Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 34. Interrupting the Interview Intervention

Your confidence is at a lifetime high, you're interviewing with interesting people, and you're talking about job offers with your family and friends.

What an amazing transformation!

Your spouse didn't marry an egomaniac, though. Oh, he's been on your case about your lack of self-confidence for years. Your friends call you, and you're too busy running around to relax a little. Your kids are acting up because you're always talking about working here and there.

Of course, people don't change (Do 39). You're not changing. You're just using what you had all the time. Reprioritizing your values now because you've discovered your unlimited potential.

Your friends and family know and love you. So why would they not want you to succeed? Because they're petrified. Scared to death. They won't tell you that you're scaring them because they're afraid you'll bail if you discover your wonders. Or that they're afraid because you won't do what they want. Or that they're afraid because you "don't seem to care anymore." They generally will not confront you with the real reason. If they did, you'd counter with denial or statements they can't refute (like, "We gotta eat, right?").

The reasons you're likely to hear are that you're obsessive, compulsive, and (less clinically) crazy.

It's not that you can't take criticism. Of course you can. You don't think you're perfect. Only there's no such thing as constructive criticism. There's only criticism, and it's ...