The modern-day job search for graduates is becoming an increasingly competitive environment where an individual can find themselves pitted against hundreds of other applicants all in the same boat. The string tying all these graduates together is most likely limited industry knowledge and experience. However, as important as having experience is for any job search, there is one undeniable truth: that having and maintaining a positive attitude is crucial. Employers are looking for candidates that can add value, meaning that they are seeking future leaders that can inspire and promote business longevity. A positive frame of mind not only affects the way you view the world, but your environment and the people around you. This leads us to the big question: what defines a positive thinker?
Positive thinking and mental fortitude outlast skills
Skills get outdated over time as industries shift and change, companies are constantly re-skilling and providing ongoing training for their employees to build value in their business. Skills can be attained and bought whereas attitude cannot. Attitude, when compared to a skill set is timeless. Without the right attitude, you can’t form solid working habits which have to be practiced over time. Without the right attitude, you’ll be missing out on learning new things as you are unable to see past the mistakes. Without the right attitude, you won’t land the job you want as you are hindering your own self growth.
Mental fortitude is the ability to pick oneself up from life’s failures and capitalizing on them as lessons and opportunities. Possessing it will not only carry over into the workplace, but into your personal life as well. By viewing problems as an opportunity, you would find that focusing on finding a solution is a more productive use of your time and energy. Being proactive keeps your brain switched on and like a muscle, your brain will be more effective if trained over time. One cannot expect to attract or impress potential employers if one does not exhibit the energy associated with gaining success. Walking into a job interview can be an extremely nerve-wracking and intimidating experience for newcomers, so when a candidate with limited to no industry experience is being judged, having a resilient and positive attitude is a good start.
Setting goals sets you up for success
Goal setting is a way we can break down the bigger picture into manageable chunks. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the notion of “Finding a job”. By breaking down these goals into something you can control and visualize more clearly, you are not only able keep up the positivity but set yourself up for success. For example, if the overarching goal is to “Find a job”, then you would want to divide that up into mini goals like: ensuring your resume is up to date, knowing what field you want to work in, apply for x amount of jobs a day, etc. Completing these smaller tasks allows you to cross off a list, giving you a sense of achievement and keeping you motivated. By focusing on putting together the individual puzzle pieces, you’d find that the bigger picture will slowly come together in the process.
Don’t forget to reset
Maintaining a positive attitude is easier said than done. There will be some days that will test you, where you find it difficult to keep a smile on your face or to go about your day without any worries. We are human and are imperfect beings. Burnout is inevitable if we expect ourselves to endure everything life throws at us without taking the appropriate measures. Ask yourself: what can you control and what can’t you control? Sometimes we can’t control the negative things that happen to us but we can control how we react to them. When you start to feel like you are burning out, it is important to reset yourself and take a break. For instance, you have been to a few interviews, and haven’t heard back from any of them yet. Take a step back and think objectively: it most likely isn’t personal. By taking a break, you stop whatever it is that you are doing that is causing your burnout, and replace it with a totally unrelated activity. This allows you to leave the baggage and negativity behind and start anew with a fresh state of mind.
Student mentality and work ethic go hand in hand
Continuous self-improvement is essential if you want to stay relevant in the workplace. Every day is a school day, and there is always something new to learn no matter the context. Having a student mentality means that you are always asking questions and constantly analyzing yourself in order to understand how you can always do things better. Being self-aware is a highly sought management skill that establishes your work ethic and desire to progress. Through maintaining a humble attitude, you can only improve on where and who you are now. The journey of personal growth is after all, based on progression, not perfection.
One fine morning a few years ago, my very lovely and well-meaning neighbour thrust a DVD into my hands. It was “The Secret”. Many of you will be familiar with this title. The book spent forever at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. I still remember my feeling of absolute incredulity as I viewed the film. Was I being too negative as thoughts such as “you have got to be kidding me” and “what a load of nonsense” floated through my mind?
“The Secret states that desirable outcomes such as health, wealth, and happiness can be attracted simply by changing one’s thoughts and feelings. For example, if a person wanted a new car, by thinking about the new car and having positive feelings about the car, the law of attraction would rearrange events to make it possible for the car to manifest in the person’s life.” [Source]
Almost 22% of respondents to last week’s online poll – How much does positive thinking influence your outcomes? – selected “Completely – exactly like the law of attraction, my thoughts attract what I want”.
Fascinating.
