Bored of being bad at interviews? Try this instead.

Your brain is a controllable device.

You just need to practice until you master it.

Reframe a limiting belief in six steps.

1. Identify the limiting belief.

Are you working with a truth or a limiting belief? Check language: ‘I always’, ‘I never’, I can’t’, ‘I’m terrible’, etc.

E.g. I’m terrible at interviews.

2. Trace its origin.

Where might the belief have come from? Can you track it back to either a specific event or period in your life when you began to hold the belief?

E.g. I didn’t get any of the jobs I interviewed for when I graduated.

3. Articulate its useful function.

What purpose does the belief serve? What ‘needs’ might be behind the belief? Is the belief still relevant today?

E.g. It's an excise not to try too hard or care too much as I assume I’m going to be rejected because I’m bad at interviews. It also protects me from the potential truth that I’m not as good a candidate as other people.

4. Observes the behaviour it generates.

What behaviours occur as a result of the belief? What is the impact in your life? What would life/work be like if you didn’t hold the belief?

E.g. I get very nervous at interviews but I don’t put in the prep work or practice time to actually improve which would in turn mean I was less nervous. If I didn’t hold the belief, I would prepare better and work harder at practicing interview technique. I might ask someone else for help.

5. Re-frame the belief.

Investigate ‘evidence’ to support the belief. Can you counter the evidence? Has there ever been a time? What language would you substitute to re-frame into an empowering belief?

E.g. If I really want this job I can prepare, practice and seek help to show the panel the best of myself, whatever the outcome.

6. Set yourself a challenge.

Identify a challenge to self which may help foster/reinforce a new way of thinking.

E.g. I’m going to hire a Coach; or, I’m going to ask trusted friends to mock-interview me. And for my next interview I will be fully prepared and practiced, feel less nervous and no longer subscribe to the belief that I’m ‘just bad at interviews’.