Attitude / Mentality
Confidence, Motivation, and Positive ThinkingMaintaining and demonstrating your self confidence and positive attitude while staying motivated in your job search is an essential factor for your success in today's challenging job market.
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Positive Attitude
.Keeping a positive attitude with your job search and your approach to career advancement is essential to be successful and meet your goals. It can be very difficult today in this market we are all faced with. Employers want positive attitude employees as they not only preform better than the average employee but their positive attitude also lifts those around them.
Motivation
Confidence
Stress Management
Dealing with the stress of Job Loss
Dealing with Rejection
Mental Fitness
Listen to my interview with Jeff Garton Mental Fitness for Career
Mental Toughness
Three Things you can do to keep upbeat during a job search campaign:
Networking
Networking with other job seekers at job clubs and support group meetings allows you to realize that there are many bright, competent people in the very same position in which you find yourself. Although some of these people may also have been searching for work for a long time, you may be able to exchange tips that you’ve discovered along the way. Networking with professionals who are employed can also offer a confidence boost. Getting out in the community and talking with other people in your field will help you feel like your old self again. If you’re fortunate, you can also gather information that can help you in your job search.
Volunteering
When no one is paying you a salary in exchange for your skills, it’s easy to start thinking those skills aren’t valuable. Volunteering your talents for causes that matter to you can stop this negative thinking in its tracks. In addition to being able to see that your efforts are making a difference, volunteer work often reminds us that there are many in the world who are less fortunate, helping us to be grateful for what we have. As an added bonus, volunteer work strengthens your resume during a period of unemployment or underemployment. If you organize 50 college alumni in your area to contribute to a $5,000 scholarship for a current student, you will not only change that student’s life, but you will gain an easily quantifiable achievement to add to your resume.
Socializing
Networking and volunteering both involve spending time with other people, but often those people are professional contacts rather than close friends or family. Throughout your job search, it’s important to keep yourself surrounded by the people who know you best—for more than just your job title. Your loved ones know about the time you won your 3rd-grade spelling bee or pulled together a flawless football tailgate with two hours’ notice. Reminders of your little victories in life provide a ray of sunshine when you’re faced with a stack of rejection letters.
Surround yourself with people who keep your spirits up—stay confident out there!
Networking
Networking with other job seekers at job clubs and support group meetings allows you to realize that there are many bright, competent people in the very same position in which you find yourself. Although some of these people may also have been searching for work for a long time, you may be able to exchange tips that you’ve discovered along the way. Networking with professionals who are employed can also offer a confidence boost. Getting out in the community and talking with other people in your field will help you feel like your old self again. If you’re fortunate, you can also gather information that can help you in your job search.
Volunteering
When no one is paying you a salary in exchange for your skills, it’s easy to start thinking those skills aren’t valuable. Volunteering your talents for causes that matter to you can stop this negative thinking in its tracks. In addition to being able to see that your efforts are making a difference, volunteer work often reminds us that there are many in the world who are less fortunate, helping us to be grateful for what we have. As an added bonus, volunteer work strengthens your resume during a period of unemployment or underemployment. If you organize 50 college alumni in your area to contribute to a $5,000 scholarship for a current student, you will not only change that student’s life, but you will gain an easily quantifiable achievement to add to your resume.
Socializing
Networking and volunteering both involve spending time with other people, but often those people are professional contacts rather than close friends or family. Throughout your job search, it’s important to keep yourself surrounded by the people who know you best—for more than just your job title. Your loved ones know about the time you won your 3rd-grade spelling bee or pulled together a flawless football tailgate with two hours’ notice. Reminders of your little victories in life provide a ray of sunshine when you’re faced with a stack of rejection letters.
Surround yourself with people who keep your spirits up—stay confident out there!
Tips for Managing Procrastination
Overcoming Procrastination… Manage Your Time. Get It All Done.
Overcoming Procrastination… Manage Your Time. Get It All Done.
- Pick your spot: If you’re not getting anything done at home, get out! Similarly, if you’re running in to too many people you know, or there are too many distractions to keep you focused, find a more suitable environment to work in.
- Get organized: Plan a detailed schedule with blocks of time set aside during the day for different tasks. Setting up in advance prepares you mentally for accomplishing the activity. While you can’t predict when an unexpected event might throw you off track, building flexibility into your schedule will keep you from falling behind…
- Set reminders: Once you get the hang of it, scheduling all the stuff you have to do is fairly easy. The hard part is actually doing it! Leave yourself easy-to-see reminders to keep you focused on the task at hand. Put them on the TV, your bedroom door, the bathroom mirror, or anywhere else where you can’t miss them.
- Know it when you see it: There are days when you know exactly when, why, and how you’re procrastinating. Other times, it’s a little harder to tell. Convincing yourself that you can do less if you accept a lower grade or substituting one activity (like texting) for a more important one (like your future) are as much forms of procrastination as watching TV, texting or hanging out with friends just before something is due. If you want to stop procrastinating, you have to recognize when you’re doing it.
- Be positive: Taking a positive approach to whatever it is that you’re doing can help motivate you & will reduce procrastination. Instead of thinking that you have to do something, tell yourself that you choose to do it. When you succeed at a task, acknowledge your hard work and don’t pass it all off as good luck.
- Overcome perfectionism: The quest to be perfect isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Perfectionism can cause high stress levels and lower your productivity, which can lead to procrastination. Accept the fact that none of us will ever be perfect. Accomplishing the goals you set out for yourself is what makes you successful, even if you occasionally stumble along the way.
- Set clear goals: Setting clear and meaningful goals can help you to focus your energy. A general rule for setting realistic goals is to make sure you allot your time accordingly. Think honestly about how much time it’ll take to get a job done, then double it. Remember, things won’t always work out the way you planned. By monitoring your progress & making the necessary adjustments to your schedule, you’ll accomplish more than you thought possible.
- Prioritize: With so many opportunities to do new and exciting things on campus, it’s easy to put studying off to another day. Avoid giving in to impulsiveness by writing down all the things that you have to get done. Rate each item on a scale of 1 to 5 and focus on finishing the higher priority tasks before the lower ones.
- Break it down: Big projects can be overwhelming and might lead to procrastination if you don’t know where to start or if you think there’s simply too much to do. Rather than tackling a huge project all at once, work on smaller sections of the task over a longer period of time.
- Reward yourself: Rewarding yourself for finishing even the smallest task on your list of things to do serves two purposes: it makes you aware that managing procrastination is a process with several steps and it motivates you to do more. Promise yourself text time, TV time, a get-together with friends, or anything else that you consider a reward.