To gain more of an expert insight into the “positive psychology” movement and philosophy, I approached our Organisational Psychologist, Narelle Hess, for some guidance. The articles she directed me to all cautioned that “positive psychology is much more than ‘positive thinking’, and offers a vast array of insight and direction for how people can function more optimally. Positive psychology offers us added insight into how we can embrace change, feel positive about who we are, and enjoy healthy, responsible and fulfilled lives. But, like anything else the application of this knowledge and information is very important. Particularly when it comes to how we apply positive emotions.” [Source]
This reflects the feelings of 75% of our poll respondents, who agreed that positive thinking helps them “Moderately – a positive outlook helps me to approach situations, but thoughts won’t work without actions too”. One commented: “You can think as positively as you like, however, it is your actions that will determine whether your positive thoughts come to fruition”, whilst another said “the power of positive thinking is incredible and certainly helps me, but in certain situations action is required. All the positive thinking doesn’t get the job done but it certainly helps and stops procrastination.”
Last week, I read Peter Bregman’s book 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done
I was particularly struck by a section in which he discussed how managers can motivate staff members by giving them tasks above their current abilities and outside their comfort zone. The important thing for the manager to do was to assure their staff member that it was okay to take some time, make some mistakes, and even to fail initially. The combination of setting realistic expectations within a framework of unleashing unrealised potential created an ideal environment for growth, achievement and a new level of productivity for the staff member, and therefore the company.
The interplay between a positive environment and attitude, combined with a realistic set of expectations and actions, created the optimum zone. There can be no result without action, but a positive yet realistic attitude certainly helps things along.
As a final, neat illustration of this, the person who responded to the poll with the comment “this week’s poll is the best ever and will win me tickets” was not the winner. However, if they, and you, continue to enter the poll, they might be a future winner.
As my dad always says when he buys his Lotto tickets, “You’ve got to be in it to win it”.
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I should admit from the outset that this topic is one that is very close to my own heart. When I posted the poll on Facebook last week – How do you like your desk: Streamlined Order or Organised Chaos? – one of my ex-colleagues left a comment along the lines of “Kate has the neatest, most clutter-free desk I have ever seen in my entire life”.
To further illustrate this, do you know what I spent two hours doing last night? Pulling out each and every CD I own (a couple of hundred) (yes, I have CDs, I am that old. I even have LPs … far out), deciding which ones I did not want any more, and then putting the rest back again in neatly stacked columns, but not before grouping CDs by the same artist together, of course.
Sure, this might be an extreme example, but I know I am not alone in my quest for an orderly existence.
68% of respondents to last week’s poll said they like their work desk to be kept in “streamlined order”, whiles 32% said their work desk more closely resembled “organised chaos”.
Now, I think the word “organised” in the latter option is interesting to note. As one respondent said (a trifle defensively, perhaps, but still), “To an outsider looking in my desk may seem chaotic, however, there is an order and a working system in the organised chaos. Volume of work creates that outcome sometimes, and I think streamlined order can reflect not enough work and too much time to tidy.” Along the same lines, another responded, “although I have paperwork and piles everywhere I know where everything is.” Yet another resorted to the old chestnut, “a clean desk is sign of a sick mind”. What is that about? I much prefer “tidy desk, tidy mind”.
Are you the kind of person who thinks a messy desk makes you look busy and important? Consider what your desk says about you, and the impact it has upon your productivity. If I had to waste time trying to find things 75 times a day, I would get less done, be more stressed, waste more time, and cost my boss more money.
“According to OfficeTeam, a US-based recruitment specialist, a messy desk could reflect poorly on your professional reputation. Polling more than 500 human resources managers, the survey found that 83% of those surveyed felt the appearance of an employee’s workspace affected how they perceived that person’s professionalism … ‘A tidy desk won’t necessarily boost your career, but a messy one can leave a bad impression on colleagues,’ says Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. ‘By taking simple steps to organise your workspace, you also will be able to find materials more easily and increase your productivity.’” [Source]
Of course there are different levels of disorder. A few piles of paper and folders is one thing, but this:
is quite another.
I mean, if you work alone, fine – do what you want. But, as always when working with others, it is about striking a balance between conducting our work in a style that suits our preferences with not impacting or encroaching negatively upon the work spaces and preferences of others. Considerate behaviour, in other words. What a revelation!
Our new poll is live! Tell us: how much does positive thinking influence your outcomes? Results published in next week’s ChallengeBlog …
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Challenge Consulting has a Facebook page. Click the FB icon to “Like” us now and stay in touch re our new blog posts, weekly poll, links and more …
