Artwork for podcast Careers & Coffee
Visualization: how it can help your job search
Episode 2425th January 2022 • Careers & Coffee • Corridor Careers
00:00:00 00:14:23

Share Episode

Shownotes

In these challenging times...it's hard to remember that there are unlimited possibilities. In this pod we talk about how to use creative visualization for job search and general motivational success. Tips for making it work and challenges to try with the 'playground of your brain'.

Additional resources

Transcripts

Dan Holterhaus:

Good morning. Hi, Liz.

Liz Kennedy:

Are you? Good? How are you?

Dan Holterhaus:

Doing great. Still drinking my coffee,

Dan Holterhaus:

enjoying my morning?

Liz Kennedy:

Yeah, it's a, it's a good morning here in Cedar

Liz Kennedy:

Rapids.

Dan Holterhaus:

Um, well, let's go ahead and talk about some

Dan Holterhaus:

career stuff, which is what we do at quarter careers. February

Dan Holterhaus:

6, is an important day, if you are a job seeker.

Liz Kennedy:

And you're like, Yeah, I want to know,

Dan Holterhaus:

you should go pick up a Gazette on Sunday,

Dan Holterhaus:

February 6, because there's going to be a lot of

Dan Holterhaus:

advertisements on it. And those advertisements are going to have

Dan Holterhaus:

local employers that are hiring right now. And it's going to

Dan Holterhaus:

talk about what jobs they might be hiring for. So February six,

Dan Holterhaus:

Sunday, make sure to pick up your Sunday Gazette. And check

Dan Holterhaus:

out who's hiring. Yeah.

Liz Kennedy:

I'm sure there's gonna be good to some good news

Liz Kennedy:

in there, too. Absolutely. And a Sunday crossword. So we're, you

Liz Kennedy:

can't go wrong there.

Dan Holterhaus:

Yeah, there's multiple multiple uses for it

Dan Holterhaus:

right. Most importantly, you're gonna see a lot of employers

Dan Holterhaus:

advertising open jobs. Sunday, February 6, so go, go pick that

Dan Holterhaus:

up? Um, well, let's get into our topic today, which is going to

Dan Holterhaus:

be visualization. So I, I think about so I'm a golfer. I played

Dan Holterhaus:

a lot of golf growing up. And maybe if you're a golfer, you

Dan Holterhaus:

can relate to this. But when I think about visualization, I

Dan Holterhaus:

think about like seeing my golf shot before I hit the golf shot.

Dan Holterhaus:

Yeah, I'm like trying to like picture what it's gonna look

Dan Holterhaus:

like before I hit it. And most of the time, that does not

Dan Holterhaus:

happen on the golf course. Ball goes the opposite direction of

Dan Holterhaus:

where you want to go. But I think that's, like when I think

Dan Holterhaus:

visualization, that's the first thing that comes to my mind. As

Dan Holterhaus:

a job seeker. There are some different applications for

Dan Holterhaus:

visualization. So would you like to go over those?

Liz Kennedy:

Yeah, let's talk about a couple ways that

Liz Kennedy:

creative visualization can help you as a job seeker. It's a

Liz Kennedy:

totally free method to improve your job search. And hopefully,

Liz Kennedy:

we'll give you some ideas. Or you can try this out today and

Liz Kennedy:

try it right after this. This podcast. Cool. All right, well,

Liz Kennedy:

let's just start with one. So here's, here's one way, so you

Liz Kennedy:

talked about being able to see the golf ball. One of the ways

Liz Kennedy:

that I've used creative visualization of the past, has

Liz Kennedy:

been through visualizing how I'm going to feel. And so here's

Liz Kennedy:

what I recommend for your golf swing is like, you know, when

Liz Kennedy:

you hit the perfect swing, what that feels like, So visualizing

Liz Kennedy:

yourself and kind of going through the motions, and it

Liz Kennedy:

helps to sometimes close your eyes, and like feel the feelings

Liz Kennedy:

that you would feel if you had that perfect swing. And so to

Liz Kennedy:

