3 Things To Tell Yourself When The Job Search Gets Tough

Finding a job can be a long process. You apply for a job, maybe hear back, and a month later you go in for an interview. The worst part? There's no guarantee any opportunity will pan out. So, how do you stay positive when you're going through so much job search stress?

It can be easy to lose confidence in yourself as time passes and you're still without a promising job lead. But losing confidence will only make it worse.

Here are a few things you should tell yourself when the job search gets tough:

1. "No" Doesn't Mean "Never"

Woman on laptop applies for more jobs during a tough job search

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When you don't get offered the job even though you aced the interview and did everything right, there's a good chance you did do everything right.

The hiring process is complicated. The employer might've had another person in mind even before they began to interview for the open position. Or, it was a toss-up between you and another candidate, and the other candidate just so happened to be the one to get a phone call.

You will never be able to know what a potential employer is thinking. If you don't get offered the job, don't think of it as a loss or missed opportunity. Think of it in positive terms. You got more interview experience, you met new people, and you're one step closer to finding the right job for you.

And remember, a "no" doesn't mean "never." It simply means "not now."

2. The Right Opportunity IS Out There

Man on laptop applying for a job during a tough job search

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If you're putting your best foot forward during the hiring process and you're actively learning from your mistakes, you'll find the right job for you. But that requires patience and perseverance.

The key to keeping your confidence up is believing the right job for you is out there. When you remind yourself of your end goal, it puts the job search process in perspective. You walk into every interview believing this job could be the one—but if it isn't, that's okay too. You will try your best, of course, but also accept that you can't control everything in the hiring process. It will take some of the pressure off.

Take responsibility for the things you can control and accept the things you can't. Acceptance is the key to maintaining your confidence.

3. Everything Happens For A Reason

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When all else fails, sometimes the best thing to tell yourself after not getting a job offer is that the job simply wasn't meant for you. If you don't believe this right away, chances are you will later on.

As you move on to the next interview and apply for more and more jobs, you start to feel better about the initial rejection. You realize that new opportunities are popping up every day and it really isn't the end of the world after all.

If you still feel uncertain, that's okay. Staying positive during a long job search isn't easy. Just know that your mom is right: all good things take time!

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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How To Make Friends With Ambitious People

If you’re trying to take yourself and your life to the next level, it makes a lot of sense to aim higher when it comes to making friends. The right friends will support you emotionally and provide practical help along the way.

If you have exciting friends that aren’t as ambitious as you are, chances are that they’re unconsciously holding you back. You don’t have to stop seeing them; your best bet is to focus on building friendships with new people. If you want to make friends with ambitious people, read on.

In this article, I would like to share with you three important steps. These steps will help you go to the next level in your social life, meet many ambitious and interesting people, and have them stick around for a long time.

Step #1 – Take Control Of Your Social Life (Don’t Leave It To Chance!)

People seem to leave their friendship life to chance, more often than not. While that probably worked well when you were a kid, it most certainly won’t work for you as an adult. With no college or school to facilitate new friendships, you need to be proactive about it. This means that you get conscious and curious about friendship and how it works—consciously make time, every week, for meeting new people, staying in touch, and hanging out with them.

Studies have shown that the influence other people have on you is strong; your destiny literally depends on the people you hang out with. This is why it’s important to have a clear idea of the kind of people you want to have in your life. All you have to do is make a general list of qualities, attributes, or activities that you want in your future friends. It doesn’t have to be definitive; it’s just a guide for your mind. You can start by listing qualities like “healthy,” “ambitious,” “honest,” “productive,” “fun,” “interesting,” etc.

Step #2 – Adopt These Winning Social Habits

Man shakes someone's hand while networking

Success in your friendship life means that you don’t only use the tips once in a while; it means that you adopt the easy new habits that will work on a consistent basis. The first habit is to go meet new people every month. The way to do that is to join a local community that meets up once or twice every month. Try a few that you can find on meetup.com and decide on the one that has the kind of people you’d like to get to know better. In general, go where meeting people is easy; focus on places like trade shows, cultural or charitable events, seminars and talks, and so on.

The second habit is to dedicate at least one hour every week to reaching out to people in your network. You can put it in your calendar; it can be something like every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Early in the week is better. Contact and network with important/strategic LinkedIn connections during this hour. This habit will make sure you don’t lose touch with your existing friends, and follow up with the new people you meet.

The third habit is to decide what you’re going to do over the weekend ahead of time. When it’s time to reach out to people, plan ahead and decide on what you want to do; suggest that plan to those you want to see. This is why it’s important that you contact people early enough in the week, when they haven’t already decided what to do on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Step #3 – Build A Social Circle

Group of friends eat dinner together

Making friends can be time-consuming if you don’t optimize your efforts. If you’re always the one calling and making plans, then you’re not going to be doing it for very long. The best way to tackle this is to focus on forming groups of friends, instead of having a bunch of friends that don’t know each other. I recommend that you always introduce the people that you know to each other, especially if they’re of the ambitious kind. After they meet once or twice, a new group emerges, and you now have a circle of friends. When that happens, they start to call and make plans as well, which means you’ll have more time to contact and make plans with people that you don’t know that well.

As you meet new people, introduce them to the existing group, and make it bigger. If you prefer to meet in small groups, this is a great strategy as well; you can still meet two or three people at the same time, even if your social circle has dozens of people in it.

These three steps will get you started on having ambitious, resourceful friends that will help you succeed, introduce people to you, and emotionally support you when you need it. What’s really important is to open your mind to learning about friendship, how it works, and how you can apply that information to your life.

We understand how difficult it is to make new friends, especially as an adult. The good news is, at Work It Daily, we provide you with a safe and supportive place where you can meet new people and network with like-minded professionals!

If you’re struggling to make ambitious friends, we’d love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.

Join our FREE community today to grow your professional network and make new friends!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.