Finding a job can be exhausting. It can suck out a piece of your soul if you let it. The key is to stay fresh.
I remember standing on the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago a few years ago watching probably a million people go to lunch. I was thinking that all those 1 million people have a job and I don’t. What is wrong with me? It felt like a heavy burden. After a while, that burden starts to leak through. People begin to smell your desperation.
How can you avoid undermining yourself during a job search?
Here are five tips to staying fresh during your job search. I bet none of these tips is ground breaking. We just forget sometimes.
- Strengthen your body with plenty of exercise. Daily if you can. Get some positive endorphins running through your veins. It makes your skill and hair glow and gives you more energy. It reduces stress.
- Get some sleep. Seven or eight hours a day, if possible. Sleep refreshes your mind and body and reduces stress.
- Strengthen your mind. Read something other than the want ads or LinkedIn for a few minutes every day. Join a book club. Read a good murder mystery. This exercises another part of your mind and lets you relax the portion of your mind working on the job search.
- Strengthen your soul. Exercise your spirituality. Meditate or pray or just get out in nature for a while to clear your head.
- Get out of the house and get a different perspective. Take a bike ride or a walk. Join a club. Work on a hobby. Maybe clean a closet. Volunteer. Join a job seekers club or two, maybe learn a few new pointers on finding a job more effectively. The point is to get a different perspective.