Have you ever not been in the mood to do your job search tasks for the day?
Most of the time I wasn’t in the mood.
But you have to do them anyway. You can’t let your emotions dictate your activities. So what do you do?
It might be best to NOT reach out to people, if you are in a state of mind where your communication will sound depressed, bitter, etc.
Here are five ideas of tactical things to DO:
- Go on a walk, or do something physical. When you exercise the brain releases endorphins, which is like morphine. Get some of that happy drug going through your brain. More here.
- Ponder your vision. I could have called this “meditate” but that seems too ambigous. I was reading an article recently and it said that when you have a vision you are less depressed. I hadn’t really thought about it but it makes sense, doesn’t it? If you have a hope for the future (which is usually what a vision is), you change your state of mind. Job seekers regularly need a change in state of mind, thus I can recommend you regularly ponder your vision.
- Talk to someone who builds you up. You know who I’m talking about – that person that makes you feel good. I’m not sure who it is, but there is someone you know that makes you feel better. They don’t have to give you a pep talk and tell you that you are okay, and you’ll be okay… maybe just spending some time with them, laughing, chatting, hanging out. When I lost my job I lost my social life, and I should have tried to be around friends who could have helped me through that yucky time.
- Journal. Whether you brainstorm your feelings, or write down accomplishments from your career, write stuff down. I had no idea how therapeutic this is until I started to do it. It’s an amazing release, and when you are done you can move on.
- Do something tactical. Send at least one job search email. Follow up with someone. Even though you don’t feel like it, don’t let the day pass without doing one thing to get you closer to an interview. You don’t want days or weeks to pass and say “I haven’t really done anything for a while.” Make a habit of doing at least one real tactical thing for your job search.
I know it’s hard… but you have to do something. Again, don’t let your mood dictate your actions.
