How important do you think your state of mind is when you’re looking for a job? Personally, I think it can make all the difference in the world. When my brother was a kid he was prone to getting warts on his hands. At the time they were considered not just an eyesore, but dangerous, too. (Something about cancer or not being able to have children later, I can’t remember…) So, to avoid certain death warts were routinely burned off with a drop of bubbling acid. Yikes! One day a new crop showed up on my brother’s hand so my mother made the appointment with Dr. Mopper, the wart doctor. The day my brother woke up for the appointment though, the warts had mysteriously disappeared. We all thought it was a miracle but Dr. Mopper assured us this wasn’t uncommon – my brother was so terrified of the treatment that his mind willed his warts to disappear.
This was the first example of the power of the mind to create a positive outcome that I had ever encountered. (Unfortunately my subsequent mental efforts to conjure up a new bike weren’t quite as successful.) Now, I’m not suggesting that you can simply will your unemployed state to suddenly disappear and your dream job to instantly take it’s place. Finding a job in the current environment will take time, effort and dedication. But that said, no one can deny the importance of maintaining a positive attitude during the job-finding process. Without it, negativity, self-doubt, lack of energy, worry, etc. will start to invade your being. And once those become part of your mindset, you’ll have a hard time keeping them out of your interactions with networking contacts and hiring managers. Various studies proclaim that somewhere between 70-90% of interaction is non-verbal. If that’s the case, then walk into a networking event or a hiring interview with a depressed, negative attitude and surely the people you’re interacting with will pick up on it. And what hiring manager wants that on his or her team?
So, is there the equivalent of bubbling acid to dissolve our negative thoughts? The best treatment of course would be a job offer, but until that happens there are lots of things we can do to keep our attitude positive. I’m sure you’re familiar with most of them – exercise, meditation or prayer, creative visualization, working with a job-finding buddy, creating a job-finding schedule that you stick to no matter what, etc. If nothing else, start by just being aware when negativity starts to take rear it’s destructive head. Then present yourself with an alternative – optimism and good thoughts. Work at it enough and who knows – there just might be a new bike waiting for you in the garage tomorrow.