bring that back to the job search method, I think one of

Liz Kennedy:

the things that is difficult for job seekers these days,

Liz Kennedy:

especially with everything that's going on in the world, it

Liz Kennedy:

was just anyone doesn't have to be a job seeker. Everyone's

Liz Kennedy:

dealing with anxiety and overwhelm right now, there's

Liz Kennedy:

just a collective sense of like, how heavy the times are these

Liz Kennedy:

days. And creative visualization can help with that a little bit

Liz Kennedy:

and give you a sense of control. Because when you're visualizing

Liz Kennedy:

something, it hasn't happened yet. And so you can control what

Liz Kennedy:

you think of when it happens, hopefully. And so, one thing

Liz Kennedy:

that you can do is like when you're in a relaxed state, so

Liz Kennedy:

let's just say first thing, when you're waking up in the morning,

Liz Kennedy:

you can say, Okay, I'm going to spend five minutes going through

Liz Kennedy:

a visualization today. And it could just be I'm going to

Liz Kennedy:

visualize myself sitting at my computer to start my job search

Liz Kennedy:

today. And we're going to visualize myself feeling

Liz Kennedy:

relaxed. And just imagining yourself feeling relaxed, and I

Liz Kennedy:

like to tie it to a trigger. So typically, if I'm doing a

Liz Kennedy:

visualization, I'll be like, okay, when I open the door to my

Liz Kennedy:

office, I feel relaxed. And then I go through kind of step by

Liz Kennedy:

step. So the first step would be open the door to my office. And

Liz Kennedy:

when I sit down to my chair, I feel relaxed. And then when I

Liz Kennedy:

open up my computer, I feel relaxed. Or if you're just

Liz Kennedy:

searching on your phone, before you look at your phone, I'd be

Liz Kennedy:

like, when I turned my phone on, I feel relaxed. And when I pull

Liz Kennedy:

up my you know, if I pull up Corridor Careers, let's say, I

Liz Kennedy:

feel relaxed. And I imagined myself seeing the perfect job

Liz Kennedy:

for me. You know, you can do kinds of fun. That's the

Liz Kennedy:

creativity part comes in, I see the perfect job for me that fits

Liz Kennedy:

my skill set that offers the position that I'm interested in

Liz Kennedy:

that has the compensation and benefits I'm looking for. I

Liz Kennedy:

mean, you can just imagine those things. If it doesn't happen,

Liz Kennedy:

you know, it's no sweat, but like, you can feel the feeling

Liz Kennedy:

that you would feel you know if you can do the same thing. Like

Liz Kennedy:

I win the lottery to know you can imagine yourself, you can

Liz Kennedy:

imagine, you can just go back to that childlike sense of wonder

Liz Kennedy:

that you can, you can imagine whatever you want, your brain is

Liz Kennedy:

a free playground. So I would recommend that because if you

Liz Kennedy:

imagine yourself feeling relaxed, what you've done is

Liz Kennedy:

you've rehearsed your brain to see those triggers, and trigger

Liz Kennedy:

a relaxation response instead of an anxiety response. Because

Liz Kennedy:

we're automatically overhyped, right now, we're automatically

Liz Kennedy:

overwhelmed, and more prone to feel anxious or fight flight or

Liz Kennedy:

fight syndrome, you know, when when a stressor, and it's very

Liz Kennedy:

stressful to search for a job, or do a job interview or any of

Liz Kennedy:

those things, but you can use creative realization, to imagine

Liz Kennedy:

yourself being successful. In that job interview feeling

Liz Kennedy:

relaxed. You could imagine yourself having the right answer

Liz Kennedy:

to the question, you know, you can do all those things. And so

Liz Kennedy:

I that's a really, I've found it to be super helpful in calming

Liz Kennedy:

my mind before a big interview, or just before tackling

Liz Kennedy:

something that's stressful.

