When I start a project, I have a tendency to look at it all in one chunk, from start to finish. It’s something I have to actively work against, to keep from getting overwhelmed. Also, once I start something, I want to finish it. Not “later,” not “some day,” but as soon as possible. This tendency was apparent in my writing habits while in school, and has been making for a stressful job search experience. After all, some people say that job searching should be a full-time job in and of itself. And since I’m actively searching again; shouldn’t I be seeing progress? However, I had a small epiphany this weekend:

There’s no time limit!

What do I mean by that? Well, there’s no hard due date for finishing this job search like there would have been for a school project. There’s no one saying “You must have a better job by X or you are a failure as a human being!” Well, no one outside my own inner monologues, which are best ignored, anyway.

And while I admit I really want a better job, I’m at least employed right now. I have a paycheck coming in, and while it’s admittedly not as much as I’d like, it covers most of my bases. I’m not desperate for employment, I’m just desperate for an upgrade. As such, I can kinda afford to take my time with my search, going more for quality than quantity.

It’s true that I haven’t seen many “results” (read: job offers, or even interviews) yet. But I am making progress. I’ve reformatted my resume, and am working on redesigning my portfolio with a new layout. Not all progress looks the same, I guess. Even that “40 hours a week” thing for job searching seems to be exaggerated.

So in other words, I’m feeling much better about my job search going forward. For right now, at least, I’m less hung up on “ZOMG MUST HAZ RESULTS NAO!” and focusing more on getting quality applications out while not going too insane with stress or guilt (read: I don’t feel as bad for playing video games).