From 007 to 2-009
Welcome back, Seniors!
Over the holiday, I got a chance to check out the new Bond film, Quantum of Solace. The film picks up where 2006’s Casino Royale left off with Daniel Craig acting for the second time as Ian Fleming’s fictional MI6 agent. The womanizing and gratuitous violence aside, I’ve always been a big James Bond fan. Even after 22 films, the plot remains the same (no spoiler alert here, it’s the same story every time): Guy meets Girl. Guy encounters villain. Guy discovers girl is involved in some double agent trickery. Violence ensues. Situation with villain resolved. Guy gets the girl. The end.
Simple. Elegant. Consistent.
What I love about Bond is that he’s cool, calm, and consistent. I’m not going to call James Bond a superhero. After all, he is just a glorified British Secret Service agent…. a far cry from the ranks of big timers like Superman, Spiderman, or Wonder Woman. But the man does have hero-like qualities and he does it way calmer and consistently than these so-called Superheroes. You ever notice how Spiderman will strain to pick up a car, or stop a moving a train but have that same look of pain and anguish when doing something relatively low resistance like moving a table across the room? On the other hand, James Bond has the same look all the time. Whether he’s fighting a band of mobsters in a gun-slinging duel or kick-boxing a single double-crossing agent, he just always looks cool. He never panics. He never freaks out. He doesn’t worry. He just keeps on keeping on… cool, calm, and consistent.
So economists have confirmed a recession.
Are you going to be like Spiderman? Or are you going to be Bond?
You already know what my vote is.
Be cool. Be calm. Be consistent.
Freaking out and panicking is not going to help you weather this storm. There’s a lot that you can do to help you get that job after graduation. If you haven’t started looking for jobs, start NOW. There is no time like the present, and I know that you have finals, and concerts, and performances, and recitals coming up… but what did I say about Bond? He’s cool. He’s calm. And he’s consistent. Consistent means keeping at that job search every day. Not just Fridays when you have some free time or on the weekends when you get a break from your homework; you should be thinking about this every day. Maybe you’re not applying for jobs every day. Maybe you’re not writing cover letters every day… but are you networking? Are you identifying resources? Are you setting up search agents? What have you done today? What will you do tomorrow? Cool. Calm. Consistent.
In the end, when we write your story, I hope it’s a lot like Bond’s. Maybe you don’t get the girl/boy/significant other… but you get the job. And what’s hotter than that?
Monique