The Words Around My Desk: What Keeps Me Moving When Life Needs Everything at Once

How the Words Around My Desk Keep Me Focused on What Truly Matters

Jani Sue Macomb

Professional Recruiter & Founder

Relationship First Recruiting

Around my desk are words and phrases I have collected over the years:

• What is the quickest way to the dollar today?
• Refuse to be defeated.
• Failure is success in progress.
• The difference between good and great is 5%.
• Progress, not perfection.
• Be the energy you want to attract.

There are also reminders about faith, hard work, rejection, gratitude, humility, and refusing to quit.

They are not there because every day feels positive or because I always have everything figured out.

They are there because I do not.

I am a professional recruiter, the Founder of Relationship First Recruiting, and a mother raising a family while building a business and continuing to develop my career.

On any given day, I may be speaking with a hiring manager, checking in with a candidate, developing a client's employer brand, handling an invoice, managing responsibilities at home, and thinking about everything that needs to happen tomorrow.

The words around my desk bring me back to what matters when my attention is being pulled in several directions.

They remind me that I do not need to do everything perfectly. I need to identify the priority, take the next step, and keep going.

What is the quickest way to the dollar today?

At first, this may sound like a phrase focused only on money. To me, it is about discipline.

When you own a business, it is easy to spend an entire day being busy without doing anything that moves the business forward. You can reorganize a list, research another tool, revise a graphic for the tenth time, or spend hours preparing to take an action instead of taking it.

Meanwhile, the call that could lead to a client remains unmade. The proposal remains unsent. The invoice remains unfinished. The candidate remains waiting for an update.

Asking, "What is the quickest way to the dollar today?" helps me identify the action that creates value now.

Sometimes that means following up with a potential client. Sometimes it means completing a search, strengthening a company's online presence, or making an introduction that could become someone's next hire.

Money is not the only measure of value, but a business cannot continue helping people if it cannot sustain itself.

The question keeps me focused on progress instead of activity.

The difference between good and great is 5%.

I have seen this difference throughout my recruiting career.

The extra 5% is rarely one enormous action.

• It is asking one more question during an intake meeting.
• It is following up when someone else might assume a candidate is no longer interested.
• It is checking whether a new employee is doing well after the first day instead of considering the work complete once the offer is accepted.
• It is learning what a company needs beyond the qualifications listed in a job description.
• It is taking time to help a candidate prepare for a conversation that could change the direction of their career.

At home, the extra 5% may mean staying in the room a few minutes longer when one of my children needs to talk. It may mean showing up when my schedule is crowded or setting aside my phone long enough to notice that someone is having a difficult day.

The extra 5% does not always require more hours. Often, it requires more attention.

That is one of the strongest connections I see between motherhood, recruiting, and business ownership: people remember when you pay attention.

Refuse to be defeated.

I have experienced rejection in my career. I have faced circumstances that did not turn out the way I hoped, opportunities that disappeared, and plans that changed without my permission.

I have also watched candidates go through the same thing.

They prepare, interview, wait, and imagine what a new position could mean for their future. Then they receive a rejection-or sometimes no response at all.

Rejection hurts because hope was involved.

But rejection does not get to make the final decision about who we are or what happens next.

One of the reminders around my desk comes from the Navy SEAL Ethos:

"I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity."

I am not comparing my challenges to what members of the military endure. What I take from those words is the decision to keep moving when circumstances become difficult.

Refusing to be defeated does not mean pretending something did not hurt. It means allowing yourself to feel the disappointment, learning what you can, adjusting your approach, and trying again.

Sometimes perseverance means pushing forward. Sometimes it means recognizing that the original direction was not right and having the courage to choose another one.

Either way, I am not finished simply because something did not work the first time.

Failure is success in progress.

Failure has taught me lessons that success could not.

Success can confirm that an approach worked. Failure forces us to examine why something did not.

• Did I ask the right questions?
• Did I communicate clearly?
• Did I follow through?
• Was I trying to force an outcome that was not right?
• Did I allow pride to keep me from seeing what needed to change?

A message I appreciate from Katy Perry's song "Smile" is the idea that rejection can sometimes be protection and that an ego check can eventually become a turning point.

No one enjoys being handed a piece of humble pie. But humility can save us from continuing down a path that is not helping us grow.

