Getting back on the right foot

I could feel my blood pressure rising.

I was off to a bad start on this interview...I know, I should have driven to the location the day before, but I didn't. I looked up the office address on the web, put it in my GPS and thought I'd be there five minutes early, easy. 

But the web wasn't up-to-date. I found the what I thought was the correct office suite--and a sheet of paper telling me the office had moved about three miles away. A nice gentleman greeted me. He knew who I was looking for offered to call ahead to let him know I was on my way.

The directions didn't get me to the right place, though, and I had to call again. Finally, the right office building. I was mad at myself for such rookie mistakes, but I had to get myself together.

Then the receptionist handed me a sheet of paper to fill out--about four segments for my 35 year job history. Breathe...breathe. I knew that if I took my frustration into the interview, it would not be a good thing. So I paused, collected myself and put the past half hour behind me.

My recruiter came out and greeted me and we got into an office to visit. About ten minutes into the interview, there was a knock--it was the window washers--it would only take a couple minutes. My recruiter and I continued to talk, the window washers left, we finished our discussion with some talk about what might come next. He apologized and congratulated me for keeping my composure amidst the rattling of blinds as the window washers did their work.

What I'd been having is a very human experience--anyone who has worked a day in their life or had a family or had any kind of life can relate--the unexpected happens. We falter, we get scared, we worry, maybe even panic. We get into a mode of what I call Cumulative Mental Errors (CMEs). (Sounds like an accreditation, eh?)  If we let the CMEs pile up, they color our judgment, get our heads spinning and we start reacting rather than choosing our actions.

At a time of year when everyone is setting new intentions, resolutions and goals for the year ahead, it's worth pausing to remember that we are irreversibly human. We forget that making a mistake doesn't mean that we are mistakes. (Check out Brene' Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection to read more about how this can undermine our efforts).

So if losing your job or living on a fine financial edge or worry about having a bad interview has thrown you off your game, take a minute, breathe and allow yourself to get back in step. While 2012 is a new beginning, so is this morning, or this hour, or this minute. Get back in the moment, and bid the CMEs goodbye. Do it for you. You deserve it.