Dan Holterhaus:

Yeah, yeah, a couple things. To piggyback off

Dan Holterhaus:

that, I think one thing that came to my mind was, it's

Dan Holterhaus:

almost, when you were going through talking about when you

Dan Holterhaus:

you know, say open your computer, I feel relaxed, it's

Dan Holterhaus:

almost just giving yourself little reminders all the time,

Dan Holterhaus:

right, yeah. And so I've done this before, by just like, you

Dan Holterhaus:

know, having a mark on my hand or something, or, you know, like

Dan Holterhaus:

something, you know, writing a little note to myself, and like

Dan Holterhaus:

a sticky note and having that on my mirror in my bathroom, or on

Dan Holterhaus:

my computer, like, hey, just a reminder, like, you know, so I

Dan Holterhaus:

think that was one thing that came to mind. The other thing

Dan Holterhaus:

that came to mind, for me, it was just yeah, the heaviness of

Dan Holterhaus:

just everything that's been going on, you know, we're almost

Dan Holterhaus:

going on two years and a pandemic. And it's been rough on

Dan Holterhaus:

everybody, and just just a reminder to, like, breathe, and

Dan Holterhaus:

just know that, like, everything seems very heavy, right? But at

Dan Holterhaus:

the end of the day, like, I don't think when we're all on

Dan Holterhaus:

our deathbed, we're all gonna look back and like, think about

Dan Holterhaus:

like, one specific day, like, wow, this was such a big deal in

Dan Holterhaus:

my life. Like, you know, we're gonna, you know, think back

Dan Holterhaus:

about, wow, that was a weird time through a pandemic, but I

Dan Holterhaus:

don't think we'll necessarily focus on like, so I would

Dan Holterhaus:

encourage people to kind of approach why, like, approach

Dan Holterhaus:

life just with a little more, you know, freedom and like, less

Dan Holterhaus:

anxiety. Like, it's not the end of end of the world. Right? Did

Dan Holterhaus:

that make any sense at all?

Liz Kennedy:

Um, yeah. So you were talking earlier, we were

Liz Kennedy:

talking about how you use creative visualization for like,

Liz Kennedy:

just kind of regular old motivation. And so you want to

Liz Kennedy:

talk a little bit about that. So what you do in the morning?

Dan Holterhaus:

Yeah, sure. So I, for about the last year and a

Dan Holterhaus:

half, I have listened to the same 20 minute motivational

Dan Holterhaus:

YouTube video from Earl Nightingale, who is old school,

Dan Holterhaus:

if you look him up, he passed away like 30 years ago, but you

Dan Holterhaus:

know, he did a lot of like tape recordings back in, like the

Dan Holterhaus:

50s, which, which are still super relevant today. I mean, he

Dan Holterhaus:

talks about some things that don't make any sense. Like, you

Dan Holterhaus:

know, your, you know, income wise and stuff like that. But

Dan Holterhaus:

one of the things he says in there is, begin to act as the

Dan Holterhaus:

person you most want to become. So starting today, begin to act

Dan Holterhaus:

as the person you most want to become, and you will eventually

Dan Holterhaus:

become that person. Right. And I think there's a lot of tie ins,

Dan Holterhaus:

whether just in your regular life, or in a job search, right?

Dan Holterhaus:

Where if you begin to act or you can do this in a lot of

Dan Holterhaus:

different ways, right? You can start to dress like the person

Dan Holterhaus:

you most want to become. You can start to you know, comb your

Dan Holterhaus:

hair like the person you come I don't know, like the take it as

Dan Holterhaus:

you want to, but I think there's some good times with job

Dan Holterhaus:

searching with that because we all have dreams and I posted

Dan Holterhaus:

this to the corridor careers Instagram account yesterday.

Dan Holterhaus:

That a dream is just a set of a goal, right? A dream can be

Dan Holterhaus:

broken down into goals, which can be broken down into daily

Dan Holterhaus:

habits and routines. So I gave the example in that post of the

Dan Holterhaus:

dream is for a job seeker, maybe to come a human resource

Dan Holterhaus:

manager. So that's the dream. So the goal, maybe for this year,

Dan Holterhaus:

is to complete your PHR exam, which I, which is a human

Dan Holterhaus:

resource exam that a lot of human resource managers have.

