Do you feel like your life is a constant rush of activity?
Many people nowadays feel worn out. It’s not simply that there’s too much to do. It’s the fact we have too many different types of things to do. This inability to concentrate on one thing at a time means we lose our sense of focus and that calming sense of completion.
Related: 4 Ways To Balance Your Job Search
It’s not helped by technology. Are you guilty of frittering away excessive amounts of time on social media and of dealing with work emails at home on a regular basis? All this activity is exhausting. It’s easy to forget that energy is a precious and limited resource.
Energy exhaustion manifests itself in different ways. Do you recognize any of these signs in yourself?
Feeling overwhelmed by the simplest of requests.
A tendency to overreact to constructive criticism.
Constantly feeling exhausted even though you’re getting enough sleep.
Regularly becoming irritable and impatient with yourself and everyone else.
Lacking focus and losing the ability to come up with new ideas.
You need to set boundaries.
One way of dealing with this is by setting boundaries around the different parts of your life. Boundaries help you concentrate fully on a single activity and stop you from being distracted by the guilt that comes from thinking, whatever you’re doing at the time, that you should be doing something else.
Understanding the impact that various activities have on your energy levels is a useful part of creating your boundaries. And that means consciously working out where you are spending your energy and observing the effect.
What exhausts you – and what energizes you?
Are there any activities that leave you feeling drained or any situations in work you find particularly exhausting? You also need to recognize the things that help re-energize you. What do you like to do that leaves you feeling calmer and happy – maybe meditation, exercise, reading or going out for a meal with friends? Whenever you feel good about yourself in work or personal situations, take a moment to consider what it is you are doing that is making you feel uplifted.
Use what you have discovered.
Unfortunately you can’t avoid all the activities that leave you feeling worn out. But what you can do is use the information to make sure you are as prepared as possible to deal with situations. You will have a good idea by now of what is draining you – so try to balance it with an activity that will energize you.
For example, you may be dealing with several complex work tasks, a couple of which you’re really struggling with. You find yourself staring at the computer screen with disorganized thoughts and worries running through your mind about all the various tasks you have to complete. You’re not making significant progress on any of them.
Try promising yourself you will focus 100% on one task for an hour or so. Once you’ve done that, you take a five minute break to do something that gives you some energy back (like having a cup of tea or texting a friend). You are then recharged, calmer and better able to carry on with either that task or a new task (again, setting a boundary to make sure you completely focus on it for a set time).
Set boundaries to create better quality family time too.
Whether you work from home or an office, make sure you set a daily cut-off time for business activities. It can vary depending on the volume of work each day but make sure you have one and that it is sensible. Identify time for other important things in your life – like family – and clearly allocate, either in your head or in your diary, when you are going to give them the time they need.
Setting boundaries means you must resist the temptation to check your work phone or email during family time. If that really is a problem, give yourself a five minute period when you are allowed to catch up on anything that is genuinely urgent. Think about the message you are sending out otherwise your time together is continually being interrupted.
Everyone re-energizes in different ways so the good news is that setting boundaries provides the perfect justification for earmarking some time to collapse on the sofa in front of the TV too. Just try to have a couple of slightly healthier re-energizing activities built in as well!
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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