Food for Thought to Start Your Week:

Seth Godin had another great blog post yesterday. If you don’t already receive Seth’s blog, I highly recommend it. Whatever you do personally or professionally, you’ll gain from the daily short dose of “Vitamin Think” Seth has to offer. Click here to check it out: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

 

In his post, he brings up a point I feel is worth exploring further when it comes to the job search game. Here it is:

 

Sabotage!

Just about all sabotage is self-sabotage.

We don't get forced to eat that cookie, we choose to. And so the diet is ended.

Marketing self-sabotage is fascinating to watch and understand. Consider the college application: it's primarily an opportunity for teenagers who aren't sure of where they want to go to undercut their chances by exposing their uncertainty. The lizard brain, the voice in the back of the head that wants security and safety--it's not eager to go to a college that might be 'too hard' or 'too good'. The easy thing to do is to scale back the effort, not do what works, but do what feels right instead.

Or consider the way we resist opportunities to lead, to connect, to do work that matters. We don't resist because we're not capable of it... we resist because if our marketing fails, if we don't get the job or earn the trust, then we're off the hook. No promises made, which means no promises to keep.

We know more than enough about marketing now. We know how to craft a story that will spread, we know how to find and lead tribes. The thing we have trouble with is making the commitment to do it even when it's frightening and difficult.

~ Seth Godin

Zoom in on “…we resist because if our marketing fails, if we don't get the job or earn the trust, then we're off the hook. No promises made, which means no promises to keep.” 

I’ve known people just like the ones I believe Seth referring to. It’s easier to not do anything than to do something and potentially fail, particularly if the bitter taste of failure is still fresh on a person’s mind. I’ve known applicants receive and accept great job offers, only to no-show on the first day of work for fear of failure. And I know people who don’t dig into the job search for fear of failure.

But the self-sabotage, the failure, lies in the not trying. For as many “theories” as we may have for not trying (unemployment stats, global economy, grumpy people on the other end of the phone, etc.) it’s the fear itself that actually holds us back and sabotages our realizing our greatest victories.

Fall down 99 times, get up 100.

To our success,

Rita