I met with a client last night who wanted to pre-rank her preferences for the jobs she was applying for, if she was to get more than one yes.

Please don’t do this.

First, there is no point in applying for a job you don’t want. So by definition a “yes” is a win.

Second, unless you can get a bidding war going (yay! that would be awesome) you are going to be considering each on its own merits.

Third, we always want to practice defensive dating. Have multiple options in the works so that you don’t fall in love with an opportunity that turns out not to love you back.

We all have our favorite ways of trying to control the future.

Once we realize what we are doing, it is such a relief to stop, and put our attention on what we can actually control.