Two of my favorite stories about my life are examples of this kind of thinking. Once, during the doldrums after the dot com bust when our old firm had gone out

Two of my favorite stories about my life are examples of this kind of thinking. Once, during the doldrums after the dot com bust when our old firm had gone out of business, I interviewed for a position that was a bit too junior for me, but a reachable step up for a friend of mine. I left the interview, called her, she applied, got the job, and it trained her for the next one. In grad school, one of my brilliant classmates had an intern offer in hand from a bank, and they were rushing her to accept it. We, but especially my wife, the guidance counselor, urged her to believe in herself and hold out for one of the big tech firms. She did, had two very successful internships at one of the biggies, and now works there full time. She gave us a coffee mug from the firm, I smile every time I see it.