Back to basics in interviews

If I'm being honest with myself, I think one of the main reasons I've struggled in interviews of late is that I haven't been myself. To some degree, I've been pandering and telling interviewers what they want to hear instead of saying what I actually believe and how I really feel. That, in turn, likely comes off as forced and inauthentic, and outwardly I'm fumbling through some word salad answers.

I know how I got here – after a couple of misses, I started to question my approach and my experiences. Instead of feeling confident and knowing what I'm good at (and not good at) I got into my head about what people wanted to hear instead of what I actually had to offer.

This isn't totally surprising. Once your confidence is a little shaken, it's natural to start to questioning things and making adjustments. A healthy dose of humility never hurt anyone, but in my case, I way over corrected and started over thinking it. I had the equivalent of the yips in sports – my basic muscle memory and skills would fail me.

So no more of that. Back to basics, back to being myself. I honestly have no idea if it'll actually work, it very well may not. But even thinking this way feels like a huge weight off my shoulders. I can approach and leave every interview relaxed, knowing I said what I believed and stayed true to myself.