Overcoming Negative Thoughts During Your Job Search

Overcoming Negative Thoughts During Your Job SearchOvercoming Negative Thoughts During Your Job Search4Confident candidates grab the attention of hiring managers. Unfortunately, job seeking often takes a toll on the mindset of even the most upbeat applicants, and overcoming negative thoughts can be a challenge. Negative feelings about the process can create a vibe of self-doubt, which repels employers and sabotages chances of landing a coveted position.What can a job seeker do when the stress of job hunting rears its ugly head and inadvertently jeopardizes success?Certified life coach Ora Nadrich, author of Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever, offers this four-step strategy for regaining control and overcoming negative thoughts1. Acknowledge the stress.Recognize its existence, even if its upsetting. Dont deny it or try to push it away. Admit youre feeling stress about looking for a job, and accept that youre having those negative thoughts.Doing so a llows you to focus on what is happening in the now, which is actual and real, instead of focusing on the emotions surrounding the thoughts.2. Shift into observer mode.Shift gears out of reactive mode into observer mode. In reactive mode, you have no distance from your own negative thoughts.But in observer mode, you turn into a witness that is separated and independent from those thoughts. Then youre in a position to ask yourself questions to help get calm and grounded.3. Ask that negative thought, Says who?You are demanding that thought reveal who is responsible for it. In other words, how did it get in your mind? Once you find out, you can decide what to do about it. Is it your original thought, or was it someone elses that you took as your own?You may even discover it is an old thought that has become parte of your core beliefs, and now its time to challenge it and let it go. Say youre always thinking,Im never going to find the right job. Asking, Says who?really means Why am I say ing that Im never going to find the right job?Then go one step further. Ask yourself, Isit me? If so, why would I think a thought that makes me feel insecure or doubt myself?4. Continue the questioning process.The next questions after Says who? further challenge those negative thoughts. Asking,Have I heard someone say this thought before? helps youfind out if the negative thought is your opinion or someone elses.Asking, Do I like this thought? gives you license to consider whether its a thought worth keeping. And questions such as Does this thought work for me? can help you transform that negative thought into something positive and life-affirming.Thats the kind of thought thatwill help you feel good about yourself so you can venture forth to find a job that is right for you and well deserved.Browse the Latest Job ListingsReaders, how do you get through overcoming negative thoughts in your job search? Share your tips below