Breaking the Cycle: A Plan for Personal and Professional Growth

I think I'm caught in the whirlwind of driven behavior, causing me to avoid dealing with the things I don't want to face. Catching myself and hearing this woman recount the signs of this behavior really hit me in the face. I was online searching for this moment, this feeling, after receiving an email from a company advising me that they would be moving forward with another candidate. Typically, I am not bothered by this, as it's part of the process when it comes to career searching, and I know it's all par for the course.

What makes this time different is that I want to catch myself, to recognize this feeling. What am I really doing? The truth is, it's something I've done for a long time to cope. Sometimes, I feel like I'm afraid to have those open blocks of time. It can even be pretty uncomfortable for me. However, I am going to counteract this behavior by setting a goal for the end of the week: to give myself three tasks a day to fulfill every day next week. The reason for only three is that I can be pretty obsessive about lists and creating endless tasks.

I am working to bring my dreams to reality, and I understand that for me, it's uncomfortable. I can be honest and say I hate calling people and feeling like I'm a bother. However, a big part of me, because this is the start of a few new things, knows I must shift my behavior to change my circumstances, to change
my reality, and to change the way I make money—or at least give myself another option in addition to another position.

In a conversation with my mother, it dawned on me that this time truly serves as an opportunity for me to leverage my time to learn and plan ahead for my next opportunity. It's not just about getting a job; it's about going in with a plan this next time around. This—this right here—is how I plan to leverage. This is the mindset I plan to use and apply in this next season.

So, beginning this coming week, I plan to do the following:

Make three calls daily to companies to offer my services, for what I will refer to as Business 1. I will focus on doing this every day. The goal is to speak to the decision maker and/or obtain their contact information, offer my services in a quick pitch, and collect their contact information for follow-up.

I will do this every day this week, first thing in the morning. It's time, in addition to endlessly applying to jobs, that I begin to take my personal projects more seriously—through ACTION. As an INFJ, taking action, especially new action (referred to as extroverted sensing), can be quite challenging for me.