By Michael P. Lynch When people in business first started to talk to me about the importance a positive mental attitude played in success, I was pretty skeptical. That was fine for Friday night pep rallies and things of that sort (Pump me up, Hans & Franz), but this is the real world. What’s needed is something long lasting, not “false enthusiasm that last about as long as taking a shower. Well, as a mentor of mine pointed out, “Hopefully, Mike, that doesn’t keep you from taking a shower each day.”

The point he was making, and the one I want to instill in you, is that there are “Keys to Success” and that it does all start with our attitude. Nowhere is this truer than during a career change. Whether we are proactively pursuing a change, or one has been forced upon us through layoffs, restructuring, etc., our attitude is key. What follows are 12 key attitudes that all of my successful clients have shared.

1. Well Defined, Exciting Goals
As Steven Covey would say, “Begin with end in mind.” The first task is to establish focus and direction for your campaign; not just what you want to do, but where, in terms of industry and/or geography do you want to do it. If you don’t know, it’s going to be pretty hard to land that position.

2.Plan of Action
You can have a great goal, but if you don’t have a specific, concrete plan for accomplishing it, nothing will happen. A good Plan of Action will begin with why you’re making the move and include your Job Search Goals- what’s most important to you in this next position. What are the key skills you want to “sell” your new employer? What strategies are you going to employ to accomplish this? What are your weaknesses? How are you going to minimize them?

What specific tactics are you going to utilize to generate interviews? How often are you going to utilize each technique? How are you going to track and judge the quality of your efforts?

How will you prepare for interviews? Will you role- play? With whom? How will you follow-up interviews? How will you approach negotiating offers when they come? The answers to all of these questions should be in your Plan of Action.

3. A Sense of Immediacy (Do it now, Don’t Wait)
In seminars, I ask new clients how quickly they want to be in their next position. They never fail to respond with, “Yesterday”, “Tomorrow”. My response is consistent as well, “Than act like it”. As one of my mentors was fond of saying, the job doesn’t always go to the most qualified candidate, but to the person who conducts the most aggressive campaign.

4.Strive for Excellence
Go for the job you want, not the one you think you deserve. Too often I see clients selling themselves short, settling for jobs that are beneath there abilities. Continue to strive for what is just beyond your reach.

5. Continue to Learn
Continue to improve your skills in your areas of expertise. Become a better salesperson, manager, technician, or whatever it is you do. If you don’t, keep in mind that there is someone else out there who is, and they will probably get the job, not you.

Continue to learn how to make a career move. Too much has changed to continue using the job search techniques your father used; but that is what research tells us most people are doing.

Most importantly continue to learn about yourself. How can you become more relatable? Do you know how to draw people to yourself? Can you get people on board with your ideas?

6. Be Determined to Serve Other People First
I believe that it is true that you can get whatever you want if you first help enough other people get what they want. In the job campaign, this means focusing on what you can do for the employer, rather than focusing on how many weeks of vacation you’ll get. One follows the other.

7. Dogged Persistence
Be persistent in everything you do. Follow up in an appropriate, professional manner. Know what the next steps are; if you don’t, ask. Too many clients loose out on opportunities because they take the first “no” for an answer. If you can’t get through on the first call, keep trying. If they don’t return your first voice mail message, keep trying. I once had a client who finally met face-to-face with a Vice-president of a Fortune 500 company after 28 phone calls. Keep it professional, but keep trying.

8. No Blaming – Blaming is for Losers
One of my clients who had 20 years experience in the steel wire industry once lost a $90,000 a year position because somebody else had 22 years experience in the steel wire industry. The employer felt they were equally qualified, but had to use some criteria to choose between them. Obviously, we were both disappointed that he didn’t get the position, but whom should we blame? Don’t waste valuable time crying over spilled milk; move on.

9. Accept Full and unconditional Responsibility for Overcoming the Situation
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. I love working with former military personnel. They know how to set an objective, put together a plan of attack, and implement it aggressively, knowing that the plan never works exactly the way it’s supposed to. Rather than looking for excuses, spend your energy looking for ways to get over, under, around or through the obstacles that crop up. If the Action Plan needs to be revised, do it. “Goals are in concrete, Plans are in sand.”

10. Get comfortable with Disappointment
One of the first people I worked with in this industry used to say that if my clients weren’t being rejected at least 10 times each week, they really weren’t really doing much in their campaign. Develop the confidence that comes from knowing that each “no” just gets you that much closer to a “yes”

11. If You Want to Fly With the Eagles, Don’t Hang Around With the Turkeys
Who are the turkeys in your life? Who’s telling you you can’t achieve what you want? Have you ever noticed that whenever you step out of your comfort zone to dare to do great things, there’s always someone, who doesn’t have the courage to improve themselves, who wants to keep you from reaching for your goals? Stay the course. Stay focused on what you want for yourself.

12.Daily Feeding of the Mind
To a great degree, we all are where we are, and who we are because of what we have put in our minds. The books we’ve read, the people we’ve met, the decisions we’ve made. We can change who we are and where we are by changing what we put in our minds. What are you putting in your mind? I encourage my clients to read for at least 15 minutes each day. There are great books on career search techniques as well as personal self-development that can add tremendously to the success of your campaign.