Where are you searching?

Below is a short tale by Mullah Nasruddin about searching. It’s a tale with a strong lesson, which like a lot of things, is simple when you know it. Take a look:

A man happened upon his friend one night on his hands and knees beneath the only streetlight in the immediate area.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked his friend.

The man glanced up then back down at the earth he was sifting between his fingers. ‘I lost my keys’, he said. “I’ve been searching for more than an hour and I still haven’t found them.'

His friend was anxious to help. ‘Where did you lose them?’ he asked, getting down on his knees beside the seeker.

The man pointed somewhere deep in the shadows. ‘Over there,’ he replied. Perplexed, his friend asked, ‘then why are you looking over here?'

The man looked at him, then spoke slowly as if to an idiot. ‘There’s more light over here, over course’, he said.

It makes sense to look for something where it would be easier to see it, right? Right. Unless it’s not where it’s easier to find. This seems so simple and yet many people are looking for jobs where they want them to be advertised (online) or customers where they want the customers to be. But if that’s not where they are - what do you do? Maybe sometimes you have to look in the dark (offline!) where it’s not so easy to find them.

Ask yourself ‘what are you looking for and where is it?’ Then look for it where it is, not where you want it to be. I tried this myself and it worked...

I wanted to work on Dame Street in Dublin, or as near to it as possible. So, I went up and down the street calling on offices, making calls and sending emails to see if there were any offices available - I disregarded the idea that the offices may or may be advertised. After a few days I found an office on Dame Street that had a private back entrance on Dame Lane - perfect! I had my new office.

I hope you found this post interesting. Thanks for reading. Ronan.