5 Reasons To Be a Mindful Job Seeker


Mindfulness. We hear a lot about the practice these days. It's being taught in schools in grades as early as kindergarten, colleges are devoting full days to the education and practice of it, and corporations are training their most promising employees to be mindful leaders. And while mindfulness can be traced back 2,500 years to Buddhist tradition, many people still find the idea of "being mindful" elusive and confusing.

Not until I became a certified life coach did I realize the significant impact mindfulness has on our daily lives and the positive benefits that come from the practice. It is one of the most important concepts I talk about with clients, particularly those who are unemployed or looking to make a career change.While there are varying definitions of mindfulness, my favorite is "the art of staying in the moment and being present to oneself."

Here are five reasons why mindfulness is an important practice for job seekers:

1. Being mindful means not focusing on the past (ie. reliving the how and why of your circumstances over and over and over again) or fixating on the future (ie. lamenting about how terrible life will be like if you don't land a job, creating stories of doom and gloom.) The mindful job seeker is present in the moment, which makes it easier to concentrate on the task at hand- landing a job.

2. Practicing mindfulness creates a state of gratitude. Instead of lamenting about being wronged, the mindful job seeker sees his situation as an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

3. Being mindful means paying attention to how life unfolds without judgment. Mindful job seekers accept the ups and downs of the job search without labeling them as good or bad.

4. Mindfulness improves physical and mental health. It relieves stress and anxiety, improves sleep, and increases concentration, among other benefits. Mindful job seekers are less likely to feel the typical physical, mental and emotional strain that comes with being unemployed.

5. Mindfulness has been shown to improve insight, self-confidence and resiliency --qualities that are not only helpful in the job search but are desirable to potential employers.

A fringe benefit of practicing mindfulness in one area of life is that the dividends overflow into other areas such as family, relationships, finances, and health and fitness. Interested in knowing how mindful you are? An online mindfulness quiz developed by researchers at La Salle University and Drexel University will teach you more about mindfulness, how much you currently practice it and how you can promote more of it in your life.

> Watch the AOL Jobs video series with Jonathan Fields, founder of the Good Life Project
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