The Hardest Part About the Job Search

The hardest part of a job search isn't getting rejected. It's the waiting.

You spend hours updating your resume. You rewrite your LinkedIn profile. You carefully answer application questions and hit submit. And then you wait. And wait. And wait some more. And before long, you're wondering if anyone even saw your application.

Not hearing back from anyone can make even the most qualified person doubt themselves. I know because I've been there.

When I returned to the workforce after an 18-year career gap, I applied for 88 jobs before someone gave me a chance. Eighty-eight. There were days I was convinced I would never work again. Every unanswered application felt like proof that I had waited too long.

I was wrong.

But here's the thing I wish someone had told me back then. While I was waiting to hear back from future employers, I was also waiting on everything else. I told myself I would try new things after I got a job. I would feel like myself again after I got a job. I would start living after I got a job.

I had been doing that for years, actually. Waiting for the kids to grow up. Waiting until we had more money. Waiting until things slowed down with church and family.  I was really good at waiting.  But I wasn't actually growing.

Then I made a list.

I was about to turn 50 when I sat down and wrote out everything I wanted to try, read, visit, and learn. Not someday, but things I actually wanted to do with my life. Some things on the list were easy. Some were hard. But something changed when I started doing them.

It turned out the list wasn't really the point. The list was just the door.  And on the other side of the door, I found me again.

That's why we created the 30 Minute Life Reset Guide. It's a simple tool that helps you build your own list--things you want to try, places you want to go, books you want to read, skills you want to learn. You can make it as long or as short as you want. There are no rules.

But here's what I've seen happen when women use it: They stop waiting.

Not for a job. Not for the right moment. They stop putting their own lives in a drawer marked "later" and start making time for themselves right now.

And that shift, that decision to keep living while you're searching, changes everything. It changes how you talk about yourself in interviews.  It changes how you carry yourself.  It changes what you believe is possible.

Your job search matters.  Keep applying.  Keep reaching out.  Keep going.  But don't let the search become your whole life while you're in it.
 

Make your list. Start small if you need to.  Try one thing.

The opportunity is coming. Be someone who was living (not waiting) when it arrived.


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