HOW to do something new

Doing something new is not easy. A new job. Changing schools. Starting a new club. Going to university for the first time. A month of work experience. We are sharing some tips, tricks and hacks to make this just a little bit easier. 

How does doing something new feel for you? 

Eeeek.

We totally get it.

Doing something new.

Doing something different.

This makes everyone feel a little bit uncomfortable.

There aren’t that many people who relish that idea of doing something new without feeling a tiny smidge of discomfort and anxiety.

Our confidence is drawn from evidence of the things we’ve been able to do or achieve in the past. Once you have done something once or twice you are more sure you can do it again.

To do something we haven’t done before, we need to draw on something else in our armoury.

Self Confidence.

This is the part of us that makes us secure about ourselves and our abilities. To know that we will do our best, turn up with a smile and have a go.

Trusting ourselves and backing ourselves.

This requires us to show up despite being nervous.

To do things even though we might not want to.

Firstly, we like to think about it this way to get started.

What is the worst that could happen and what would you do in that situation?

For example, you turn up for new work experience.
The boss ignores you.
Everyone in the office is really mean.
They laugh at you and deliberately change the sign on the toilet door so you go in the wrong one.
You trip on your shoe lace and fall flat on your face then realise that in your rush to get dressed your pants are stuffed down yesterday's jeans that you grabbed cause you were running late.

What would you do then?

You would wonder whether they were all having a really bad day, give it a few weeks to see if things improved (that can often be the case) and make sure you had your clothes out the day before and set the alarm a bit earlier. 

In the very, very worst case scenario, particularly for work experience or a new club, you would probably never, ever go there again and nobody would give it a second thought.

They don’t really seem like the kind of people that would care about anyone else. You would also not be missing out on a great experience, would not want to be a part of a team like that and look elsewhere. No harm done. 

You’d also have a great story to tell about the first time you went to a new work place to your friends and family.

But, in real life it won’t look anything like that scenario… that would be pretty bad.

Here are some practical things you could do that can really help in terms of turning up to a new job/school/university/work experience for the first time.

1. Trial session: Ask to go and have a look round before you start to familiarise yourself with the place before you start and maybe meet a few people that work there. Remember to smile and say hello to anyone you meet.
   
   
2. Be early: Always turn up early so that you can work out who is who and be able to introduce yourself to people and watch and listen to who everyone is as they arrive. Being late into a new situation like this can mean you arrive to people in small groups chatting and you don’t know where to put yourself which means you have to dig deep and approach people to introduce yourself.
   
   
3. Smile: Always smile. Even at the people that aren’t smiling back. See if you can break them into a smile!
   
   
4. Be the first: Find the person who smiles back and go and say “Hi, I am Jo, I haven’t been here before. What’s your name?’ If this is beyond scary, the chances are they are not going to bite your head off, ask why on earth you are wasting their time with saying hello to them and turn around and walk away (especially when they just smiled at you…) they are much more likely to say ‘Hello’ back! Have something about the weather, the traffic, your breakfast, the difficult key code entry system to get it or similar small talk up your sleeve for the next sentence.
   
   
5. Make yourself known: Find the the boss, manager, person in charge. Introduce yourself. If you are part of a new group being shown around, ask a question, early on so that they notice you and see you as someone who is engaged and interested.
   
   
6. Connect with everyone: If you are new to halls in Uni or in a new workplace introduce yourself to the cleaners, the porters, the people who are going to make you meals everyday in the canteen or coffee shop next door. Find out their names. These are the wonderful people that will look out for you and look after you. Find your supervisor and say hello or thank you at the end. Sometimes you are a very small cog in a big wheel and people don’t know who you are so just saying hello can really help you feel settled in.
   
   
7. Keep notes: Try and remember names. Have a notes section on your phone for names as a reminder. You can meet so many people in one day that you will never remember their names. Write down a reminder next to the name. ‘Sal White: the lovely one with crazy hair who showed me to my desk’
   
   

You’ve totally got this.

Give it a go and try and enjoy the experience by throwing yourself into it.

Good luck!

Jo and Polly
www.thehowpeople.com

The HOW People, which stands for Happiness, Opportunities and Wellbeing, is a digital platform for young people and parents offering courses, workshops, mentoring and community. Combining and weaving health and wellbeing habits, life skills and inspiration into all that we do.