You’re 22, in the prime of your life, you’ve recently completed your masters degree and you can’t wait to kick start your career as an architect! You’ve researched the market, found the companies that match your design ethos and that you feel will give you the exposure and mentorship to become a registered architect.
You have your CV and Folio prepared, you send it off and start preparing for your interviews. You’re thinking, “It’s all smooth sailing from here! I’ll get my dream job in a highly respected firm, working on some iconic projects with exceptionally talented architects all around me.” It’s an exciting time in your life and you should be excited. You are about to join an industry that is seeing exponential growth, it has never been a busier time and architecture firms are crying out for more people! What a time to be alive!
And then…it’s been 4 weeks and you receive a generic email thanking you for your application from two of the ten firms you applied to, and nothing from the others. You’re in limbo, you’re deflated, and you don’t know why it’s taking so long to land a job or what the next step is.
As an architecture specialist in the recruitment industry, I witness this scenario day in day out. The reality is it is bloody hard to break into the design industry coming straight out of university. Even in a booming market, companies are looking for experience. They’re looking for people who can hit the ground running. And they definitely don’t have time to train up graduates!
The people I meet often see their ideal job turn into an impossible dream, and it can be a frustrating, confidence-shattering, negative experience. But getting into a negative frame of mind definitely won’t help you land your dream role! So with that in mind, here a my four rules for staying positive in a negative situation.
Rule #1: Surround yourself with positive people
The type of individuals you spend the most time with is the real influencer of your character and thinking. When you surround yourself with positive people, you will allow their positivity to flow into your soul. Once it enters your mind, no negative situation can take your positive mindset away from you.
If you want to stay positive in life, try to avoid negative people at all costs. They are the real soul-suckers, and their negative attitudes will only bring you down.
Rule #2: Train your mind well
Nothing good or bad happens to us, it is just the way we perceive things that either make it right or wrong for us.
When you train your mind to treat every negative situation as a lesson to learn in life, you will be able to have a positive life.
Change your thinking and you will change your actions.
The more you perceive the things that happen around you as negative, the more negative your mind and actions become.
When a negative thought comes in your mind, train yourself to instantly replace it with a positive one.
That’s how you can lead a positive life. Do this, and you will be amazed to see how a negative situation can turn into a positive for you.
Rule #3: Be grateful for what you have
One of the main reasons why people don’t live a happy life is because they actively run after things they don’t need.
Appreciate what you have right now and consciously try to be as happy as you can be.
Bear in mind, being happy with what you have doesn’t mean that you will stop upgrading your lifestyle. But you do need to have a grateful mind and heart, and be satisfied with what you have and have achieved to date. Always count your blessings, nothing else.
Rule #4: Exercise your mind and body
Exercising is a healthy activity for your body, but your mind needs it too. You need to use your mind so it can let go of all the stress of the day and fill it up with new, positive thoughts.
You can try adding a Yoga practice to your daily exercise routine, which will help with your mindfulness. Being mindful in your life will help you to focus on the positive and let go of the negative. Additionally, meditation will help you to become more in tune with your inner thoughts and allow you to frame these more intentionally. It is well-documented that using your mind to re-frame a situation is the best way to deal with adversity in life.
I hope that my four rules for staying positive have been helpful! The job search, particularly as a graduate with little to no experience, can be difficult. But if you can adopt these practices you will be well on your way to living a positive life – and much closer to your dream role!
Spencer Noonan is an Architectural Specialist consultant at Fetch, and recruits across the spectrum from Graduates to Senior practitioners. You can connect with Spencer on LinkedIn here.