Dan Holterhaus:

There's several of them, I think. And so what does that

Dan Holterhaus:

daily habit that you could do today to start working towards

Dan Holterhaus:

that goal and that dream? Well, you can start studying or you

Dan Holterhaus:

can purchase a practice exam, right for your PHR exam. So I

Dan Holterhaus:

think when you start to break it down into daily habits and

Dan Holterhaus:

routines, what your big dreams are, and visual, like your long

Dan Holterhaus:

term visualizations of what you want, you can, you know, break

Dan Holterhaus:

it down into very simple daily habits and routines and just

Dan Holterhaus:

moving each day just a little bit, like, will add up big time.

Dan Holterhaus:

Over time.

Liz Kennedy:

Yeah, that's really good advice. Because it's okay.

Liz Kennedy:

It's okay to dream big, but unless you kind of craft that

Liz Kennedy:

dream into actions that you're going to take, it's, it's not

Liz Kennedy:

like it's gonna get dropped in your lap. So you're gonna have

Liz Kennedy:

to break it down. And actually, by breaking it down, you exert a

Liz Kennedy:

little more control over that potential. And you also set

Liz Kennedy:

yourself up for better success. And also, figuring out is that

Liz Kennedy:

dream actually what you want anymore? Because if you started

Liz Kennedy:

practicing for that exam and realized, huh, this is my dream

Liz Kennedy:

anymore, then then you you'll know, you'll know. And you'll be

Liz Kennedy:

able to shift and I don't know, I think that's a good. That's a

Liz Kennedy:

good plan.

Dan Holterhaus:

Cool. Yeah. process, right. Kinda, yeah, you

Dan Holterhaus:

gotta fall in love with the process. And like, you alluded

Dan Holterhaus:

to, like, if you don't love the process, maybe it's not quite

Dan Holterhaus:

the right. So

Liz Kennedy:

It's hard to remember sometimes when

Liz Kennedy:

especially living through times like these that, that there are

Liz Kennedy:

unlimited possibilities. Yes, there really are. And the

Liz Kennedy:

perfect place to play in that space is in your mind, like open

Liz Kennedy:

your mind to the potential that there are unlimited

Liz Kennedy:

possibilities and just start to explore those things. And that's

Liz Kennedy:

free. The only one stopping you is your own kind of habitual

Liz Kennedy:

mind games that you play with yourself. So just break those

Liz Kennedy:

down. And let's, let's let's let go of those this year.

Dan Holterhaus:

Yeah. I love that. All right. Anything else?

Dan Holterhaus:

Before we sign off? I think I have one more thing, actually.

Dan Holterhaus:

Yeah, you go. Um, when you when you just said that, I think a

Dan Holterhaus:

great way to kind of get creative and get out of, you

Dan Holterhaus:

know, get out of your thoughts. But you know, your daily where

Dan Holterhaus:

you're going through on a day to day basis is just to get

Dan Holterhaus:

outside. Go, go get some fresh air, then I know it's snowing,

Dan Holterhaus:

and it's been cold for right now. But get outside. You know,

Dan Holterhaus:

get into nature. Like I think that's just a great way to kind

Dan Holterhaus:

of reset. Yeah.

Liz Kennedy:

Yeah, you'll hear Some recurring themes on the

Liz Kennedy:

careers and coffee pod - that is one of them. Easier to follow

Liz Kennedy:

that advice in the summertime, but yeah, but you can get out

Liz Kennedy:

there and you know, you can also just go to the mall and walk

Liz Kennedy:

around.

Dan Holterhaus:

Yes, absolutely. You got to take that time for

Dan Holterhaus:

yourself. Yep. If you're going to be creative, I think

Liz Kennedy:

Alright, guys, well, hopefully this was

Liz Kennedy:

helpful. Try these tips today and and good luck.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube