These days, it can be difficult to land a job in your chosen field. In fact, it can be disheartening to yet again polish your resume, put on your best suit, and with your hopes held high, go to an interview only to hear, “We’re sorry, but you’re overeducated or overqualified,” or “I’d like to hire you, but you just don’t have the industry experience.” Your feelings of discouragement and defeat can easily carry over into other aspects of your life. You may become less motivated to hit the gym, you might turn to junk food for comfort, you might stop dating, or hesitate to meet up with friends. Instead of sitting around hoping that perfect job will magically appear, why not try something new? Think outside the box.  

You’ve probably heard of writer’s block. When an author gets stuck and ideas just won’t materialize, many times they walk away from their computers and do something completely different: go to the movies, go to lunch with a friend, or take a walk in nature. By stepping away, they clear their minds and re-energize their creative process. 

Likewise, if you find yourself struggling to land a job, it might be beneficial to try something new. Not only will that start your creative juices flowing, it’s good for your brain. Research has shown that trying something new has huge benefits. That’s because trying something new is an antidepressant and boosts the feel-good hormone dopamine in your brain. 

How do you begin to try something new? Here are five strategies you can try: 

1. Tap into your passions. What do you do best with minimal effort? What energizes you? What gives you a sense of purpose? Write your passions down. If you rubbed a genie’s lamp and were given three wishes allowing you to spend your days doing “whatever,” what would those “whatevers” be? Really be honest. No one is going to judge you. 
2. With several passions in mind, match your passion (what you love) with a purpose (what will both contribute and bring you joy). Let’s say you love wine. Maybe apply for a job at a wine bar. That wine bar may lead you to meet their sommelier who invites you to train under him or her. What if you have a passion for horses? You could work on a farm, learn to train horses, get a job as a horseback trail guide, or a ranch hand. If you like golf, start writing about golf. Create a golfing blog, post golf reels on TikTok and/or YouTube. Submit your writing to golf publications. If there’s a golf tournament in your area, apply for a job helping the organizers. Don’t be afraid to stretch your imagination. 
3. Keep an open mind. The right opportunity could be waiting for you in the last possible place you’d look. Author and alternative medicine advocate, Deepak Chopra, thought he had landed his dream job when he was one of six who were picked to work with the world’s most prominent endocrinologist right out of medical school. Shortly after he started, however, he realized the work was tedious and unsatisfying. Every day, he took a break and sat in the waiting room with the patients. The Boston Globe was on a table open to a page with a small ad for a position in a local hospital. And every day, he ignored the ad, closed the paper, and got back to work. 

One day, the endocrinologist addressed him in a cruel and demeaning manner. They argued, and Deepak walked out. He sat in the lounge to calm down, and there on the table was the Boston Globe, open to the page with the ad—the same ad he had been ignoring for weeks. The coincidence was too powerful to ignore. He quit and drove directly to the small hospital, applied for the position, and started work that very day. Even though he thought laboratory work was what he was striving for, paying attention to this coincidence allowed him to break his habitual patterns. It was a message just for him—a life’s personal road flare. Pay attention to signs that may be coming at you. Deepak’s advice for seeking a job: match your job, your career, and your calling.

1. Temporary jobs can be a smart stepping stone. Whether the job is inside or outside your field of expertise, there are many benefits to taking a temp job. You can build your network, expand your work experience, and learn a new skill set. And many temp jobs can give you the opportunity for permanent work, especially in temp-to-hire situations. Employers often use temporary positions to assess a candidate’s suitability for a full-time role. 
2. Consider working for yourself. This can involve starting a business, freelancing, or engaging in gig work, where you’re paid per project or task. Many people find working side hustles allows them the flexibility that traditional jobs lack. In fact, there are currently over 70.4 million Americans engaged in freelance work.

“You’ll never get bored when you try something new. 

There’s no limit to what you can do.”

