A while back my wife was in some training and she picked up a phrase that has become oft-repeated in my home. “Quick to forgive.” It’s a powerful concept, easy to accept, perhaps hard to apply.
The power of forgiveness is real. As a job seeker we feel slighted for many reasons… the people who let us go, the people who don’t help us network, the people who don’t choose to hire us, the people who ________.
Job seekers work with people… and thus we have plenty of opportunity to forgive.
As you let things go, and get over them (or through them), you can put your time, attention and energy into more important things, like the task at hand. What do you need to do to move forward, instead of why are you staying held back?
Try to create a personal culture of being quick to forgive, and move on with what you need to move on to.
Finally, I can’t talk about forgiveness without suggesting that you get really good at forgiving yourself. I’m not saying create excuses for not having or achieving what you want, but don’t wallow in self-pity and feelings of failure and inadequacy. Forgive yourself, take ownership of your issues in the spirit of being willing to improve, but stop harboring unsafe and harmful feelings – towards yourselves, or others.
I can’t imagine how serene life would be if we could be quick to forgive… can you?
Great advice. It can be all too easy to get caught up with negative energy and get distracted away from the things that will make you successful in your job search.