Every time I talk about something I like to give examples from my professional or personal life. I have many friends all over the world, former co-workers, high school mates, people who, as a lifelong professional, I’ve crossed paths with and then remained friends.
One day I get a message from a friend. She has a son, 14 years old, full of energy and who likes football. I mean, he likes it so much that he forgot about school. His mother, more than worried, didn’t know what to tell to her son to make him understand how important it was to pass the exams. So I talked to him. It’s quite difficult to make a child understand what his demeanor needs to be, and especially, why it’s important that even a football player needs to know how to speak properly.
I told him that everyone, even grown–ups, constantly learn. I, myself also failed some exams, but I always took and still take responsibility. And even when I fail, I try to learn and see how I can improve from what I’ve experienced.
With this change in his thinking, his behavior also changed slowly and he began to be more responsible. This change lead to a shift in his attitude and he then viewed his exams as something easy, an interesting challenge and not as a difficult hurdle.
The moral: if you think about a situation positively, you change your behavior, which leads to positive outcomes. These positive outcomes help you become optimistic and develop a positive attitude.
Attitude is like a frame of life, it’s the way you view your life experiences.
If you change the way you look at the world, the world you look at will change; we have to focus on the things we can control, and your attitude is one of the most important things. You can control the way you respond, the way you react, the way you adjust your attitude:
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Invest in yourself – learn something new about yourself everyday.
- Take action.
- Take responsibility.
Use positive language. “I have to”, “I must”, there is room for possibilities in these phrases. If you use the phrases like “I choose to”, or “I can”, suddenly you leave yourself open to new opportunities, new prospects. As positivity boosts your confidence, you’ll start to notice the difference in your body language, and you’ll also start noticing how the people around you respond to it.
Put some time into yourself. A good way to boost self-confidence is to think positive thoughts; every day for 15 minutes, read a blog, listen to audio CDs, go to workshops, invest in yourself and learn something new about yourself.
Without action nothing is going to be done.
If you choose to go down this route, this shift in tonality will reflect on your character; a “can-do” attitude, being upbeat and confident is always more attractive, and will always prove to be a definite advantage no matter what it is that you’re facing.
Today’s job search environment is very competitive. Regardless of how talented you are, talent alone will never be enough if you are not skilled.
I had a candidate that I’ve interviewed for jobs she was highly qualified for, her resume was an exact match for the position, not only that but she had a great personality to match. She didn’t get the job and I asked her: “What do you think about, right before you go into an interview?”
And she said: “Oh, right before I go to an interview, I start thinking about everything that I probably don’t have that they’re looking for and I start to get nervous about it.”
And I said: “From now on, and with this next interview coming up, I want you to think about what you HAVE, the skills that you HAVE to offer to this company, that they need, and how lucky they would be to have them.” She called me after the interview to say that she got the job offer.
People enjoy working with people they like, and no one likes to be around a negative person, no one likes to be around somebody who lacks energy, or doesn’t have enthusiasm. You have to understand the importance of having good motivation and a good attitude, especially during hard times. Find the good, find the positive, and find what’s working right for you.
I think that the best advice is to develop a pre-interview mantra, something to say to yourself over and over again before you go to an interview, because attitude is everything! Positive attitude is a choice and your best tool!
