Are You Superstitious at Work?

Are you superstitious? Do you believe in Friday 13^th’s bad luck? By the way, it’s today ;-).

Friday the 13^th is among the most common superstitions along with crossing a black cat, going under a ladder and breaking a mirror. What I find interesting about Friday the 13^th is that, apparently, all Bibles’ bad events happened on that date; Adam & Eve being evicted from Paradise, Noah’s ark and the deluge and finally, the death of the Christ. That’s pretty heavy for common superstitions, don’t you think?

I’m not really superstitious when it comes to common superstitions but I have some “rituals” that I follow when it comes to money and work. I’ve had some success following my own superstitions.

Power Suit & Good Luck

When you go for a job interview, most specialists suggest that you wear your “power suit”. This is the ultimate outfit that makes you look thinner, sharper, smarter. These are the clothes you wear and feel very good about. We all have our favorite shirt, right? Well if you wear it to an interview, chances are that you will feel more confident and therefore increase your chances of getting the job.

I’ve built my own superstition out of this interview tip. When I had my first interview to join a big firm, I was still at college and didn’t have a suit. 3 days before I had my meeting with fate, I bought a brand new suit, shirt and tie. I even bought a nice pair of shoes since I hadn’t anything better than my Adidas to wear for that day.

I got the job… but 6 months after I quit because I didn’t like it. So I went for another round of interviews. This is when I bought another suit to have more choice. I was hired after wearing this new suit for the first time! Since then, I had 3 other interviews for promotions. Each time, I bought a new suit (always with a new shirt and tie) and each time I got my promotions. Only once I didn’t wear a new suit (aside from my mock interviews) and I didn’t get the job I was looking for! So now, each time I go for an interview, I dress up with new gear! It might be a combination of luck and confidence but hey,  it works!

Switching Common Superstitions to Uncommon

My second superstition is a “derivative” of a common superstition. Instead of fearing Friday the 13^th, I fear Mondays! Most of my bad luck happens on Mondays. I never wake up in the morning telling myself “oh my God, today is Monday!”, this would be ridiculous and quite annoying since Mondays tend to come very fast! But let’s just say that I try not to have an important appointment on a Monday. I usually use this day of the week to plan my week and setup appointments for the rest of the work week.

This superstition reminds me of Garfield’s. He totally hates Mondays… and so do I!

I do Believe in Jinx

I work in the financial industry and my job is pretty much convincing people do to business with me and my firm. The funny thing in this industry is that your boss is always after you to know when your next big deal is coming in. I tend to “play this game” on a very low profile as I truly believe you can jinx your own bad luck. I’m a very rational man, but sometimes, I just have this gut feeling that there is a “cosmic justice” and you better not upset it by claiming to the world that you know what is going to happen.

“Never sell the bear’s skin before one has killed the beast”, that’s my motto in this kind of situation.

Readers, what are your superstitions? Have you made up some of your own? Do you have some “magic” tricks to make things better?

By the way, this post has 666 words … kidding?

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