Maintain a Positive Attitude

Let's take a break today from "technique". I confess to not being an expert in many areas of job searching but I have learned many practical techniques that work. I will also continually point you to resources that provide the best expertise I have found on particular topics.

Following up on my last post, "Cold Calls", let me recommend an excellent article "Improve Your Cold Call Results", by Karen E. Klein.(http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2008/sb2008125_121206.htm). Ms. Klein’s website, http://www.kareneklein.com, is also very helpful.

I also referenced Eleanor Roosevelt and her belief that facing fears is the best way to build character and confidence. I have since communicated with Henrik Edberg from Sweden who has written an excellent article about the former First Lady's philosophy, "The Eleanor Roosevelt Guide to Building a Better Life". (http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/08/29/the-eleanor-roosevelt-guide-to-living-a-bolder-life/). Mr.Edberg’s site, http://www.positivityblog.com, is an excellent overall resource for taking responsibility for one's own happiness. I have added the links to both sites to this Blog.

It is important to remember that life doesn’t stop when we are searching for employment; but most of us are so consumed with the process and resulting worry or concern, that we forget that every day remains an opportunity to live and enjoy each moment. During times such as these, stress, worry and pure fear kick up a notch. And I need to work to maintain a positive attitude.

I have a friend who recently told me that he has discovered how to eliminate worry, completely. My friend schedules personal worry sessions. From 5:00 to 5:05 pm, everyday, he stops whatever he is doing and focuses on all his worries with as much mental energy as he can muster. Should a worry, fear or past regret pop into his mind during any other part of his day, he simply puts the thought out of his mind and saves it for his worry session. He tells me that it works, in part because he finds it so ludicrous to be worrying so intently by choice, that he is typically laughing at himself three minutes into his 5 o'clock session.

Whether or not my friend succeeds, I give him credit for trying. I have not discovered any single secret for overcoming worry. Folks not plagued by frequent worry don’t appear to have any particular skills that I don't have nor are they more or less intelligent than most of us. But they do understand one thing that I often forget. Worry is an inside job. There is not a person, place or upcoming event that can make me worry, unless I let it. It is only what I think about these things, how I choose to react, that produces worry and fear.

That's just semantics you will say. If I know I will be fired tomorrow, there is no way I won't think about it, so whether it's my impending termination or my thoughts about it, the result is the same, I'm worried sick. But a fortunate few, no matter the severity of a situation, seem to avoid worry by controlling their thoughts.

In the early 1940's, Dr. Victor Frankel became a concentration camp prisoner in Nazi Germany. He suffered unimaginable physical and emotional torture, at one point witnessing the murder of his own family. And yet through all of this Dr. Frankel noticed that there were always a few prisoners who, despite their personal agony, would regularly walk amongst the others, sharing their last bits of food and their care and concern. While those good souls certainly had good reason to be afraid, they apparently were not, and Dr. Frankel came away from his experience with a valuable lesson. While it is indeed possible to strip almost every single freedom from a human being, there is one freedom that can never be taken from us - the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. That freedom is always available, if we choose to exercise it.

And why not exercise it? Successful non-worriers choose to live their lives positively and joyfully while waiting on “worrisome” events, to unfold. Joel Osteen in his best seller, Your Best Life Now, puts it this way. It will take time for any prayer to be answered. The real key is “how are we going to wait” in the interim. “If you know you have to wait anyway, why not make a decision to enjoy your life while waiting?” As I think about, maybe my friend’s idea isn’t so silly after all.

If you’ve tossed and turned in bed lately, mulling over an interview tomorrow or a visit to a doctor for that nagging pain that won't go away, you might take a cue from the famous composer, Gioachino Antonio Rossini. Rossini composed The Barber of Seville in 1816 when he was 24 years old. Already a rising star, his opera opened with tremendous resistance from his jealous competitors. In fact, opening night was a disaster and as the curtain fell, hisses and boo’s filled the theater and the leading man contemplated suicide. But no one could find Rossini.

When he was located, at his home, his friends feared the worst, but instead of finding the composer with a pistol to his head, they found him sound asleep. When awakened, Rossini was asked if he was alright, in light of the fiasco. He replied that he was fine, and having a very nice sleep before he was awakened. After listening to his panicked visitors, Rossini calmly stated that apparently The Barber of Seville was not good enough. He said he would need to compose something better and he went back to sleep. Of course, we all know that the opera to this day remains one of the greatest ever composed. Although Rossini did not know this at the time, he knew something much more precious; that failure and success can be met with an identical attitude. In fact, for Rossini, a positive attitude probably had a hand in turning seeming failure into success. At least it didn't hurt.

I recently pulled a dusty copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale, off my shelf. I highly recommend it. Written in 1956, the book remains a classic to this day and is one of the most helpful books I have ever read. For those with a modern modern bent, who want to better understand that we only live in the moment and no matter what has happened in the past or will happen in the future, that moment is ours to live as we will, I recommend The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle.

I have never understood why books that address the powers of our positive thought are rarely, if ever, taught in school. Well, I’m not going to worry about that, at least not now. I’ll wait until 5:00 pm.