It takes commitment to succeed (in anything)

Do you struggle with staying committed to your goals? Surprise, you are not alone!

While walking with my new neighbor, Alyson, I remarked that I was struggling with consistency. She replied, “Not surprising, so do I and so does everyone.”

My neighbor is my children’s age but despite our age difference, we have found many things in common. We both like to walk, eat healthy but nutritious foods, shopping at the farmer’s market, and we share a common love for dogs, writing, and many other things.

Early on when she found that I like to walk, she suggested we walk together. When we talked about going to the farmer’s market, she suggested we walk, it is the same walk we do normally to the river, but we have to carry up our purchases. I had to think about that. It meant even more commitment. I live on top of a hill. I can’t get home without climbing.

Let’s talk about consistency and commitment

Consistency has been a common theme in our conversations. For example, Alyson will periodically try specific food challenges. Right now she is in her month of Whole30, a concept that eliminates certain foods for 30 days to improve your overall health. I opted out. Not that it isn’t a good idea but the directions tell you you have to give up foods for all of the 30 days, like dairy, legumes, grains. It wouldn’t kill me and probably even be good for me but I balked at the idea of consistently giving up any particular foods.

For me, it seems like I can be very good at one area for awhile but then something else suffers.  In July, I shared my motivation from Chele Wells and her friends to commit to exercising every day for 31 minutes. I did pretty well in July but then I found other areas were slacking. I took the time I would use writing to exercise. It seems like there is non-stop so much to do that balancing everything is hard.

For example, I try to balance exercise, housework, office organizational work, content marketing, and client projects just off the top of my head. And when I focus on one area, it seems like something else slips.

The challenge for job seekers to stay consistent

All of the above is why when you throw in a job search, consistency and commitment is so hard. You are already overloaded with the stack of things that are part of your normal life and your emotions are twisted by the thought of one more thing. In addition the turmoil that even the thought of less income causes adds to the burden.

A few tips to help you remain consistent during a job search:

1. Start with a professional resume. No matter what anyone tells you, the resume is still the foundation of the job search. Getting that ready to go first will make your job search go easier.
2. Follow that up with a targeted exceptional cover letter. The cover letter’s job is to sell you. It’s easier to want to skip this step or call it irrelevant in today’s search but you will do so much better if you have one ready to go and tweak it to match the job description you are targeting.
3. Make lists. I have daily lists and it does help to remind me of the many things I should be doing on a given day.
4. Track your job search contacts and progress. I just had a client say that she wished she had tracked her job search because she found herself calling a company to ask if she had applied because she wasn’t sure. You can use a notebook, a spreadsheet, or perhaps JibberJobber will be your solution.
5. Use a timer when faced with jobs you don’t want to do. If you don’t want to make phone calls to your network, set your timer for 15 minutes and commit to making calls for 15 minutes and then do something else. This is a Flylady tip that I still use whenever faced with things I don’t want to do. FlyLady’s principle is that anyone can do anything for 15 minutes.
6. Use the phone a friend option when you feel like giving up. Sometimes just talking it through with someone helps you get your accountability back.