10 Ways To Manage Job Search Stress

Here are ten things you can do to reduce stress while searching for a job. Individually each has value. When combined into an overall approach, the value increases many fold.

01. Have a clear and realistic Job Search Objective
Seriously, how can you hit the target without aiming at it? How can you aim if you don't know what the target is? What exactly are you out to accomplish? This is your first proactive step as an Independent Free Agent.

02. Operate in the Present
Be awake and operate in real time, in the moment, in the NOW. Too much past leads to regret, resentment, and anger. Too much future leads to worry, angst, and stress. Stay present.

03. Don't skip on Rest, Nutrition, and Exercise
Maintaining your physical machine allows it to perform efficiently and effectively resulting in less stress because of performance. The best way to deal with any stress that does develop is by R, N, and E.

04. Stay Organized

Plan for a campaign not an afternoon. Assume there will be some scrap of information about a prospective employer that will make or break you somewhere down the line. You must be able to find it in three moves.

05. Be Methodical and Consistent
As a practical matter you cannot make anyone else do anything, so give it up. This does not apply to you. Endeavor to play your part the same way each time, tweaking and adjusting your performance to align with your objective.

06. Be Proactive
If being proactive doesn't come naturally, address it ASAP. Find ways of adapting or acting the part. You compete in the marketplace with others that are action takers. Therefore suit up and get in the game on your own terms.

07. Accept
One definition of stress: I'd rather be somewhere else, doing something else, but I'm stuck here doing this. So you fight it, which of course guarantees poor performance in the here and now and delays getting "there". Accept today and position for tomorrow.

08. Don't Isolate
Stay connected and plugged-in with society. Seek interaction but no whine sessions. Avoid extended periods of searching online which can magnify your sense of isolation - log on, do what you have to do, and get off.

09. Don't Personalize
This is a tough one. Self concepts are internal notions of how we are. They are private, multi-layered, complicated, and mysterious. Touchy stuff. Still, deal with it. See this as a process. It is about you but it is NOT actually you.

10. Treat the search process as An Actual Job
How many times have you heard this, approaching job search as if it were a real job? This classic speaks to the heart of being an Independent Free Agent worker and perhaps should be the first item on the list.

Travel well.
John Jeffrey Lundell