Greydient Jobs

The power of the mind, and why it’s not all mumbo-jumbo..

For some psychology is just an easy degree at university. For others it’s “mumbo-jumbo” that bears little relevance to their everyday lives. I fall somewhere in between. Look, I do believe over-analysis can lead to paralysis so let’s not dig too deep or take any research too literally, but I also believe that the mind is one of our most unknown and untapped universes, so why not explore it a bit if we can use the knowledge to our benefit?

Particularly if we can work on our mindset as older workers to get us that job we really want.

Mindset.. What Team Greydient has learnt..

For older workers,  having a Mindset MOT is key both to ensure job search success but also continued success back in the workplace itself.

As Team Greydient speaks to more and more older workers and Greydient users, we’re becoming increasingly aware that sometimes our job seekers may not be held back by their poor practical skills; such as CV writing or interview technique, moreover they are held back by their poor mindset, attitude and approach to the whole job seeking process.

Refreshing Your Mindset and Your Approach

Our Mindset MOT workshops help to refresh and retune their mindsets. It takes time of course and like anything that we want to change or become better at, it takes practice.  And with every journey there’s a starting point..

Confronting the Elephant in the Room

We want our delegates to release any negativity around their job search and then banish any bitterness around their job loss or redundancy. How? By giving them a chance to have a good ole fashioned moan and groan – first and foremost by allowing them to confront the issues and areas that piss them off on paper.  For most older workers there’s “an elephant in the room” –  so let’s acknowledge it.

Once done, we are able to work with delegates more openly, helping them develop more of an “can do” mindset and looking more broadly at who they are, what they want and why they want it.

Everyone wants a job to pay the bills, granted, but a lot of the time there is so much more to it than that and this holds job seekers back.

Fighting negativity, building confidence and embracing a growth mindset is key. And there’s some interesting research on this subject.

Growth Mindset v Fixed Mindset

Carol Dweck is Professor of Psychology at Stanford University in the US of A and author of the 2006 Mindset; The New Psychology of Success. In fact some would say Carol Dweck discovered Mindset, she’s that good. Her research and publications challenging the common belief that intelligent people are born smart by developing the concept of the growth mindset versus the fixed mindset, a growth mindset being one that embraces problems as opportunities to learn, a fixed mindset being one that avoids them, often out of fear to fail. For a growth mindset if you are a fail at something it just means your learning. Nice.

GROWTH MINDSET: you believe that your skills and intelligence are things that can be developed and improved. That you DO have the capacity to learn and grow. Skills are built.

FIXED MINDSET: you believe that your skills and intelligence are set – that you have what you have. That you DON’T have the capacity to learn and grow. Skills are born.

What Kind of Mindset Do You Have?

Look at the following statements and see which you relate to more..

• I can learn anything I want to
• I’m either good at it, or I’m not
• When I’m frustrated, I persevere
• When Im frustrated, I give up
• I want to challenge myself 
• I don’t like to be challenged 
• When I fail, I learn
• When I fail, I’m no good
• Tell me I try hard 
• Tell me I’m smart 
• If you succeed, I’m inspired
• If you succeed,  feel threatened 

Do you relate to the GREEN statements more or the RED ones? The green statements indicate a growth mindset whilst the red ones indicate a fixed mindset. The good news? Everyone can change. Even if we have a closed off, fixed mindset we can develop and grow. We just need to TRY.

Carol Dweck’s extensive research of the topic also shows that people with a growth mindset learn, grow, and achieve more than people that have fixed mindsets, because they are willing to TRY and open to FAILURE. Because failing isn’t failing, it’s learning.

So give it a go. They say a picture says a 100 words. So a video must say a thousand more. So please watch the video at the bottom of this page for more insights and learnings and to fuel that growth mindset!

The “Celebrate Trying” Blueprint to Job Search Success

Everyone’s different aren’t they? That’s the beauty of the world we live in. We’re individuals. So my guidelines below aren’t a “one cap fits all” approach, just a suggestion of what you may do need to do as part of a Mindset MOT. If you have any questions or comments though please feel free to get in touch.

1. Give yourself permission to get angry, confront the “elephant in the room” and write down everything that has upset or frustrated you during your job search. Acknowledge these points, and then move on.
2. I said move on. Park the past, move on and be willing to forgive yourself too. You’re ok.
3. Allow yourself the freedom to fail. Because failing isn’t failing, it’s learning. 
4. Try something different, whether it’s a different job search approach or a different role you’re applying for. Challenge yourself.
5. CELEBRATE the fact you’re TRYING, because the more you do, the more chance you have to SUCCEED. 

Thanks for listening. Now press play on the video below..

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