Advice for Unemployed
The moment you acquire
non-employment status, something strange happens: You begin changing your daily
routines. This change can range from sleeping in to staying up half the night,
or occupying your daytime hours with “busy work.” The bottom line is that not
going to work each day becomes the new norm. This new norm will take 21 days before
it fully manifests itself into your daily habits.
Once you form a habit—especially a
nonproductive one, it becomes nigh to impossible to break. Smoking, snacking
and drinking sugar water are three classic examples, but there are many others.
These might include watching daytime television, excessive Internet surfing, or
perhaps visiting a favored coffee shop to fritter away the hours commiserating
with others who have nothing better to do.
An unexpected drop in income can
also affect one’s behaviors. Those with substantial financial reserves might
elect to postpone changing their daily routines by implementing a proactive
job-search campaign. That of course, would be ideal, but far too often it is
not the case. Those without financial reserves shift into panic mode.
As one’s job-searching efforts are
prolonged, fear inevitably sets in. Once the fear factor sets in, irrational
behaviors begin to surface. It is easy for skilled job interviewers to observe
this in job seekers, but those who are in full panic mode are rarely unaware of
their own abnormal behaviors.
The combination of fear and new
routine habits can have a debilitating effect on searching for new employment. While
fears and habits are separate issues, they are connected. Both mutually
coexist at the subconscious level. Fears (or phobias) can occur overnight,
while habits—good or bad, are
acquired over 21 days before they manifest themselves.[1]
There are no known exceptions to habit
formation other than the one mentioned in the footnote. You cannot speed up the
process. If you desire to break a habit or irrational fear, it will not occur in
less than 21 days. You may need to factor this in when planning your
interviewing strategy and job-seeking action plan.
This 21-day cycle may have something to do
with the human genetic structure. Though I am not a phylogenetic specialist,
this is an established scientific fact. Therefore, if you plan to break bad
interviewing and/or eating habits, it is recommended you commence the moment
you become unemployed.
This 21-day cycle applies to whether you are
attempting to replace bad habits, or acquire new ones. You can have the
greatest résumé on the planet, but if bad interviewing and poor eating habits
run interference—those bad routines have stacked the odds against you.
Some clients complain about my emphasis placed
on their poor eating habits, and want to know why this is so importance? What
you eat directly affects your brain’s
performance. The most dangerous food poison is sugar—also known as fructose.[2] According
to world-renowned Dr. Amen, sugar not only makes humans fat--it also makes us stupid.
The last thing you want to appear during a high-stress
job interview is dimwitted simply because you consumed too much sugar poison
and too many carbohydrates. While sugar and carbs provides a temporary
stimulus, it will not last. Thirty minutes is about tops. Afterwards, you begin
to mentally crash. (Those who are
hypoglycemic and need to maintain their glucose levels face an additional
challenge.)
Breaking the sugar-addiction habit is a
Herculean challenge. Sugar is every bit as addicting as cocaine. No amount of
wishing will make a hard-core problem disappear. In the case of toxic sugar (and sugar-based products), once you
break that addiction, you will notice a dramatic improvement in your mental and
physical energy levels—especially the ability to remain mentally focused. That,
my friend, is a good thing—particularly during those challenging job
interviews.
[1] Point of clarification: We are not talking
about drug-induced habits such as those resulting from the use of crystal
methane and crack-cocaine addictions. These chemically induced addictive habits
can occur instantly.
[2] We are not talking about natural fructose found
in fiber-rich fresh fruit. Your body metabolizes this type of natural sugar into
glucose: The glucose then generates mental and physical energy. This type of
fructose combines naturally with the fruit’s high fiber content. That said; Dr.
Mercola strongly recommends limited your fructose intake to no more than 25
grams per day.
In 1975, Americans were consuming
dangerous levels (63 pounds) of sugar toxin annually. Currently, the average
American is consuming more than 140 pounds annually. That one toxin alone
accounts for the skyrocketing statistics in obesity, depression, fatty liver
disease, liver failure, hypertension, diabetes, high-blood presser and
Metabolic Syndrome.
Do not confuse fruit drinks with raw fruit.
During industrial food processing, the high fiber content is removed to extend
product shelf life. When this occurs, it renders the product virtually
worthless. Do not be fooled by advertised semantic nonsense. Words like natural product or all natural mean nothing in the commercial food-processing
industry.