It is worth reflecting for a moment whether you really want the types of jobs you are applying for. If you can figure out reasonably equivalent alternative jobs to apply for, that might help a bit with your anxiety. (If such a possibility exists in your economic circumstance)
It’s probably also worth trying to make your concerns more specific to yourself. Whenever I get ready to cold-call someone, I always worry—specifically, I worry that I’ll be so off-putting in my interactions with the target that he will immediately call/email/text all of his colleagues about what a jerk I am, preventing me from making professional connections with them even after my interaction skills improve.
But that’s not a particularly realistic concern. If I piss off the target that much, he’ll just hang up and move on with his life. Or not call back when I leave a message. If I hadn’t made than concern concrete, I’d never have been able to address it rationally. Then I found that my anxiety didn’t change level, but the explicit reasoning changed (to some other catastrophe). Personifying my anxiety, it seemed like Tim’s Anxiety was never giving me his true rejection, which made it easier to NOT take Tim’s Anxiety as seriously.
Edit to add: The other thing I noticed about my anxiety was what I called double-counting. There’s a rational amount of concern to have about the catastrophe I described about (it’s low, but it exists). And that catastrophe would be emotionally powerful if it occurred. But if you let the catastrophic possibility weigh your decision both rationally (i.e. expected value) and emotionally, you are double counting the possibility in your decision process. If you can be aware of your thoughts as they occur and decide whether the emotional weight or the rational weight is what you will consider, you might be able to more appropriately include it in deciding to act. The goal is not to prevent these thoughts—the goal is to change your reaction so that it doesn’t interfere with your goals. So it doesn’t matter whether you give the thoughts emotional weight or rational weight, so long as you don’t apply both weights.
Finally, the way to reduce anxiety is exposure. Can you find a job application that you don’t care whether you get an interview (even in some totally unrelated field), and spend tomorrow just doing that application? You don’t need to spend any substantial time on it, and it doesn’t matter if the application is any good, because you don’t want the job. And stop working once you complete and submit the application. Won’t it feel great just accomplishing something that you decided to do?
It is worth reflecting for a moment whether you really want the types of jobs you are applying for. If you can figure out reasonably equivalent alternative jobs to apply for, that might help a bit with your anxiety. (If such a possibility exists in your economic circumstance)
It’s probably also worth trying to make your concerns more specific to yourself. Whenever I get ready to cold-call someone, I always worry—specifically, I worry that I’ll be so off-putting in my interactions with the target that he will immediately call/email/text all of his colleagues about what a jerk I am, preventing me from making professional connections with them even after my interaction skills improve.
But that’s not a particularly realistic concern. If I piss off the target that much, he’ll just hang up and move on with his life. Or not call back when I leave a message. If I hadn’t made than concern concrete, I’d never have been able to address it rationally. Then I found that my anxiety didn’t change level, but the explicit reasoning changed (to some other catastrophe). Personifying my anxiety, it seemed like Tim’s Anxiety was never giving me his true rejection, which made it easier to NOT take Tim’s Anxiety as seriously.
Edit to add: The other thing I noticed about my anxiety was what I called double-counting. There’s a rational amount of concern to have about the catastrophe I described about (it’s low, but it exists). And that catastrophe would be emotionally powerful if it occurred. But if you let the catastrophic possibility weigh your decision both rationally (i.e. expected value) and emotionally, you are double counting the possibility in your decision process. If you can be aware of your thoughts as they occur and decide whether the emotional weight or the rational weight is what you will consider, you might be able to more appropriately include it in deciding to act. The goal is not to prevent these thoughts—the goal is to change your reaction so that it doesn’t interfere with your goals. So it doesn’t matter whether you give the thoughts emotional weight or rational weight, so long as you don’t apply both weights.
Finally, the way to reduce anxiety is exposure. Can you find a job application that you don’t care whether you get an interview (even in some totally unrelated field), and spend tomorrow just doing that application? You don’t need to spend any substantial time on it, and it doesn’t matter if the application is any good, because you don’t want the job. And stop working once you complete and submit the application. Won’t it feel great just accomplishing something that you decided to do?