My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [25]
April can attest to the power of a peer group to put a person on the fast track in the real world. She was selected from applicants across her home state to work in Washington, D.C., for six months assisting a top legislator. It was an unpaid internship doing basic office work, but it forced her to constantly rub elbows with movers and shakers in D.C. politics. Each day on the job, she better understood the dynamics, language, and the way things get done within the Beltway. She incorporated these observations as quickly as she could to fit in. Six months later, she knew her way around the D.C. political scene. She still had no official power or formal authority, but you wouldn’t know it from talking to her or watching her get things done.
When her six-month assignment was over, she applied for a full-time position with a federal agency. Her friends back home told her she would never get the job, because she lacked serious professional experience. But the people in D.C. whom she worked alongside told her that you never know until you try, so she submitted her résumé and landed an interview. In her interview with the hiring committee, she proved her D.C. prowess based on how she carried herself and the language she used. By applying what she learned keeping up with the best and brightest rising stars in the capital, she snagged a well-paid agency position at age twenty-four!
When you spend time, casually and professionally, with people who have achieved what you want, you pick up their words, mannerisms, ideas, and strategies. You start to see what they see, hear what they hear, and learn how to replicate what they do naturally. You start to understand why their world is full of opportunity and how yours can be, too.
To Apprentice Yourself into Opportunity:
1. Find out where people who are living a Future Picture similar to yours regularly hang out. Join their club, talk your way into it, or keep sending them flowers (or adult beverages) until they invite you to join their table.
2. Volunteer at charity events where you can rub elbows with people who otherwise might be almost impossible to meet. When you get the chance, ask for their contact information and invite them to lunch.
3. Get involved with a civic organization that meets regularly to advance the success of their members, such as the Rotary. You can find a list of these organizations at www.myrealitycheckbounced.com/network
Opportunity Radar Step 3: Challenge Assumptions—Let the Facts Speak for Themselves
Banking on assumptions rather than facts is like rolling dice in the dark. Any bet on them is a fool’s bet.
When you make decisions based on assumptions rather than taking time to get your facts straight, you’re bound to make some poor choices. These might lead to minor setbacks or major defeats; but either way, they are avoidable. All you have to do to turn an incorrect and potentially costly assumption into a mistake you wisely avoided is to find out the facts before you jump to a conclusion.
When you make important decisions based on assumptions, you are setting yourself up to be caught off guard and unprepared. The farther you run with an incorrect assumption, the farther you will have to go back to fix it. I learned this lesson from Danny.
Danny was introduced to an entrepreneur who was making big money with an Internet-based business. This entrepreneur drove a fancy car, wore expensive clothes, and was always dropping names. Danny was told he, too, could make lots of easy money on the Internet if he simply got ten friends to join his “business” team. All he had