There's a great old Sufi parable about Mulla Nasruddin who had misplaced his keys. One night, a friend of his was coming down the street and noticed Mulla Nasruddin on his hands and knees under a street light.
"What are you doing?" his friend asked. "Looking for my keys," the Mulla answered.
"You lost them out here in the street?" the friend asked. "No," Mulla Nasruddin answered. "I lost them in my house."
"Then why are you searching out here?" his bewildered friend asked. "The light is better" Mulla Nasruddin answered.
This spiritual humor contains an important bit of advice for anyone in transition: search where the light is better.
So how do you improve the light in your search this new year? One idea is to find the 3 words that focus your search.
I came across this exercise recently in a blog post from Chris Brogan where he describes his practice of thinking about the coming year and discerning three words that sum up the "Big Story" he will endeavor to write in his efforts that year.
Taking a few days to think this over, I selected these three words: Change, Create, and Facilitate.
When I wrote a blog post to share this concept with others, one of my readers decided that his three words would be: Helping, Building, and Branding.
So what will you do to "improve the light" and focus your search this new year?
Note: For more of the spiritual wit and wisdom of Mulla Nasruddin: http://ninedonkeys.wordpress.com/page/3/
Note: For my blog post: http://learningvoyager.blogspot.com/2013/01/your-big-story.html
Note: For Chris Brogan's blog post: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-3-words-for-2013/
Terrence H. Seamon is an organization development consultant who provides leadership and team development services to employers in New Jersey. His book Lead the Way explores the challenges of leadership. Additionally, Terry is a job search and career coach whose book To Your Success provides a motivational guide for anyone in transition. An alumnus of PSG, Terry co-founded and co-moderates the St. Matthias Employment Ministry in Somerset, NJ. He can be reached at thseamon@yahoo.com and via his website: http://about.me/terrenceseamon
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