I recently had two interviews for a company I’d really like to work for.

For the first one, I didn’t prepare much. I wrote down some questions, but I went into it trusting that I would know what to do in the moment. The interview went pretty well, but there were definitely some things I wish I said differently. I stumbled through a couple questions and my overall confidence wasn’t where it could have been.

Luckily, I got a second interview. This time I would be ready.

So I tapped into what I had learned over the years from various business coaches, self-improvement experts, and my knowledge of human psychology.

 

The goal: Trick myself into feeling incredibly confident right before I hop on the call.

 

Step 1: Visualization

Interviews naturally create jittery feelings. I wanted to deal with these feelings of nervousness, so I detached myself from the outcome.

Ultimately, the decision is out of our hands. We can only control how we perform in the interview. The rest is up to the person making the hiring decision. Nerves come from the uncertainty of the outcome.

But we don’t even desire the outcome. We desire the feeling the outcome will bring; that feeling of accomplishment that comes with winning.

This outcome and the feeling it creates are two separate things. We can forget the outcome and create this confident, winning feeling in another way.

Then, the outcome doesn’t matter. We will continue to live our lives and bring passion and excitement to our work, capitalizing on other opportunities.

Sure, missing the initial opportunity might still bring a period of feeling bummed out. But this is a short-term symptom. The feeling of confidence and empowerment outlasts it (if you decide to let it).

To combat these nerves and detach myself from the outcome, I visualized the day I got the decision. Specifically, I focused on the opportunities that excited me most in each scenario.

After 10 minutes, I had two paragraphs: one where I got the job and was excited about moving to Charleston and working with inspiring people towards an inspiring vision. Another one where I didn’t get the job, and was equally excited because I had the freedom to be my own boss, work on photography, and build my own business teaching entrepreneurship to artists and creatives.

I was now completely detached from the outcome and free to do the interview without jitters and expectations clouding my mind.

 

Step 2: Affirmations & Self Talk

Our thoughts and words create our reality.

If the dominant thoughts in your head are consistently negative, your mood will follow suit. Conversely, if you walk around all day telling yourself “I’m f***ing awesome,” you’ll feel that way. Here’s an example.

I started by writing down a number of traits I wanted to embody for this interview. I wrote them from the first person and with certainty in mind. The idea is to word them as if they are firm truths, and they always have been. For example, instead of writing “I try to be confident,” I wrote, “I am the type of person who is always confident in his actions.” Some of these included:

I’m incredibly decisive.

I don’t care what people think about me.

My instincts consistently lead me to say the right thing.

I thrive in uncomfortable situations.

I’m f***ing unstoppable.

I opened up the voice recording app on my phone, took a few deep breaths, and recorded myself saying these phrases with enthusiasm and confidence. I ended up with a 10 minute recording of a (seemingly) highly-successful version of myself telling me how awesome I was.

Pretty cool, right?

I think so. Some people will probably laugh at me for this, but guess what? I don’t care what people think of me. Myself told me that twice this morning.

30 minutes before the interview I listened to this recording twice.

 

Step 3: Radically shift your body language.

Radical changes in your body equal radical changes in your psychology. For this reason, Tony Robbins jumps into a pool of 57F degree water every morning.

 

“I do it because there is nothing that can change everything in your system like a radical change in temperature…” ~ Tony Robbins

 

It’s not enough to change your spoken language through affirmations and self-talk. This is only half the battle. Your body language needs to change too. In order to fully embody this psychological change, you must make a radical shift in your body.

T-minus 10 minutes.

I quickly hopped in a freezing cold shower for 1 minute. I got out, dried off, and spent the last 5 minutes pacing around my apartment, getting loose, getting excited, and throwing my arms up in the air and shouting in celebration as if I had already gotten the job. “I’m the perfect fit for this! I’m fucking unstoppable! I know they will hire me!”

(The photo for this blog post is an action shot of this happening).

I know, it’s crazy. If you didn’t laugh at me on step two, have your fun now. It was only a matter of time.

But I still don’t care. I felt like Superman.

 

The second interview was 10x better than the first one. I didn’t stumble over any questions. I was clear and confident in my responses. I was able to pull up relevant and impressive examples on the spot. The entire conversation flowed naturally, and at the end of the interview, they told me they were impressed.

Was it perfect? Probably not.

Did I get the job? I don’t know yet. I find out next week. I’m detached from the outcome.

Did I accomplish my goal of feeling genuinely more confident? Absolutely.

Try these for your next interview and let me know what happens!