same thing in your job search as well. And in your career, you need to have. An overriding goal and that more than anything,  I've talked and previous presentations about resumes and cover letters and all these different things you need to do and how to find jobs and locate jobs, but it's really, what's internal to you.

[00:52:17] And what comes through. When people talk to you that make the biggest difference. And and it's what you want because when you want something, everything around you falls into place to make that happen. And it's, your subconscious mind is guiding everything. And when you go, day in and day out and you refine that.

[00:52:33] Over and over again it gets you to where you want to go. And I don't know of anything more important, it doesn't matter, what's happened to you until today. If negative things have happened to you if positive things have happened to you,