The 3 Laws For Interview Motivation

By Chris Delaney

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The fear associated to job interviews can be so limiting that I have known people who refuse to attend the job interview for a position they highly desire.

Any new situation, especially a situation with a potential life changing outcome, can be perceived as difficult. The anxiety increases in a job interview, because in general, many of us do not attend job interviews or similar situations on a regular basis, is so strong that it can physically stop people attending a job interview

A lack of experience, often a lack of preparation and the fear of “looking stupid” turns a fear of the job interview into anxiety and anxiety into a phobia – all which creates an emotional state in you, which will make you fail your job interview.

Is there a way to reduce this fear and create Interview Motivation? These 3 Motivational Laws, based in psychology have been adapted for the job interview situation to help you be at your best in your forthcoming job interview

 

Law 1 – Feel What You Focus On

We are motivated to take action through the motivation of moving away from painful situations and stimulus and to gain pleasure and reward

David a young professional was up and coming in his company. In work he was highly motivated; he arrived early, worked late, took on extra work, met deadlines, gained new business and was successful at finishing projects.

When he thought about work he enjoyed the fact that he worked longer hours than his colleagues, he took pleasure in all the extra work and task he took on and he gained great satisfaction from see the end result from his hard work.

He even enjoyed making mistakes and learning from each of these. For David his career was his life and he loved his life.

David’s colleague John, was also an up and coming star. John to compete with David also arrived early, worked late and took on extra work. The difference was that John had a completely different perspective on work

John hated to make mistakes, he felt that each mistake highlighted his weaknesses which knocked his self-esteem. John detested having to work late and felt that if he and David needed to work late the company needed to employ more staff.

John wanted to progress in work but not to the detriment of his work-life balance.

It wasn’t long until David with his proactive approach to work, outshone John who started having time off work for stress and illnesses

 

Law 2 – The Harder You Beat The Stick The More Motivated You Will Be

We have already said how we are motivated by moving away from pain and towards pleasure.

John who had ambitions of a successful career started to attend work late, had longer dinner hours, left early and finally started to ring in sick as he associated pain with work

The same psychology happens in the job interview. If all you associate to the job interview is pain, you will avoid the pain – the job interview

Pain motivation isn’t negative, as you can use the stick to beat you into taking action

The perspective of your pain is the key to motivation. Rather than focusing on the pain of the job interview, focus on the pain of not attending the job interview

  • What would happen if you didn’t attend the job interview?
     
  • How would you feel if you stayed in your current dead-end job?
     
  • How would it make you feel, to know that you have given up?
     
  • What will you miss out on from not attending a job interview for a position with a high salary?
     
  • Why would not attending a job interview be painful for you?


If the thought of not attending a job interview is so painful, your motivation will kick in and you have a desire to attend the job interview
 

Law 3 – Live In a Land of Intense Pleasure

When given an option and you choose the route of least resistance, not the choice you know you should take, you do because your focus is on pleasure.

John associated pleasure to staying at home, away from work and associated pain to going to work. In the job interview, unmotivated interviewees associated pleasure to not attending the job interview and pain to being in a job interview.

To build on your pain motivation from Law 2, list all the pleasures you will receive from attending the job interview as this overload of pleasure will create a strong motivational pull towards taking action

  • If I attend the job interview, I will be offered the job, once offered the job my life will change for the better
     
  • A higher salary means a bigger house, a nicer car, more holidays……
     
  • I will feel proud about doing something that use to scare me
     
  • I will see that my hard work has been recognised and has paid off
     
  • I can plan my next step up the career ladder


You feel what you focus on. If you focus on the pain of going to a job interview and the pleasure of staying away from an interview you will feel compelled not to attend the interview invitation.

If you change that focus to the pleasure of attending the job interview and the pain of not attending the interview you will be motivated to take action and attend the interview invitation


Chris Delaney is an Interview Coach and author of The 73 Rules for Influencing the Interview using Psychology, NLP and Hypnotic Persuasion Techniques. Contact Chris on Google+

 

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