{"id":1749,"date":"2018-10-24T10:36:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T15:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitalstriked.wpengine.com\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2023-10-27T10:51:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T15:51:04","slug":"keep-positive-during-nerve-wracking-job-interviews-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/keep-positive-during-nerve-wracking-job-interviews-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Positive During Nerve-Wracking Job Interviews &#038; Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&#8217;re going in for job interviews, meeting with new clients, or trying to impress your bosses, sometimes, it can be hard to stay positive.<\/p>\n<p>Look, I\u2019m going to be honest \u2014 the team at Digital Strike is full of pretty positive people. Even when something breaks or we have to process difficult feedback, we usually have a smile on our face. Sometimes, we even find a way to laugh off catastrophic events (like that time one team member lost an entire 35-page presentation to the Internet gods).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/NTur7XlVDUdqM\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But when a meeting with a high-profile client comes up, or we have to give an important presentation to our peers, there\u2019s always a little part of us that would like to run out of the room.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to a great presentation by Tommy Balestreri, however, we have some tactics for staying positive. As one of our Digital Strategists, he prides himself on his love of positive content, and he is constantly reading books on the subject.<\/p>\n<p>Because none of us can escape the nerve-wracking meeting, we\u2019ve adapted Tommy\u2019s presentation into the short list below to help build your confidence before you can say, \u201cHello.\u201d<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<h3><strong>Fake it \u2018til you make it. <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to walk into job interviews and other meetings looking relaxed and smiling. On top of that, the simple act of changing your body language will also influence your mood.<\/p>\n<p>Power poses reduce stress, increase confidence, and are incredibly easy. Even when a study was published to counteract Amy Cuddy\u2019s research on the benefits of power posing, she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kimelsesser\/2018\/04\/03\/power-posing-is-back-amy-cuddy-successfully-refutes-criticism\/#371f32053b8e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">released an additional study<\/a> with plenty of evidence. Cuddy\u2019s analysis found that there was a definitive link between her poses and feelings of power.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1558\" src=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/box-cheerful-color-207983-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"two happy-face emojis in a box of emojis\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" \/><br \/>\nAnd while you\u2019re at it, smile before the meeting. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/better\/health\/smiling-can-trick-your-brain-happiness-boost-your-health-ncna822591\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a report by NBC News<\/a>, smiling can boost your immune system, increase your feelings of happiness, and diminish your anxiety. You don\u2019t even need to <em>feel<\/em> happy \u2014 just faking the act of smiling will do these things.<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><strong>Be prepared.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As Scar from the acclaimed Disney Film \u201cThe Lion King,\u201d notes, it\u2019s important to be prepared. Even villains can teach a great lesson.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/jxzEhHBMmH7tm\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What do we mean by \u201cbe prepared\u201d? We don\u2019t mean \u201cput together a to-do list\u201d or \u201ccreate an agenda.\u201d Have goals, and write them down. People who can strongly identify their goals are \u201canywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals than people who don\u2019t\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/markmurphy\/2018\/04\/15\/neuroscience-explains-why-you-need-to-write-down-your-goals-if-you-actually-want-to-achieve-them\/#2353c5657905\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The goal could be as simple as \u201cintroduce myself\u201d or \u201ccreate rapport with a new client,\u201d or the goal could be as specific as \u201ccreate a website.\u201d The goal will help you create your agenda and give you some direction.<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><strong>Don\u2019t throw away your shot. <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Keep yourself motivated so you don\u2019t \u201cthrow away your shot\u201d (thanks, Lin Manuel-Miranda!). In other words, stay motivated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/iSvmtiSjiJXy\" width=\"480\" height=\"212\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The goals we mentioned above will help keep you motivated and give you something to take ownership for. But remember, you\u2019re not this meeting \u2014 don\u2019t fence yourself in. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and have fun along the way.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do not give up if something goes wrong. If you stumble in a job interview\u00a0or accidentally say something you shouldn\u2019t, don&#8217;t let that keep you from moving forward. According to Jack Canfield\u2019s book, \u201cThe Success Principles,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coachingpositiveperformance.com\/importance-motivation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">94 percent of salespeople lose out on a sale<\/a> because they don\u2019t have the motivation to keep asking after the third \u201cno,\u201d even though 60 percent of all sales are made after the <em>fourth<\/em> ask.<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><strong>Stay grateful. <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Before walking into the meeting or interview, keep an attitude of gratitude. For example, what are you thankful for? What is your favorite thing about yourself? Has anyone done anything nice for you lately?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1559\" src=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/address-adult-african-1061576-300x233.jpg\" alt=\"hand writing in journal\" width=\"300\" height=\"233\" \/><br \/>\nWrite these messages of gratitude down so that you can visualize them. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/healthbeat\/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harvard Health<\/a> found one study where, after ten weeks of writing down what they were grateful for, participants were more optimistic about their lives. In other studies, people performed better at their jobs, were physically healthier, and more comfortable expressing themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m already more positive after reading this, aren\u2019t you? Use these tips to make sure any job interview or meeting you walk into is a breeze \u2014 after all, mood is half the battle.<\/p>\n<h5><em>If you\u2019re interested in joining this team of positive people, contact us<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/contact\/\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><em>Interested in hiring this crazy confident team? <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/contact\/\">Drop us a line<\/a><\/strong>! We\u2019ll create a personalized solution for you (and you\u2019ll get to witness our positive prowess). <\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&#8217;re going in for job interviews, meeting with new clients, or trying to impress your bosses, sometimes, it can be hard to stay positive. Look, I\u2019m going to be honest \u2014 the team at Digital Strike is full of pretty positive people. Even when something breaks or we have to process difficult feedback, we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}