Managing Interview Performance Anxiety: The countdown
What if you’ve done all the hard work of considering your own self as a multidimensional human being, considering the diamonds along your journey, and saving and practicing them daily so they are fresh in your mind, but your nerves are obviously in an inverse relationship with the number of days and hours left between you and the time of the actual interview? For most of us, this is the most excruciating part of the whole experience. How can we best support ourselves toward keeping our front brain engaged and functioning as best as possible as the time of interview approaches?
Four Tips for maximum count down support
Eliminate day-of logistics: As soon as the interview is scheduled, make a plan to travel the route to the specific place it will take place two or three days before interview day. This way, you have open-ended time to figure it out in your own way rather than risking your promptness to a mere confusion of directions. Also, consider the option of remote interviewing to eliminate the navigation all together when appropriate. Play a movie in your head of that exact day from the time you wake up in the morning to the moment you arrive at the place of the interview, making sure to note all the details that need to be in place and right in your path so you don’t have to think about them. Examples could be attaching your keys to your purse and putting them right by the door with the folder of your flashcards, laying out the exact outfit you want to wear, locating the weblink for the interview and putting it right on your calendar so you don’t have to hunt for it, etc.
Days before: One or two days before the interview, consider allowing your brain a rest. By this time, you’ve probably been hitting those notecards pretty hard and might even have them memorized. If this is the case, try trusting you’ve put enough effort in and that the needed fruits of that labor will present themselves when the time is right. Practice time may be more well spent focusing 20% on the specifics of the note cards and 80% on your list of overall strengths and passions as a person. This might look like running through the notecards a maximum of two times before switching to your strengths and passions. Try symbolizing your concept of all of these as a whole. What shape, texture, temperature, smell, place in relation to your physical body would this take? Draw, journal, dance, and meditate on this for the rest of each practice session so you’re rooted as much as possible in unconditional validation of exactly who you are. The more you focus on this aspect, the more available it will be when your nerves are challenged the most.
Inner support hours before: How would you love to spend the last one to three hours leading up to your interview to ensure you are adequately supported? Think about the time of day of your interview in relation to your body’s natural energy level at that time as well as your unique nervous system’s typical response right before performance opportunities. What do those answers tell you your body will most likely need during the last two hours leading up to the interview? Would it need to express the extra energy such as rhythmic movement, to sing and or dance to an empowering, uplifting song, to do a balancing breath exercise such as alternate nostril breathing, meditating or journaling on the support of a higher power, and/or a more bodily focused exit like stretching, lifting heavy objects, balancing on one foot, or pushing on a steady wall?
Outer support hours to minutes before: After thinking about the important ways you can support your own self, what would be left over that others could best support you with? Perhaps, asking for good vibes, prayers, and well wishes from close friends during the specific time of the interview, for a close friend or mentor to text with or call right before and or right after the interview for moral support, someone to physically be present with you as you engage in your empowerment dance party or to send you off to the interview location with a physical hug and the promise of listening all about it afterwards, etc. Whatever you think of, make sure to reach out to those people with the specific request and genuinely give thanks for their presence in your life as you physically relax in the relational support they offer.
To wrap up, knowing an important meeting that could very well determine the rest of your professional life is on its way but not here yet can seem almost unbearable, especially to us ADHDers. However, the above tips have hopefully reminded you of useful re-directions for the added energy your body creates with the building anxiety. Directions toward as optimal of a balance possible for your mind, body, and heart through the beginning, middle, and end of the interview countdown. Stay tuned for next time on supporting your body during the actual interview.