Maintaining composure during interviews

This technique helps to destress your brain, calm it down and come back to a state of logical thinking:

• Put a hand on your chest and a hand on your belly.
• As you breathe in, expand your belly not your chest. If you are having trouble, lay down and do it so you can get the feel for deep belly breathing. When we are stressed, we breathe in our chest. Deep belly breathing relieves that tension.
• Count to four as you inhale through your nose, then count to six as you exhale through your mouth. Remember it takes about 6 seconds to come back to a state of logical, clear thinking. This one works if you give it the time.

This only takes a few seconds but can dramatically shift the way you listen and show up. So even though you will be “checking out” for a few moments, the dividends will be worth it. The directions for each number in the 321 exercise are below. When you notice yourself feeling frustrated or losing composure do the following:

• 3 - Look at three things you can see around the room and say them in your head (examples; a chair, a whiteboard, a pen).
• 2 - Listen for two things that you can hear around the room and say them in your head (examples; the air conditioner, a car, my computer).
• 1 - Say one thing in your head that you want to remember. (Examples: “I can handle this,” or “They want me to be here.”)

For more information about TENOR, see the websiteopens in new window. 

• T – Release tensions: Scan your body, then tense and release.
• E – Acknowledge emotions: Say out loud, “I am feeling.”
• N – Articulate needs: I am feeling because my subconscious believes.
  • Anxious – I am not on track to mitigate a risk.
  • Fearful – I am not on track to protect an asset.
    
  • Frustration – I am not on track to achieve a goal.
• O – Generate Options: There are two knobs you can turn.
• R – Gut Check Resolutions: Ask your subconscious, have I addressed the need?

Special thanks to Jim Knickerbocker, PhD, from Intrepid Growth, LLCopens in new window for this article.