Job search advice from Tony Robbins

I don’t know if you caught this interview or not on Larry King Live on Dec 3, 2009.  Tony Robbins along with Magic Johnson and others sits down with Larry King to provide some very sound job search advice for this tough market

Here is a summary of Tony’s key points that hopefully can help you be practical,  re-energize your efforts in the new year, and take massive actions

• Face reality and be real – ” I think it’s not a time for positive thinking. A lot of people think that’s what I promote and it’s not. What I look at is be real. And if you’re going to be real, you’re going to have to really not make the mistakes some people are making right now, which is hoping the economy suddenly is going to turn around. ..  It’s a jobless recovery. And as a result of that, companies are more efficient, but we’re not seeing those jobs.  Winter is the season we are in right now…”
• Change mindset and attitude – “you can’t change a country, but you can change yourself…make a decision within yourself that says maybe life isn’t happening to me. Maybe this is happening for me as corny as that sounds. Maybe there will be a benefit here. If it is winter I have to prepare myself, I have to protect my family, and I have to create a future. I have to find an advantage. I can’t tell you how many people that I know who came in the worst situation but as a result of that, they shifted and went in a new direction and end up being more fulfilled in the long term.”
• Take action and take it now: “You and I as individuals can’t sit and wait. We have to feed our families. If you don’t retool now, you’re going to have to retool later and you’re going to have a lot of pain…The individual has to do it. You can’t wait for government to do it.  ….  It is not how do you retool, it is deciding you are going to and then pursuing and finding what it is that appeals to, that you’re passionate enough to put the time and energy into it to be great.”
• Follow your passion and focus on the long term: “…People bring this up all the time, I’m too old.  Katherine Joosten, the lady from “Desperate Housewives,” was 42 years old. Her mother had cancer. She had two kids. Her husband leaves her. She has nothing. She gets three jobs and she asks herself – She goes, what do I love, even though I’m not skilled in it?  Acting. A terrible actor. For 10 years, she doesn’t even get one line that she gets to say…  Fifteen more years before she said any lines.  Twenty-five years later, she’s on a top show, “Desperate Housewives” and she’s got two Emmys.  So you’ve got to take the long-term. The short-term is going to be tough here for everybody.”
• Believe in your strength to pull through: “People are stronger than they think they are. They don’t know it until they put themselves on the line.”

This is not easy advice to follow but you can do it.  It begins by realizing that there is no easy way to find a job and you can’t wait for the government to fix it.  Only you can make the most of this bad situation.  It will take creativity, passion, discipline, and perseverance, but you can do it.  You can look at this as an opportunity to take a new direction, maybe even start a business.  As Tony also said, CNN started in a recession.  Disney started in the depression.  In a tough market, big player don’t have control anymore, and it actually gives more opportunities for small business to thrive.

I leave you with a short video directly from Tony Robbins to all of you called 5 keys to Thrive.

1. Feed Your Mind
2. Feed And Strengthen Your Body
3. Get A Role Model That Inspires You And Shows You The Way
4. Get A Plan And Take Massive Action
5. Feed Your Spirit

Whatever challenges you are facing in job search, in career, in life, you can do something to overcome them.  So take action, hang in there, and good luck out there!  I am always in your corner

– Lei