Click here to listen to 23 minutes of pure joy with inspirational speaker, Iyanla Vanzant.
When I first listened to this, I spent an entire grocery shopping experience belly laughing - out loud - up and down the aisles. And if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that job searching (and life!) require some heavy doses of laughter.
I also walked away with a host of messages I knew could impact my life and my clients’ lives, including:
“You matter. Who you are matters. How you spend your life, moment by moment, day by day, it matters.” Job searching can make you feel like you don’t matter. It can make the strongest, most resilient, resourceful, and qualified candidate want to give up. But that’s simply a normal reaction to a broken system. Don’t ever stop fighting for your dreams. If you work hard enough you can achieve them.
“Stop chasing things that are beneath the truth of who you are.” Too often we chase after the wrong things in life, because we think we should want them, or because we think we can't do any better. Take the time to define your vision for your life, and don't settle for less.
“Comparing yourself to other people is an act of violence against yourself.” Similar to the above, if we spend our careers or lives comparing ourselves to others, we set ourselves up for unhappiness. Rest assured that even if someone’s LinkedIn profile or social media presence depicts a picture-perfect life, they are still human, experiencing their own human challenges behind the scenes. And even if someone else is living her or his best life, that’s not the same as you living YOURS. Define what your best life looks like, what needs to change in order for you to get there, and start taking steps in that direction. Happiness and self-fulfillment will follow.
“Even your mistakes matter. Your tragedies matter. And your difficulties matter. It’s all about the way that you look at them.” No professional has a picture-perfect background. And employers aren’t looking for a flawless employee. They’re looking for an employee who has experienced adversity, learned from it, and integrated their learnings into the way they work and relate to others. Own your struggles and you will emanate authenticity, wisdom, bravery -- and get the job!
“Don’t complicate things... Just get the simple sentence, and say it.” This applies to your resume, cover letter, interviews, and practically every step of the job search (and work in general). The quicker you get to the point, the faster your audience will see it and agree with it.
“This is not gonna turn out well for you!” We’re all human. And sometimes we humans engage in behavior that is self-sabotaging, or that deep down we know is not helping our lives become brighter. Let’s start noticing this kind of action (or inaction) earlier, and without judgment or shame, redirecting ourselves towards that which will work out well for us.
Which message resonates with you most and why? Hit reply to share with me, I'm so curious to hear your guys' thoughts!
Or at the very least, I hope you choose to listen and, like me, laugh so loud you embarrass yourself. :)