My Job Search Changed Me; Now I Plan to Share it With You
My job search has changed over the last several months. I went from thinking finding work would take four months, at the most. I’m skilled and seasoned professional (said with confidence!). I was gliding along in an un-strategic and unfocused way. Things started to get rocky; I began to constantly ride the ups and downs of the good news and the bad news of interviews and job post cancellations. I was resilient at first, and then as the months passed and I still had no job offer, it was clear my mindset and my usual practices and approaches were no longer working.
I was wasting time. Lots of precious time.
I was grabbing at learning (certifications!) for no specific reason.
I had no cadence for networking, even though I coached others on best ways.
I had more negative thoughts than positive. These thoughts would rapidly escalate into worry.
I was easily thrown into a restless funk that could last for days.
I wasn’t taking care of myself as best I could, at a time when I had time!
The dissonance of my job hunt helped me find a better way to search, and to live.
I was sleepwalking through my job search, and now I was mentally paying the price. As a professional coach, I knew I could massively improve my lackadaisical approach to searching for work and living well through this era. As a divine human, I knew my wild and precious life depended on it.
As a coach, I understand excuses. As a cancer survivor and 9-time Ironman triathlon finisher, I understand difficult. I understand taking strategic, small steps consistently over time. I resolved this job search was not going to beat me. Not after I made it this far, this well!
As I changed my approaches, my focus, and my guardrails, I noticed immediate improvement in my resilience and then my energy. I was strategic and creative (again!). Soon I was taking better care of myself mentally and physically. And, I felt strong for it. I still had negative moments, and funky feels, but they lasted hours, no longer days.
This is when I realized I was not just changing my job search, I was changing my life.
I want to share what I learned with the world, as a free tool, because looking for work in this dumpster market needs more than the usual effort. And, your wild and precious life deserves it. For once in this lonely, slog of a job search, I can’t wait until next week!