Interview nerves can be the worst.
Never mind that the trajectory of your whole career and your immediate financial situation rests on the hour or so you’re in an interview situation. But couple that pressure with the social awkwardness most folks have to endure, and it’s no wonder people stay in jobs they hate to avoid going through all of that.
One of the biggest challenges of the actual interview is “performing” on the day.
We all have days when we’re witty, charming and really at the top of our game. But we also all have days when we feel like the “slow” one of the group: awkward, goofy, inept and distracted by way too many thoughts running through our noggin while trying desperately to be cool.
And just as it does for bad hair days, Murphy’s Law says the interview lands on an off-day.
So what do you do?
Just accept that you’re probably going to go into that all-important meeting feeling insecure, self-conscious, nervous and distracted? Or look for another solution?
If you’ve read this far, you probably believe there’s a solution.
And you’d be right.
How to Perform Like A Pro — Every Time
The big problem about being in a high-stakes situation is that your brain can come up a bit short — especially if what you’re nervous about is seeming inept. It’s like you can’t seem to process incoming information quickly enough. You find yourself distracted, in your own head and over-analyzing every little thing you say and every move you make. You’re totally self-conscious and just wish it could be over… fast!
To solve this, you somehow need to find a way to take the focus off you and your inner world and back onto the outer world so you can respond to questions, connect and come across as a good human being that people want to have on their team.
This is nothing to do with being introverted or extroverted. But it does have everything to do with knowing the outcome you want to achieve and heading straight for it, rather than getting caught up in process.
You’ve Been Focusing On the Wrong Thing
If you’ve been experiencing any of the symptoms described above, chances are you’ve had your focus planted firmly on the wrong thing.
If you play any kind of sports, you know that you can put a ball, or a car, or whatever in exactly the place you choose by focusing on where you want it to go. You may even have tried visualization techniques to picture the outcome ahead of playing a shot.
If you have, you’ll get the hang of this easily.
If you’ve not, you’ll be able to pick this up in no time.
You see, your body and mind have an incredible capability. Working in harmony, if you’re able to give yourself a precise outcome — like putting a ball through a hoop — and you play that in your mind ahead of time by seeing yourself doing it perfectly, you massively increase the probability of being able to do exactly that. Even if you start off miles out of sync, your body makes all kinds of adjustments to give you the outcome you choose.
And it’s exactly the same in meetings.
If you know the outcome you want to create, your subconscious and your body go to work to give you precisely what you ordered up.
Creating the Interview Outcome You Actually Want
Most people will want to create the outcome of being offered the position they’re interviewing for, so let’s use this as an example.
What you want to do is to create this outcome as a scenario in your mind’s eye, ahead of the event itself. The mind doesn’t know the difference between a memory and an imagined scene — and it acts to recreate what it knows time and again. (You may have noticed how most people seem to repeat the same patterns in their lives again and again?)
So, we need to create the chosen outcome of getting the job in your mind first.
How will you know you’ve got the job? Because you will likely receive a phone call from the company offering you the position. That’s the end result you want to have, so let’s work on that.
What This Looks Like In Action
Imagine seeing yourself coming out of the interview having made an excellent impression. A day or so later, you’re at home and you get a call on your phone from the interviewer saying they were really impressed with you and they’d like to make you an offer.
Imagine how you feel. Notice where you are and what you can see. Perhaps you’re sitting down in your living room, or maybe you’re out and about. See it in your mind’s eye as if it’s happening right now. Notice the sounds and smells. Notice any tastes. Just be there in that moment for about six seconds. Enjoy it. Replay it. Get used to it.
Then see it as a photograph, and step out of the photograph so you can look in on yourself receiving that phone call. Then, detach from it and completely let it go.
What happens then is that your unconscious mind maneuvers you, and everything else, to bring about this outcome you’ve selected.
Does It Work Every Time?
Well, let’s imagine you’ve visualized it going wrong 1,000 times in the last few weeks, and you visualize it working once as a result of reading this article.
What do you think the outcome will be?
Now reverse those numbers: you see it working 1,000 times, and doubt it once. Then what do you think the outcome will be?
Does the number have to be 1,000:1? No, of course not. But you need to counter all those negative, doubting thoughts you’ve had first. So if you can do this 20 times before your interview, you’ve massively shifted those odds in favor of what you really want.
You’re the Only One Who Can Make This Happen
No one else can think your thoughts for you.
You can get others to help write your resume, you can have someone else trawl through job boards for you, but no one else can do this for you.
You’re the only one who has control of your thoughts, and you can choose to direct them however you please. (Tweet this thought.) If you’d like a specific outcome, see it ahead of time, practice it in your mind and then watch how you naturally adjust and get out of your own way to allow the end result to unfold.
Notice how you’re no longer caught up in the nerves and social awkwardness. Notice how you all of a sudden start enjoying the process.
Sure, this will take practice, but within a short span of time you really can be creating outcomes exactly as you’d choose… and you should definitely use this for your next interview!
Here’s to phenomenal results!
Have you ever tried a visualization technique like this before? Share in the comments!
Image: Flickr
