Job Searchers: Stop Thinking, Just Get Started

Most mornings I head out for a 30 minute walk as soon as I wake up. 

But most mornings my brain tries to give me 101 reasons not to go: "It's cold, it's about to rain, I'll go to the gym later instead and have a better workout, I'm tired so maybe I should have a rest day, I'll go for a walk this evening instead etc etc" 
 
The real trick is to prevent myself time to think - and instead quickly grab my iPod and just step out of the door as fast I can. Once I've shut the door behind me and started, it's all very easy and I have no problems walking for well over an hour.

I just have to get started. And once I do, I'm getting fitter, feeling good about myself and have a positive start to my day.

Does This Sound Like You?

The same applies to many job searchers who procrastinate and think too much about making calls to contacts and recruiters. 

You start the day with good intentions - you have your 'to do list' of actions and people to call.  But then you start thinking and planning what you'll say and how to approach the calls. You think about what language to use and how you'd handle certain questions. Great, you feel prepared and ready to start calling.

But wait - it would be best to make the calls after clearing your mail box - after all, you don't want to miss out on any important emails. Whilst clearing emails you do some random web surfing and exchange some social emails with friends. 

Having cleared the mail box you decide to have something to eat so that you can make all your calls in one go without having to stop for lunch. But once you've eaten it's lunchtime and decide there's no point in calling anyone as you'll just hit their voicemail box. You'll get straight onto the calls after lunch at 2pm.

2pm comes and you realise that your favourite day time TV show is on at 2.30pm - it's only half an hour so you decide to watch that first before getting started at 2.30pm.

2.30pm soon becomes 3pm and you're now thinking the kids will be home from school soon and it will be far too noisy to be making job related calls. Or maybe you should head to the gym before it gets really busy with the after work crowd.

So you decide your time would be better spent planning your calls and writing a fresh 'to do list' for tomorrow so that you can get started early morning and be really focussed.

How many day's have you lost like this?

For me, the hardest part of going for my morning walk is the act of starting. Once I've started - it's easy. Which is why I don't give myself time to think and just push myself out of the door to get started.

The same applies to you and your job searching. Stop over preparing and stop over thinking - just get started. Dial that first number without being totally prepared and you'll be fine. It won't be perfect, but that's ok. After the call you'll feel better and be more motivated to make the next call and then the next call. After call number 3 you'll be in your element. 

Once you get started with anything, it's never as hard as you thought it would be. So stop over thinking and over planning - JUST GET STARTED!

By Sital Ruparelia from 6 Figure Career Management

Comments

[Steve Krohn]

Great post Sital, and quite true. Movement creates inertia. Thanks!

[Will at Virtualjobcoach]

Great post, but I think the problem most people have is that there is really no specific 'plan' that most job-searchers have to organize their search and prioritize their activities. Instead, without a plan, each day you get-up and think "what do I want/have to do today?" - without a clear plan, it is easy to get distracted with details or activities that really aren't helping you. It is like a diet, if you want to lose weight you can either "eat less/exercise more" and take that day by day, or pick a specific plan that is scheduled well in advance, you know what you have to do and you do it because it is part of the 'process' of losing weight.