What was the best decision you have ever made that changed your life permanently?
In February 1984, I was at a bar with a couple of friends on a Sunday night. I mentioned to them that I couldn’t stay too late, as I had a job interview the next morning. One of my pals asked where I had applied. I told him Santa Clara County Credit Union.
“The marketing job?” He asked. I said yes. A mutual friend had just left that position.
“It’s been filled. They hired someone with a master’s degree last week,” he told me.
I pressed him because that didn’t make any sense to me. Why wouldn’t they have cancelled my interview if they found someone already. My friend said he didn’t know, but he had heard that they found someone they liked and made an offer several days ago.
I was depressed. I had a job at the time, but I was really hoping for a better one. My position had no benefits and was probably a dead-end position.
I had already told my boss that I wouldn’t be in until noon on Monday. In the morning when the alarm went off, my first thought was to sleep in and skip the interview. I tried to fall back asleep for a few minutes, and then thought the better of it. I hadn’t been to many job interviews, and I could use the experience, even if the credit union had already selected someone else. So I jumped out of bed.
I went to the interview at 9 a.m. and apparently did pretty well because at noon, I got a phone call saying that they wanted to hire me.
I’ve been working at credit unions for nearly 38 years, and it’s been rewarding work. I’ve met interesting people, helped a lot of members, and made fairly good income. I often think back to that morning and how appealing and tempting the idea of getting a couple of extra hours sleep was.
But usually action leads to something better than inaction.
