When The Secret came out in 2006, it became all the rage and sold 30 million copies by 2009. While Oprah Winfrey was a proponent of the book and an article in Good Housekeeping reported overall favorable results of a month-long experiment, the book took some hard knocks by critics of the promotion of positive thinking. The critics claimed that The Secret promoted complacency, a failure to engage in reality, and “a playbook for entitlement and self-absorption.” Regardless of which viewpoint you have on this issue, you can still use the law of attraction to get a job.

What the advocates and critics all missed is the individual’s ability to be intelligent, critical thinkers. On the face of it, The Secret, which directs the reader to “ask, believe, receive,” is missing a key element to achieving success: action steps. Whether viewed from a practical perspective or a metaphysical perspective, action steps are what create alignment and get you heading in the right direction.

One of our core values at Goodwin is “Be the Creator of Your Own Success.” In order to be the creator of your own success, it’s essential to know what that will look like. What is the end goal? There are two humorous and perceptive quotes that offer perspective:

• “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.”

Yogi Berra, Forbes Quotes, Thoughts on the Business of Life

• “All my life, I always wanted to be somebody, but I think I should’ve been more specific.”

Written by Jane Wagner for Lily Tomlin’s one-woman show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in The Universe, quoted by the Los Angeles Times

Happiness comes from success in critical areas of our lives, and career success is one of those areas — also, it is the one we are going to focus on here. Let’s face it — in many industries, especially hospitality, available jobs are few, and the pool of candidates is deep. Prior blog posts have dealt with some of the nuts and bolts of making yourself the most desirable candidate, such as working with a recruiter, resume writing, interviewing, and marketing yourself through LinkedIn and the like.

There is one crucial part of the job-hunting process that must not be ignored — your thoughts. Your thoughts affect your attitude and level of confidence. During these times, it’s too easy to go down the rabbit hole of worry and doubt. Regardless of whether you believe in the Law of Attraction literally or think it’s a bunch of “hoo-ha,” as Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory would say, the fundamentals of the Law of Attraction can, at the least, improve your mindset; at best, make you visualize yourself in the job — and, by doing so, get the job.

Here is a roadmap for using the Law of Attraction to help manifest what you want:

How to get past the roadblocks

What are the roadblocks? Lack of motivation & self-sabotage. Thoughts become things. Thoughts and statements about motivating goals help bring them into reality while deprecating, negative thoughts create a roadblock. Thoughts and spontaneous speech come from beliefs. Some beliefs are front-of-mind (conscious), and others are invisible (unconscious). Some are fresh, and some are deep-seated from childhood forward.

• Motivation comes from keeping our eyes on the goal – literally. This is where a Vision Album helps. Find and save images, in an album, of what it means to you to accomplish your goal. Review your Vision Album daily, first thing in the morning, or just before sleep – or both!
• Self-sabotage comes from negative or unsupportive beliefs. Whether aware of the belief or not, negative beliefs need to be replaced with positive and supportive beliefs. We all need to upgrade our beliefs. A Vision Album, as above, supports this, especially if affirmations are included as some of the images. Replace old beliefs by writing out new ones that can be used as affirmations.

Your vehicle for upgrading your beliefs

• Identify empowering beliefs – these are basically affirmations that replace negative self-talk:
  • My career path makes me happy and satisfies my financial needs.
  • My past does not determine my future.
  • I create my own success.
• See the validity of each – prove it to yourself:
  • I’m good at what I do.
  • I have the brains and motivation to get the job done.
• Demonstrate initiative by:
  • Getting up and getting dressed as if you are going to your new job.
  • Maintaining a work-like schedule. If you usually exercise before or after work, maintain that schedule.
  • Working on projects that you might work on for your job; projects that will improve your skills – take a course, do research, create business plans.
• Take action:
  • Perfect your resume.
  • Re-evaluate your online presence. Is your LinkedIn profile fleshed out? Do you have a profile photo, and does it represent you well? There is a fantastic free online resource a colleague recommended, called Photofeeler, that provides anonymous feedback on profile pictures.
  • Employ every resource available to find your next job, including CareerBuilder, Indeed, Monster, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn, recruiting job boards, and independent recruiters, like Goodwin Recruiting.
  • Apply! When you fill out an online application, be thorough. Set it aside if you don’t have the time to do it right. A word of caution — check with your recruiter first. We can get you directly to a decision-maker if the employer is a client of ours; otherwise, you go to the bottom of the pile along with hundreds of other applicants.
  • Get help. Supporting you in your career development is what we do. Let us help.
  • Recommended reading: Infinite Possibilities by Mike Dooley.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander

Manifesting what you want is a two-way street. Are you a corporate recruiter looking for ideal candidates who fit your culture? You, too, can implement the techniques above, including using a third-party recruiter to help, like Goodwin Recruiting.