Positive Actions Create Positive Inertia

I recently started running again after months of not running. I don’t actually particularly like running but it’s relatively inexpensive, helps me stay fit, and my dog enjoys it. The most difficult part of starting again I found was just doing it: getting out of bed, putting on my shoes, leashing up the dog and going. Sometimes I dawdle a little getting my arm band to hold my mp3 player, filling my water bottle and stretching. Once I get out of the house and have a little momentum I feel healthy, productive, proud of myself, and generally happier. If I stop thinking and just move, I am amazed at how the whole day seems to go smoother.

The physics Law of Inertia says, “A body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon; and a body in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon.” In the world of job searching this means if you don’t take any positive action to propel your search forward; if you stay in bed and don’t put on your job seeking shoes, you’ll stay there. So, put your body in motion.

Positive actions in a job search fall into several categories: staying healthy, networking, keeping your skills sharp, and actually applying for jobs. Staying healthy means keeping a positive attitude exercise and eat right. Employers want to hire healthy happy people and taking care of yourself will help you stay marketable. Networking is now the way to get a job so its not just going to a Rotary meeting any more. Networking positively means connecting with friends and colleagues on social media like LinkedIn, writing thoughtful endorsements of them, adding them to projects, and seeking out groups to add to your network. Don’t just connect with them and hope they read your posts; pick up the phone, put your shoes on and meet up with these people in person. The point of meeting up with people and networking positively is to find out how you can become valuable to people. What are your strengths that you can use to help others? Who do you know that you can introduce a new acquaintance to? Ask not what you can do…you know the rest. Keeping your skills sharp can mean taking a class, it can mean joining an online forum to talk to other colleagues about your profession, it can mean volunteering your time using your expertise, it can mean producing helpful tutorials you post for others. Applying for jobs, of course, involves job searching, customizing your resume, and applying. But it also means doing your research on companies. Really find out what they do and think about why you would want to work there. Find out if anyone in your network has worked there and ask if you can ask them questions. Every little thing you can do to keep moving forward is a positive action.

All of these things take time and energy, but so does getting up in the morning and going for a run. What they do is create inertia to keep you moving forward in a positive way. They not only help paint you as a desirable person to hire; they build pro-active energy toward feeling like you are achieving something and that builds your self esteem allowing you to do more positive activities making you more desirable. Do something every day that is a positive move toward success in your job search and inertia will do the rest.