What works is what works. Enough of that ‘you’re broken, I’m not’ stuff. It’s de-motivating and it’s counter-productive. Employees and job seekers don’t want to hear what they should stop doing, they want to know what they should start doing. They want to be more self-aware; they want training and development; not detailed descriptions of their personal warts and professional deficits.
When you perseverate on what’s gone wrong in your career, or the choices you’ve made leading up to it, you’ll amplify your mistakes and see yourself as damaged goods, less job-worthy than your job seeking competitors. As a result, you won’t want to interview (why bother?) and if you get an interview, you won’t have the confidence to put yourself out there, to take the leap, and reach for the prize.
Focus on what’s gone right; what’s worked and what works; in you, in what you’ve done, where you’ve been, and what you’ve accomplished along the way. Hone in on where you want to go and what you want to achieve when you get there. Hang on. You’re in the gap between what’s worked in the past and what can work in the future. To get where you want to go, use positive energy from positive memory based in positive experience as the propellant that launches your search.
If you’re surfacing more negative memories than positive, enlist the support of the people you respect who knew you when, and ask them to describe what they remember about you. When was I at my best? What was I doing? How did I add value?
Please, stay away from negative questions, negative people and the ruminations that take you there. If that sounds naive and your cynical self says you’re kidding yourself; challenge that thinking. Negative self- talk is a deal-breaker. It holds you back. It second-guesses your ideas. It says no when the answer should be yes.
I can write a column that lists all the things you ought not do and catalogues all the errors you should not make, and there will be value in that if your style is to leap before you look and soar before you have wings. Today’s column is about potential and accessing the self you trust from experience. It’s about suspending doubt; looking for possibility; tapping into the insight of others who have consistently demonstrated their capacity to believe in the best of what you have to offer.
You are not a problem to be solved, you are someone with the ability to solve problems and to have answers; you have the ability to open doors to opportunities because you’ve done it in the past. You can do it again.
When you tap into positive memory you find come from behind stories; grit and determination stories; ideas into action stories that make a difference to prospective employers. When you tell true stories your listeners become involved in them, in the challenges you confronted, and the part you played in finding solutions to them.
When you tell your stories you give employers a way to connect with your strengths and learn how you can meet their needs. With your honesty you encourage their candor, describing their company’s success stories as well as the business challenges and obstacles they must overcome. You look at the picture, the pieces and the puzzle together and decide where you add value and how you derive benefit.
When you come to the edge of all you know and are about to step off in the darkness of the unknown, two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.Author unknown.
