The Power of One in Your Job Search (Reframing Your Life)

This post is the fourth and final one in a series to share statements from the Stephen Arterburn book called “Reframe Your Life: Transforming Your Pain Into Purpose” and share my thoughts.

In this post, we will be talking about one reframing device that can give you dramatic results if you focus on it. It involves the most challenging, but most valuable and powerful number in the world. That number is one. For anyone who has a hard time getting things accomplished such as stacks of items you need to get through, calls that need to be done, etc., begin to implant a big number ONE firmly in your mind. You focus on that number so much you start to ask about anything that happens, how it relates to the number one. All you are doing with this practice is increasing your awareness of where everything starts. It starts with the number one.

What is the power of ONE? It is found in reframing the structure of your mind to focus on what you have the ability to do and move out of thinking on what is too much for you to do. Have you ever had problems concentrating on doing something that you know will take you a long time (going through your emails) or just getting started on a project? My mind is like that. I tend to let my mind wander at times or get easily distracted by things that take my focus away from something I need to put my full attention on. For example, Twitter is an example of a tool that can suck away your time replying and following what people are saying in the stream if you are not careful about managing your time. It is like a firehose that never turns off. What you can do is take it one step at a time focusing on turning off those things that distract you and take time to write that one blog post you have been putting off or take that one hour to focus on your work. Or if one hour is too much of a stretch for you, focus on your work for 15 minutes and take a 1 minute break. Then go back to working for another 15 minutes.

The power of one can be valuable in how you search for a job. As you saturate your mind with the power of one, you can do the one thing that would move you from doing nothing to making progress. Maybe make a list of single actions and pick one a day for five days. In doing this, you can reverse a trend and start moving from sitting around wondering why you can't find a job to actively making progress towards your next job one step, one action at a time. One phone call can make the difference for a job. Sending one letter, volunteering one hour, or making one visit can start the habit of helping others.

I have started to think about how I could use the power of one in my own life as I continue to search for full-time employment. It is true that if you think about all the steps required to apply for a job or find a job, it can feel overwhelming. Especially if you have been searching for awhile or had many interviews with no success, the days can start to wear on you. But all it takes is one person that you connect with who has an opening that could lead to your next job. That is why networking is such an important part of a job search. I am involved in a few groups, including one that I started in July with a few others called the Kansas City Social Media Group. This is another group that allows business owners who want to learn more about social media come together in a social setting to network and learn from one another. I know there are other social media groups in the KC area like SMCKC, SMCJoCO, Internet Marketing/SM Meetup, etc. and in my opinion, the more groups that are out there where someone can connect with others to learn, the better. The KCSM Group focuses on providing an arena where business professionals can connect with others to get help, ideas, advice, and make connections in their fields in order to do their jobs better, gain new business, or solve problems. What is great about it is that there are many who come to this group and also attend other social media groups in the Kansas City area. It has been shared that one of the success tools in someone finding a job is through a contact they met through networking.

Another group I recently became a part of is New Landings. They are an organization who is committed to helping the unemployed middle class with resources and connections via networking to find their next job. I am part of their volunteer social media team to share ways their members can use social media tools to search for jobs and this group offers another opportunity to meet and network. Just by taking the time to learn one social media tool like Twitter, job seekers can start to take that next step in their job search. All it takes is using the power of one. Start with one tool and focus on it. Connect with one person who knows how to use social media and ask them for help.

I also am starting to think about how I can take the next step in connecting with more people I follow or who follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. There are so many people who live in the KC area that I chat with regularly via these social media tools and even though I have met some of them, I want to get to know more of them. All it takes is to make that one call, send that one e-mail, or send that one tweet/DM to someone and ask if you can get together with them to chat and get to know one another. So many of us connect virtually everyday, but do we go beyond the occasional tweet to really get to know someone and actually talk to them via phone or in person? That is one thing I am going to start doing more. Meet with people and get to know them for who they are outside of the person they represent on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. I encourage you to try this activity. In fact, by meeting these people, it might generate more blog posts on here about those I meet or even those who I feature on the Passion Drivers blog.

This post concludes the series based off the Reframing Your Life book. I will continue to share tidbits and thoughts on future books I read with you. I am open to hearing about books that have made an impact on you that you suggest I check out. Let me know in the comments. Also, if you have experienced the power of one and something you did made a difference in your life, let us know in the comments. We would love to hear stories from you. Remember, all it takes is taking that first step or doing that first action.