Just Doing It.

Fifteen. 

That’s the number of articles I’ve written since the beginning of February, counting this one.

Now some of you could be impressed with this, and others might be like, “big deal!”

I assure you it is.

I’m almost embarrassed to tell you this, but my Consistency Strength from the CliftonStrengths Assessment ranks at …(inhaling)… (whispering)… number thirty-two.

That would be 32 out of 34 possible Strengths you can have. You might as well call it a weakness for where it falls in my report line-up!

In case you’re unfamiliar with the CliftonStrengths Assessment, it is based on five decades of research to help you understand your natural way of doing things. According to Gallup, “Your greatest talents - the ways in which you most naturally think, feel and behave - represent your innate power and potential.” They have taken thirty-four typical talents found in people and used common language to help someone understand himself or herself.

So now that you understand the background of the assessment, you’re seeing that being consistent is NOT something that is natural for me.

Far from it! In fact, a Strength that made it into my top five is Adaptability; the literal opposite of Consistency. 

Now both are good and both are Strengths in different people. It just happens to be an area for me where I have to really stretch myself to stay consistent.

When I started my Newsletter on LinkedIn, I had the option to select Weekly, Biweekly, or Monthly for its publication. I specifically chose to do a Weekly Newsletter because it would stretch me to stay consistent in writing. I wasn’t concerned about having ideas for articles to write. Ideation is another Strength in the report and it falls in my top ten. 

What to write wasn’t going to be the problem. Just doing it was.

I see this as a challenge for some professionals in the Job Search as well.

You can know what to do, but actually allowing the activity of the search to be a constant hum in your weekly activity vs. short staccato bursts is the big difference between hoping for change and seeing it happen in your career.

Here are Three Tips to Stay Consistent in your Job Search:

1.) Create Boundaries!

You will have to say no to some people to allow yourself to remain consistent in the efforts of your job search to arrive at your next opportunity. 

Sometimes a ‘no’ is creating room for a best ‘yes’ to actually exist in your life and schedule. 

2.) Calendar The Time!

Block the time on your calendar for a day and time where someone can’t typically move it, and you keep it like it’s the most important meeting of the day.

I have a calendar time block for when I publish my articles every Tuesday morning. I don’t let anything else get scheduled for this time block. It’s important that I stay consistent, so I don’t allow this time block to be rescheduled to a different day or time. You do the same.

3.) Check-In With Someone!

An accountability partner helps you be honest with your consistent efforts and removes the likelihood of giving yourself too many “passes” by not having one.

My publication deadline is my accountability partner to keep me consistent in my writing. You, as a Subscriber, are one as well! 

Think about the people on the other side of your successful job search who will be helped because you made this career move forward. It will help you stay consistent in your efforts.

At the end of the day, being consistent is just doing it. Again and again.

See you next week for article 16!