Ed. note: Seth Godin writes the best marketing blog in the world. Daily, he simply nails it. If you are like me, when I read his stuff, I find myself nodding my head and saying, ‘Yep, what Seth just said.” I thought it would be a good exercise to take his subject and expound on it, myself. I certainly acknowledge it is much,much easier to do what I am doing than in coming up with the original issue. Mine is under his, and you can leave a comment about his or mine, at the very end.
In the mood by Seth Godin, 1/12/09
Songs about romance don’t tell you how to make out, they merely encourage it. It’s not the data that people seek, it’s the mood.
If all we needed to do great work was information, our problems would be over. The internet is the greatest repository anyone could imagine… if you want to know how to do something, the Net will show you how. Anything.
The how, of course, is not important. Books and songs and movies that have an impact work because they motivate us to take action, not because they show us exactly what to do.
Did you not have enough information or expertise to start a successful business during the last boom? Or the boom before that? Are you so ill-informed that you are unable to make a profitable sales call, unable to answer the phone, unable to persuade someone to join your cause? That’s unlikely.
We don’t have a knowledge shortage. Far from it.
I get very annoyed at pundits who criticize a book for not having enough proof, not enough data, not enough rigorous case studies. I am disappointed at people who hesitate to start something important because they’re just waiting to learn enough or know enough or to figure out the answer.
It’s like the annoying kid at the magic show shouting, “I know how you did that trick!” Of course you do.
The question isn’t, “how do you do the trick?” The question is, “do you feel like doing the work, taking the risk, making a stand and getting it done?” If you don’t know how to do the trick, go look it up. Get a tutor. Figure it out. That’s the easy part.
You already know how to deliver excellent service that blows people away. You just don’t feel like it. Your organization has the resources to buy that machine or enter that market or change that policy. They’re just not in the mood.
If I accomplish anything on a good day, it’s helping you change attitudes. I’m working hard at getting you in the mood to do the things you already know how to do. I think that’s what your boss/the market wants you to do as well.
Me too, Seth, me too.
Let’s apply what Seth just said to how some of the newly unemployed are going about their job search today. Admittedly, this is new territory for those most recently laid off. Usually, these are the people on the inside looking out wondering what those people did to lose their job. Now they are on the outside and it pretty much sucks. Until they felt the direct impact of this economic tsunami, they thought the unemployed did something wrong, “When the teacher said listen up, I did, and they didn’t.” Now they realize that was not only not true, but callous.
They don’t know how to do “job searching.” Like Seth says, they can read the books. Good grief, have you walked the career section in the bookstore lately? Plenty of books about HOW, there.
Most, if not all, tell you exactly what to do to find your next job. Not one of the books says what the latest stats do: You can find your next job by working at it only 30 minutes per day.
You can’t, no more than Tiger can rehab his knee or practice his chip shot for 30 minutes. Shoot, I bet Michael Jordan plays BB more than that per day. Still. And they are pros. Unless you happen to be a professional job seeker, I am here just trying to do a little to get you more motivated, more excited, and more willing to put the work in to find a job you dig.
The books are there which is good because you do need the HOW TO. What is missing is the WANT TO part. That be you.
No user commented in " What Seth Just Said "
As a Psychologist and Career Coach I know that for many job seekers it is not the “want to” that is missing it is overcoming the fear.
I have worked with many top sales professionals that can literally sell ice to Eskimos. Some have sold multi-million dollar IT outsourcing deals to world class companies. However, in job search they are paralyzed by fear, fear of rejection. It is one thing to lose a outsourcing sale it is another to be rejected for a job because of “not being good enough”.
Human beings register rejection in the same part of the brain that registers physical pain. Thus, fear of rejection is the fear of both emotional and physical pain. Asking for help (networking) is risking rejection that is why the #1 job seeking strategy is the most difficult for many job seekers.
Seth’s comments about not being in the mood is too simplistic. A mood is generated by an emotion which is generated by a thought. To change ones mood thinking has to change. Identifying the blocking thought and then changing the thought is the challenge. Not “being in the mood” is typically based on being fearful of trying and failing or trying and getting rejected. Being in the mood is anticipating either good things happening or at least nothing overwhelmingly bad happening.
So figure out what you are thinking that is getting in the way. Then change the thought and “get in the mood”.
Eric,
You might be right about the fear element, meaning the fear of rejection. Do you have any suggestions on ways job seekers can cope better with this fear?
I have always used the ‘what’s the worst thing that could happen to you?” concept because generally speaking, even that is NOT so bad, and it almost never happens so why not give it a try. This is why people should practice interviewing too..slightly off topic.
Thanks for weighing in on this…all these ideas are helpful to many, many people today. Good thinking.
Seth just puts it on the table – mood and attitude play a huge part in our success. If we can manage them, we really can do just about anything. This is why it’s important for those suffering a job loss to work out the anger and dump it before connecting with a potential employer.
Re. dealing with rejection – we don’t know what will happen when we interview or start using our contact list. Keep an open mind. A job search is a trip into the great unknown. You get enough information, do enough footwork and results start happening. Always focus on the cause, not the effect.