Confidence Is Contagious.

You have been answering job openings on the internet job boards for several weeks or months. So has everyone else.

You have answered dozens of openings, and have had very little, if any, communication from companies. So has everyone else.

You have designed a system for keeping track of all of the openings for which you have applied. You do your best to be organized. You want to make sure, if a company calls you, that you are able to locate the opening. So has everyone else.

You are frustrated. So is everyone else.

Currently, 43% of the unemployed have been unemployed for six months or more according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You hear the news. You wither and shrink from the burden of your circumstances. Yet the New Year is upon us. Recent economic trends indicate things are beginning to improve; though tepidly. You have decided to improve your situation. You make a New Year’s Resolution to find work and improve your present employment situation.

Philosopher James Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” You have decided that not only will you make the effort to improve your situation, you will simply not stop trying until success is yours. You are determined to improve your employment situation. You will accept nothing less than success. You will be 100% persistent!

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, considered by many to be one of the leading authors of the laws of success, said: “Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what the majority of men do.”

Further, Hill said, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” And, he said, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”

Benjamin Franklin said, “All of mankind is divided into three classes: Those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” You, to your credit, have decided to become one of “those that move.”

When the desire for achievement begins, feed its furnace by keeping your goal in your thinking. Nourish it. Repeat it. Develop affirmations and confirmations of your desire for better. “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” said Hill. For once you have decided on your goal, on your commitment to move forward with your career, you are already successful for you have begun to achieve your goal.

Sports great Vince Lombardi said, “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” Be confident. Know that sustained effort will guide your achievement. “If you can accept losing, you cannot win.” said Lombardi. Further, Lombardi said, “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of that he (or she) holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle (life) – victorious.”

About personal effort and a refusal to accept defeat, Winston Churchill said, “A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.”

Set a plan for yourself. Make the decision to talk with no less than two decision-makers at companies each and every day. Since people hire people they meet, they know, and most importantly of all, they like, make the effort to meet and develop rapport with people who can help you in your goal achievement, a new employment situation.

Confucius said “I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.” Imagine the self respect, the self confidence, you will achieve as you enthusiastically strive toward your new goal. Imagine the strength of character you engender when you simply refuse to accept anything less than achievement of your goal. For Abraham Lincoln said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”

Control your Attitude, expand your Comfort Zone, and demand Persistence of yourself, and as you refuse to accept anything less than success, and success will be yours!

Richard M. Knappen is the president of Chessmen Career Movers, an outplacement, career management, and consulting firm that is one of the oldest and largest locally-owned companies of its type in Southern California.