What you think you know isn't always true

Friends from Twitter, Facebook, and real life friends know I am drawn outside into the fresh air as soon as the winter snows melt away. I can’t wait to be outside. Even in the winter months, I brighten at the thought of a sunny day. I love sunshine, warmth, and well, being outside if at all possible.

This year Wisconsin took its time getting to spring and I was very impatient with all the 30 degree Fahrenheit days. I wanted 60 or 70 F and I wanted it right away. In the last few weeks, we have finally turned the corner and it has become beautiful outside. Last two days it has been 90F  and that isn’t really my cup of tea either but I still find reasons to go out and sit on the deck, walk around the yard or dig weeds.

Birds singing and fresh air, I love it! But I really do have work to do. For some reason, I remembered really having trouble seeing the screen outside and though in years past, the laptop came out with me, this year, I didn’t even try.

Didn’t even try, just assumed

My blog has been dragging as I find excuses to do everything but write. I asked lots of experts on what to do about the glare and inability to see my screen. I remembered that I couldn’t see it at all in the past. Everyone made suggestions but no one had an easy solution. Different laptop? No, I don’t want to invest right now. Put a sticky screen overlay on? No, I don’t want to risk messing up my screen. Change angles? That could have worked but really I never tried it.

I just bemoaned the fact that I had to be inside when my table on the deck beckoned me to enjoy the outside. Today was different. I walked out on the deck right after pulling on some shorts and a t-shirt and discovered 77F and balmy with great breezes but it is… Cloudy. So I pulled out the laptop and realized I had never even brought it outside to test in any kind of weather. I just complained that it wouldn’t work. Perhaps the last time I was outside it was particularly sunny or the time of day left no shadows but here I am outside, enjoying my time on the deck and getting this post written!

Testing to verify results

If I had tested the laptop in different conditions, I might have learned sooner that though pure sunshine creates glare, every time I am outside there isn’t the same level of sunshine, same angle, or same intensity. I just believed it to be true. I believed that I could not see my screen, thus could not work outside, and I didn’t test it.

Job seekers or career changers run into the same problem. They Assume! They think they know what will happen so they don’t even try.

• They don’t look for another way to search for a job because they assume that applying online is the only way to be considered for a job.
• They don’t do the research to figure out how job search has changed since they last applied 5, 10, or even 20 or more years ago.
• They run away from new ways to become visible and new tools like LinkedIn or other social media.
• And most of all, they are reluctant to hire someone to help them with their job search because they never did it that way in the past.

Career professionals are standing by to help if you only try something different. Instead of getting frustrated because you assume it will not work or you think you know what is true, give something different a try. You might be surprised.

Here’s one of my little friends outside to entertain you while you think about it. You can hear me coaching him in the background. This little squirrels antics is part of what I miss when I didn’t even try to see what would happen: