How a Busy Boycott Can Help Your Job Search

How a “Busy Boycott” Can Help Your Job Search How a “Busy Boycott” Can Help Your Job Search At the 2018 Watermark Conference for Women  in Silicon Valley this February, a common theme was clear: women want strategies not just to help them do more, but to empower them to do less. One speaker who delivered this message particularly powerfully was Courtney Carver, author of the new book Soulful Simplicity: How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More.   Carver’s insights on minimalism and ways that people can close the gap between inspiration and action, like a busy boycott, can be applied not only to work-life issues in general, but also to the job search. Just as you can streamline your experience in the office by rethinking how you are spending your time, prioritizing your most important projects, and ensuring you aren’t taking on too many additional commitments, these same tactics can help you improve your experience while looking for work. Heres are a few ways a busy boycott can help your job search: Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Type A job seekers may find themselves trying to do it all, even when they aren’t working. They might push themselves to apply to too many positions, spend hours on end online looking for the “perfect” opportunity, or immerse themselves so much in networking that they forget to take care of themselves in other arenas. Carver refers to this type of behavior, regardless of the activities that surround it, as “busy addiction.” With this in mind, instead of trying to cram too many job hunt to-dos into each and every day, it can work better to commit to a steady but more balanced pace. “Consistency is more important than intensity,” Carver told the packed conference room. “What works is to do a little something every day.” So for example, a job seeker might limit the time spent on their search by capping it at a certain number of hours surfing career sites, or deciding in advance to send out one to two applications a day, rather than working around the clock on these projects. Remember your other priorities. When you need a job, it can feel like everything else in the world needs to take a backseat. But if you allow yourself to become stressed and overwhelmed with a singular focus on your job search and leave little to no time for self-care or other parts of your life, it can negatively affect your health and relationships. Carver learned this firsthand, as she explained to the crowd that her busy addiction eventually led to her becoming sick and exhausted, capped by a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. “I decided that was it,” said Carver. “I decided to ban my cell phone from my car and started showing up for the people that I love.” She emphasized that key to getting back on track was letting go of her busy addiction so that she could simplify. “I decided to eliminate as much stress as possible in my life,” said Carver. “Simplifying helped me find my way back to health and to love. It gave space and time to show up for my life.” Job seekers can learn from Carver’s experience by looking at their lives outside of the stress of their job search. Are there things you can do on a personal level- such as nurture key friendships or keep up with your workout regiment- to help balance the time spent looking for work? Similarly, are there things you can stop doing alongside your search- such as social obligations that feel like work- which are adding too much pressure right now? Get “under-inspired.” Doing too much of anything can end up backfiring in loss of enthusiasm for the task and low productivity. Carver noted that being surrounded by constant technology and media infusions can lead to fatigue and lack of decisiveness. “Most days, we’re over-inspired by social feeds and inspirational quotes,” she said. “We’re hyper-inspired, so instead of choosing something, we’re just tired and don’t do anything.” To close the gap between that moment that you feel motivated and taking action without drowning in the noise around you, Carver recommends carving out time for yourself every day to think about what matters most to you. This is a great approach for job seekers, since it’s easy to lose sight of your professional goals if you’re sifting through a large volume of random opportunities each day. To avoid losing sight of your own vision, remind yourself daily of what you’re looking for, and then eliminate distractions that are frittering your energy away from achieving what you want. “One reason we keep our lives so complicated is that we don’t listen to the inner voice that tells us how to make our life better,” said Carver. “Just start small and keep going.”