Change Your Job Search Environment

This is me in my hotel room in Toronto, where I’ve come for a meeting.

On the two-hour plane ride here from Minneapolis, I got a lot of reading and writing done.

For the next 4 hours, I’ll be typing away on my laptop in my room and downstairs in the lobby — and I expect to get even more done.

It happens every time I get out of my office and expose my brain to new stimuli — new landscapes, people, food, accents, radio stations, transit systems, etc.

In fact, I find it impossible NOT to be productive when I’m on the road for a few days.

What does this have to do with your job search?

If you find yourself STUCK for new ideas or answers to problems that have kept you unemployed, why not change your environment for a day or two?

New stimuli can produce new thinking.

There are lots of ways to do so, none of which involve getting on a plane and flying halfway across North America as I did today.

Here are two quick examples:

1) Change your location.
If you work at home, check into a hotel and see how much more you can get done in 6-8 hours of working in your room and in the lobby.

Don’t have the time or money? Head for a coffee shop or public library where you’ve never been before and work there. Any place that forces you to dress up a little and encounter new people can help lift you out of a rut and become more productive when it comes to writing your resume, making networking calls, or just getting clear on what you want to be when you grow up.

2) Change your point of view — literally.
Right now, I’m looking out my 34th floor window at the city of Toronto, a view that includes City Hall, The Canada Life Building and scores more, all lit up in fiery shades of orange by the November sunset.

It’s a lot different and more mentally stimulating than the view of suburban Minneapolis I see out my office window every day.

Don’t want to leave town? Try putting up a couple of new, inspirational pictures in your home office. Buy some fresh, cut flowers and put them on your desk. Or even move your desk to another corner.

If you change your environment — where you are and what you look at, to name but two – you can change your thinking. And changed thinking can change your job search for the better.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 3:05 pm and is filed under job search tips, life hacks. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.