You’ve lost your job, you got fired or you’re looking for another job due to personal circumstances or to advance your career. We’ve all been there. The good news is that I’ve put some tips together to help you stay focused and energised.
#1. Everything you do, ask yourself why you’re doing it and consider your values, feelings and emotions.
Why you do what you do? Why are you feeling down? Why are you excited? What emotions and feelings come from your thoughts and your behaviour? Remember, you have a mouth to discuss ideas and experiences with other people. You also have a mouth to talk about your feelings and to express them. Don’t listen to other people; don’t pay attention to their opinions. You don’t need external motivators. You are experiencing new feelings, testing yourself to new challenges – stretch yourself, don’t bring yourself down. Let all the negative emotions and negative criticisms of yourself leave your body – mourn, cry, laugh, but pick yourself up, change your thoughts and change your life.
#2. Exercise.
Physical exercise can boost our mood, by releasing endorphins, it lowers depression and reduces stress. When you’re looking for a job, exercise; it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you move your body. When we’re looking for a job, we build tension in our body. Release that tension somewhere positive. It will change your physiology, how you feel and you will experience optimism and confidence.
#3. Make stress your best friend.
Acknowledge that stress is good and make stress your friend when looking for a new job or attending an interview. Based on the body’s natural “fight or flight” response that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I have yet to see a top sportsman/woman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most. Don’t be afraid of your emotions. You’ve got this.
#4. Not getting the job isn’t the end of the world.
You should always pull your socks up, pick yourself up and keep moving forward. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about; feeling like a failure is not a part of your identity. It is not part of anyone’s identity. Failure is task related and simply just that. If a task fails, we can shrug it off and try again or take an alternative approach. If it succeeds, then we can feel great about our progress and continue to move forward. Either way, we can still move forward. This is the most important thing to remember. Keep practicing – practice brings permanence, it doesn’t bring perfection. Be consistent with job interviews, persevere and never give up. When a job is right for you, it will find you.
#5. Dress for the job you’re going to, not the job you’re in.
When you change what you’re wearing, you instantaneously change the way you feel about yourself at that moment. This is what helps you access all the right implicit memories that helped you feel powerful, successful, and attractive in the past. A sharp suit can immediately make you look better. By investing time and money into your appearance, you demonstrate to others and to yourself that you care about your appearance and that you value yourself. People will think you are successful and confident, which in turn means you instantly become more “attractive” for someone to hire and to promote. This changes the way other people react to you, and they may be more likely to offer you job roles, or to ask your opinion.
#6. Smile! It makes you memorable.
When we smile, we produce something called ‘facial feedback’. Smiling improves our mood as it causes our body to release more positive hormones and endorphins and it can also help with motivation and psychological wellbeing. When you smile at someone, it automatically causes them to produce endorphins and to feel happier too. If you smile every time you see someone, they will then feel happier every time they see you as well. This can create an association where, when they see you, they can then think about feeling happy and good about themselves. This connection, of course, will then ensure that they are more likely to want to spend time with you.
Smiling during an interview will make you look happier, more confident and it will lead people to believe that you are both of these things. When you seem more confident and happier, people tend to assume you’re more successful (which is the reason you are feeling confident) which in turn ensures that they think you are more likely to be highly capable and will want you on their side.
#7. Avoid procrastination.
Instead of spending time watching television or drowning your life in social media, replace these things with tools that will help you jump start your path to success. This can be reading or listening to inspirational radio shows or podcasts by people who are living the dream! Focus on books and shows that you know are going to give you information that pertain to your goal specifically and to motivational speakers and writers who will help you get in touch with yourself and your inspirations. Listen to these sorts of speakers or read motivational books and articles at least once per day in order to really take advantage of their full effect. It’s transformative!
