Letting go of FEAR During the Job Search

Posted by on Dec 20, 2011 in Job and Career Networking, Managing Your Career | 0 comments

Whether you are anticipating a layoff, whether you are already in the job search or you are starting your own business, almost everyone experiences FEAR.  Staying in that fear decreases your productivity and compromises your nervous system.

You probably have heard what fear stands for:

F = False

E = Expectations

A = Appearing

R = Real

Most thoughts of fear are unrealistic.  We humans are capable of taking a small fear and making into a bigger issue and then projecting that scene onto an IMAX movie screen.   Yes, we are powerful creators.  If you don’t think this is true, think of when a child is out past curfew.  You got pretty creative, didn’t you?

Now that we know about the human capabilities, consider changing the feelings and the view and the sounds to neutral or positive thoughts.   Turn down the sound or replace it with a pleasant sound.  Make the picture smaller and see if that changes the emotion.   This is worthy of practice time.

Ways to push fear to the background:

  1. The mind has a difficult time being in the NOW and experiencing fear.   When experiencing fear, practice focusing instead on something in your visual field or on one part of your body.  An example:  You are on the way to an interview and you get the fear thoughts.  Start noticing the cars around you instead and pay attention to the traffic.  Once you get out of the car, notice the sky (really notice) and the temperature and how your feet feel as you are walking.  Once you are in the interview, pay attention to the person and their concerns.
  2. Twenty minutes of exercise will help get out the mind chatter and into the body.
  3. Journaling for twenty minutes help get you get the emotions out of the body and onto paper.
  4. Listening to peaceful music and turning off the news for a couple of days will help keep your day peaceful
  5. Incorporating a spiritual practice into your day keeps balance.

The next step is to decide what positive movie you want to see instead.  For instance, you see yourself having a great interview and accepting the offer.  Hear what you will say, visualize the room, the other people AND the outcome.  Add feelings to the experience.  Now review that movie every night before you go to bed.

You are now in productive mode.

As an aside, I’ve noticed this last week that job leads are increasing.  It is the time of year when people are leaving their jobs and new ones are being created.

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