*Sigh*, the stuff no one wants to talk about or help you through. Personally, I’ve dealt with many times from not getting the job I want, getting negative feedback/pushback on a project I’ve been working on, being told my work isn’t good enough and so on and so on. Being a college student in general, I definitely believe that in your 4 years (or 5 or 7 or 10), you will feel like you’ve “failed” multiple times or like a reject, but here’s how you don’t let it discourage you.
1. Sit down & breathe! I know, sometimes your first instinct after you fall down, is to jump immediately up and try again, but have you taken a second
to breathe?
Have you given yourself enough time to recover before going after that goal again? If you haven’t, why not? Consider taking just a few seconds to breathe, regroup and get your mind together.
If you are someone who uses visualizations to relax, find some. If you pray in times of distress, bow your head. If you normally write out all your frustrations and worries, grab your journal. No matter how you deal with issues, deal with them first before you become so quick to jump up.
2. Evaluate!! (please) The
re are plenty of times when your work was A1, but there were too many submissions. Or your resume/CV was, what you thought, the best thing since sliced bread, but was critiqued harder than you could ever imagined. But now, how do you evaluate your situation and yourself?
- If you were rejected by a job, truly evaluate how prepared you were.
- Did you know enough about the company?
- Did you know how to correctly answers the questions?
- Were you there on time (meaning 10-15 minutes early)?
- Were you dressed appropriately according to that company’s standards?
These same questions would apply if you interview for a research position, an internship, a Teaching Assistant position, a Resident Assistant position…] If you checked off all these, let’s talk about one of the biggest factors in most selection processes. Were you confident? No, I don’t mean rambling about your 100s of accomplishments or comparing your work to others, but were you confident in your body language? Were you confident when speaking about your work? Were you confident in your introduction? Confidence is key no matter who you are or where you are. Learn how to believe in yourself and watch how far it takes you.
3. Prepare & plan. We all know this, “failing to plan is planning to fail’, so don’t do it to yourself. Maybe you went through that checklist and realized you didn’t really know enough about the company and/or position you were applying. Or, you were on time and ready but not dressed to that specific company’s standard. Quite possibly, maybe everything else was perfect but your confidence wasn’t where it needed to be. If those or anything else was the problem, how do you fix it?
You plan better. Maybe next week you have another interview or another review in front of the committee. Take time to do your research on what they are looking for? Take time to figure out what you can give to their company/organization/research lab/community and not only what they can give to you. Take time to evaluate your strengths and use them to your advantage. Find your weaknesses and use them to your advantage. Find out what makes you back into a corner and learn how to make it work for you. Bottom line – when you don’t adequately plan & prepare, you are setting yourself up to be let down. Don’t let the reason you miss a great opportunity be that you didn’t take 1 hour to practice interview questions, look through the companies website, wake up earlier or find something great to wear.
4. Put it in action. Maybe you’re aren’t quite ready a week later to try again. That’s okay. Maybe a month later you think you still think you need time. That’s okay. Getting up and trying again isn’t a race. Do things in your time they best way you know how. Now, when you go back in front of that committee or panel, come prepared, confident and ready to tackle the world.
You’ve done your reading, you’ve prayed your prayers, you’ve ironed your favorite blouse – now you can do it. If you get what you were going for, congratulations! If you still weren’t successful and believe you did everything, maybe you need to wait. No all good things come right away. Feel confident that you gave it all you had and left it it all on the table, the field, the hands of the decision makers or where ever it is being evaluated. Waiting is hard. Rejection is hard. But when things work out, don’t they make you feel on top of the world? Remember that feeling when you get down or discouraged.
Lastly, remember that you are human and sometimes you make mistakes. Sometimes they are big mistakes. But no matter what remember everything you are doing today will prepare your tomorrow. So if you aren’t planning & preparing, remembering that will set up your tomorrow. If you are planning & preparing, that will set up your tomorrow.
So, there’s another Get Movin’ Monday post. I would love to hear how these steps worked for you! Leave me a comment or email me: azaniquerawl@aol.com Feel free to share with your friends & on social media outlets. Thanks for reading friends! You are awesome, brilliant and wonderful, don’t let any tell you different.
