By Kay LaRocca
The resume has been prepared, you've researched all the prospective companies where you would like to work, you're networking everywhere, and responding to ads by the hundreds. Why aren't the job offers coming?
Perhaps it's time to take a look inside. How is your attitude really? Do you display an air of confidence about yourself and what you have to contribute as a productive employee? Or do you find yourself reading ads and negatively thinking to yourself "I'll never get that job," or "they'll think I don't have enough experience?" Did you know those negative thoughts entering your mind can be self-sabotaging your best efforts before you've even applied for the job? Just the act alone of a negative thought is enough to blow you out of the water. How is that, you ask? The universe will respond to your negative thoughts just as certain as it will respond to a positive one. Every thought creates a force of energy, be it good or bad, contributing to an end result.
Success results from attitude as much as aptitude. That is why having the right attitude is crucial to whatever it is you seek in life. Success doesn't come to you, you must go to it! You don't need more strength, or more ability or greater opportunity. What you need is to use what you have. The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone. There will always be a new frontier where there is an open mind and a willing hand. You make your own opportunities!
In the book "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen, the aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
Whether it is a new job, career change, or promotion you seek, you must first clearly see yourself in it, and then take positive actions to achieve it. Plan and implement activities now that will make the difference between hoping for and actually obtaining your goals. If you are lacking a certification, for example, take a night course to achieve it. When you begin your job search, determine a specific number of organizations to contact daily, or weekly, and stick with it until you've achieved your goal. Make an investment in yourself and have a resume prepared professionally. Read self-improvement books, or listen to motivational tapes and speakers. Start a business on the side and develop your talents if they aren't being fully utilized in your current 9 to 5 routine.
Finally, set aside a little time each day, perhaps only 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, to spend time alone in meditation. Clearly see yourself in that new job, winning the promotion, or making the career change, whatever it is you want. Invision yourself doing it and don't stop until you're there. You will be surprised by how fast your own thoughts will quickly turn into reality.
In closing, I'll leave you with some more final words from "As A Man Thinketh":
"You will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content In that poor world, 'environment,' But spirit scorns it, and is free.
It masters time, it conquers space;
It cows that boastful trickster, Chance,
And bids the tyrant Circumstance
Uncrown, and fill a servant's place.
The human Will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless Soul,
Can hew a way to any goal,
Through walls of granite intervene.
Be not impatient in delay,
But wait as one who understands;
When spirit rises and commands,
The gods are ready to obey."
--Kay LaRocca is Vice President Corporate Services for CareerSoar.com. Her email address is kay@careersoar.com.