Some of the hardest experiences in my life have made me reconsider what success means, become more willing to learn, and develop greater compassion for people recovering from setbacks of their own.

Failure is not automatically progress. It becomes progress when we are willing to learn from it.

Hard work always wins over talent.

Talent matters. Experience matters. Knowledge matters.

But none of them can replace effort.

Throughout my career, I have seen people with enormous potential stop when the work became uncomfortable. I have also seen people who were underestimated continue learning, practicing, and showing up until they became the people others could count on.

I want my children to understand this.

They do not need to be the most naturally talented person in every classroom, activity, or future workplace.

• They need to be willing to learn.
• They need to practice.
• They need to treat people well.
• They need to keep their word and follow through.

Talent may open a door, but work ethic affects what happens after someone walks through it.

As a mother, I want my children to see me work hard-but I also want them to know why I work hard.

I am not working simply to stay busy. I am building something. I am helping people find opportunities. I am helping companies build teams. I am creating possibilities for my family and showing my children that they can build careers, lead, and create paths that may not have existed before.

Progress, not perfection.

This may be the reminder I need most.

There are days when I do not complete everything on my list. There are days when a business responsibility takes longer than expected, someone at home needs more attention, or I reach the end of the evening with several things still waiting for me.

I once believed successful women had somehow figured out how to keep every part of life perfectly balanced. I no longer believe that.

Balance suggests everything receives equal time and attention. Careers, businesses, families, and personal responsibilities do not work that way.

Some days my family needs more from me. Some days a client deadline cannot move. Some days a candidate is waiting for an answer that could affect their entire family.

The goal is not to give everything an equal portion of every day. The goal is to recognize what needs my attention most and respond intentionally.

Progress may be one completed call. One application submitted. One difficult conversation handled well. One promise kept. One person reminded that they matter.

A day does not have to be perfect to move life forward.

If ye have faith…nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Faith is central to how I keep going.

Faith does not mean I believe every situation will end exactly as I want it to. It means I believe disappointment is not the end of the story.

It means I can continue working while trusting that I may not yet see the entire path.

There have been times when rejection felt personal, plans fell apart, or the future was unclear. In those moments, I have had to believe that a closed door may be protecting me, redirecting me, or preparing me for something I could not yet recognize.

Faith does not remove the work. It gives me a reason to continue doing it.

Be the energy you want to attract.

As a recruiter, I have learned that people often remember how an interaction made them feel.

A candidate may not remember every detail of a job description, but they will remember whether someone listened.

A hiring manager may not remember every résumé presented, but they will remember whether their recruiting partner stayed involved and followed through.

My children may not remember every task I completed during a busy week, but they will remember whether I made them feel supported, encouraged, and important.

Being the energy I want to attract does not mean forcing positivity when life is difficult. It means deciding what I will contribute to the room.

• Will I bring patience or frustration?
• Will I bring encouragement or criticism?
• Will I create connection or make someone feel like another item on my list?

I cannot control every situation, but I can take responsibility for the way I enter it.

What I Hope My Children Learn From Watching Me

I think often about what my children learn from watching how I work, respond to challenges, and treat other people.

• I want them to see determination, but not believe they must hide every struggle.
• I want them to develop ambition without losing kindness.
• I want them to know that humility and confidence can exist together.
• I want them to recognize that rejection does not reduce their value, failure does not erase their potential, and changing direction does not mean they have quit.

They do not need to wait until adulthood to become a positive influence. They are already influencing people at school, through their activities, in their friendships, and through the way they treat others.

One day they may attend college, pursue careers, raise families, build businesses, or create paths entirely their own.

Whatever they choose, I want them to know that their voices matter and that they are capable of doing hard things.

I Am Grateful for Today

The words around my desk do not promise an easy life. They remind me how I want to live the life in front of me.

• Work hard.
• Stay humble.
• Keep the faith.
• Learn from failure.
• Follow through.
• Bring the energy I hope to receive.
• Take the action that moves something forward.
• Be grateful for today.

I may never master perfect balance, and I no longer expect myself to. My goal is progress-not perfection.

I will continue building my business, serving employers and candidates, caring for the people I love, learning from setbacks, and showing my children what it looks like to keep going.

The words around my desk remind me that I have not come this far because every plan worked. I have come this far because when a plan did not work, I refused to believe that my story was over.