                     — Dr. Seuss

I know how disheartening not finding a job can be, but there’s no downside to trying something new. By getting a job in a field you hadn’t imagined, even if it’s a temporary job, you will meet a whole new circle of friends and colleagues which could lead you down an amazing path you hadn’t expected. You’ll be learning a new skill set and adding to your resume, which could lead to a renewed sense of purpose and direction. And bonus, you’ll be earning money! You’ve got nothing to lose. And you might just have the experience of a lifetime.

If you feel depressed or anxious because you can’t seem to land a job or you’re discouraged that nothing you do seems to make a difference, we understand what you’re going through. Please reach out to us. At Wallace Family Therapy, we are highly trained to provide the most effective treatment that meets your specific needs and challenges. We’re here to help you.

Making mistakes is an inescapable part of being human. Most people agree that it can feel pretty bad at the time, but learning to recognize your mistakes as life lessons can allow you to use them to your advantage, bringing you that much closer to achieving your goals. 

Learning isn’t linear. It involves ups and downs, failures, reexaminations, and reattempts. Every person, every business, every venture experiences mistakes. A baby repeatedly falls before taking their first step. Researchers studied 130 toddlers from twelve months to nineteen months of age and found that they fell on average 17 times an hour! The Wright Brothers would never have gotten in the air if it wasn’t for their many, and sometimes painful, failures. NASA’s failures during the Apollo program led to the agency learning from their design errors, which eventually led to Neil Armstrong taking the first human steps on the moon. Taking their inspiration from the Wright Brothers, the crew of Apollo 11 took a small piece of wood to the moon with them from the Wright Flyer—the first successful aircraft. 

There’s no good way to put this—you will continue to make mistakes now and then throughout your life. That’s life. It’s important to know that you’re not alone. The good news is, failures and setbacks can lead to a deeper awareness of ourselves and eventual success. You can learn to turn mistakes into valuable lessons. Here are five strategies you can try to make learning from your mistakes easier:

1. Don’t let your mistake define you. It can be easy to wallow and get stuck in an unhappy state. Remember, you are not your mistake. Remind yourself that no matter how painful or embarrassing, you can turn it into an important life lesson. It can make you stronger, smarter, and that much closer to your goal. Let that define you!
2. Recognize your mistake. Be specific about what went wrong if you can. Ask yourself why you think you made the mistake. Did you misread someone’s cues? Did you overestimate your current abilities? Maybe your idea was right, but your approach needed finessing? Were you rushing to finish a project? Once you can pinpoint where you went wrong, you can take the steps needed to try again.
3. Shake off the fear of failure. The writer, artist, and philosopher, Elbert Hubbard, famously said, “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of procrastinating or avoiding trying again. Remember the old cowboy saying, “When you fall off the horse, dust yourself off and get back in the saddle.” You can’t succeed by giving up. You have to keep trying.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes, you might not see where you went wrong. It can be beneficial to reach out to friends, co-workers, or trusted family members for advice. It helps to have a “fresh pair of eyes.” They may even have experience with their own mistakes that they can share with you. Having someone you can count on can give you a sense of security to try again.
5. Try to keep your sense of humor. If you can learn to laugh at yourself, you’ll find that it can de-escalates a tense situation, decrease stress, and get you in a better frame of mind to try again. 

Mistakes are signals telling you that you’re going the wrong way. The actor and producer, Tyler Perry, came to think of life as though he was walking through a maze. If a door slams shut, he thinks of that as a wall in a maze coming up in front of him letting him know he simply has to go in a different direction. He then asks himself, “What was there to teach me? What did I learn? And what did it protect me from when I learned it?”

It’s not uncommon to want to put a failure behind you as soon as possible and move on, but you may be missing out on opportunities to learn and improve. Taking the time to think about your mistake can prevent you from repeating it in the future. 

A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new.

                           — Albert Einstein

No one hits the bullseye with the first arrow. And no one who has ever succeeded did so without making a few mistakes along the way. Whether you had a misstep in school, in business, or in your personal life, you are in good company. Take a deep breath, reassess, and try again. You’ve got this!

If you are experiencing anxiety or depression or you feel something is wrong but you can’t seem to find the answers, please reach out to us. At Wallace Family Therapy, we are highly trained to provide the most effective treatment that meets your specific needs and challenges. We’re here to help you.