A few weeks ago, after developing my gambling-with-fake-money addiction, I decided to begin a 3-part series on comparing various gambling games to job searching and professional development techniques. In The Gambling Trilogy [Part 1], I discussed how the game of blackjack relates to your job search. In The Gambling Trilogy [Part 2], I discussed how you can learn to be a “doer” vs. a “watcher” through the game of craps.

Well, the reason you see no [Part 3] is because, frankly, the series was crap. (<< I crack myself up). When I decided that I was not going to finish out the trilogy to complete the whole, I looked at it from two perspectives:

1. Quitting half way through a project can just make you look bad. It comes off as a character flaw, and no one wants to be known as a quitter.

-or-

2. Realizing where your strengths and weaknesses are is important, and correcting what isn’t working sooner than later is just one more key to success (and will ultimately prevent you from wasting time on a project destined to fail).

I chose option number two because it makes more sense to me. Think about it like this: Why would a cable network pull a TV show off the air before the series concluded? Because the TV series in all likelihood sucks, and there is no reason to throw more time and money into a series that no one is watching. Plain and simple – they see their flaw, they listen to their audience, and they do better next time. Hopefully.

Going back to square one isn’t always a bad thing. It’s a chance for a fresh start, a new perspective, and endless opportunities. If you see that something isn’t working, change it.

• If you’re not getting any bites on your cover letters and resume, change up your job searching techniques.
• If you’re not closing sales at your job with an important company, talk to someone to help change up your strategies.
• If you’re working on an artistic project and it’s just not turning out like you’d hoped, start over!

The beauty of starting over is that you already know enough to realize what works and what doesn’t, now all you have to do is switch up the approach to your project. Throw your energy into something worthwhile, and let’s see if something comes of it!

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein 

Jessie