How do you keep your motivation high during your job search?  How do you stay positive throughout?  Here are a few thoughts that I’ve found help.

What I Do

Motivation is key.  As a Job Search Coach, my number one focus is on helping clients maintain a positive focus.  My experience has been that aside from exercise and faith, a positive focus is the single most significant contributor to job hunt success.

Once I realized how important positive attitude is in succeeding in life, I’ve been taken aback to find out how closely attitude and motivation are related!  People who are positive tend to be more motivated.  Conversely, people who are motivated eventually understand that positive thinking is a major factor in driving positive results!

Therefore, I push positivity with my clients.

Pollination

Spring has sprung here in the Triangle, and we’re all enjoying the spring colors while wiping our noses.

Positive thinking can spread like pollen.  Negative thoughts can too.  The difference is that positive thinking takes effort, whereas negative thinking is easy.

For most jobseekers it takes energy to stay positive.  The good news is positive thinking is a little more like fission than fusion.  You put in a little bit of energy to get a lot more.  Positivity resonates when you find the right people to surround yourself with.

As a Job search coach, I can’t make people positive.  I can plant seeds: that there are better days ahead; that today is a good day if you look at it just right; that there is another opportunity around the corner, so make sure your chin is up so you see it.

I feel it’s a part of my duty to throw kerosene on jobseeker’s fire, because it’s difficult to do for yourself if you’re not used to it.

There are a lot of people who have lifted my chin, and helping others be positive is one way to pay them back.

Its Not Always Easy

Everyone is going to have down days.  Build a social insulation with people who pick you up.  That way, you have a mechanism to help you get out of the dumps on down days.  You’ll recognize people that you should add to your positively charged network because you’ll feel better after being around them.

A positively reinforced support system is key in systematically reducing down days.

Exercise

Exercise, along with a good diet can be a major contributor to motivation and positive thinking.  People who exercise are vibrant in comparison to those who don’t.  Can’t you see it in their faces and the way they carry themselves?  I can.

I can’t tell you how many clients and friends I’ve witnessed turn 180 degrees for the positive by adding exercise into their routine.

How You Feel

One of the things I learned a while back and will probably always be working to apply is that “it doesn’t matter how you feel.”  If you were at work and didn’t feel like working, you’d probably do some work anyway, right?  What’s the difference in a job search?

The Flu Game

I love relating this to Michael Jordon’s “Flu Game”.  The man had the flu and scored 38 points in a pivotal Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals!  There’s something other than how he felt that got him out of the bed and to the stadium that day.  There’s got to be something other than how you feel, that drives you through the job search.

Some would argue that Michael Jordon is made up of something different than you and me.  I disagree.  I think the difference between MJ and us is the fact that he got up out of bed.  Forcing yourself to “get out of bed” and look at the world in a positive light can be just as affective.

Succeed by making positive strides everyday!

Is your networking recharging you?  Shoot me a note.  I’d like to partner with you in building a positively charged network that will push you forward to your next great position!