A little secret for everyone who's scared about being "found out."

Sometimes, I talk to job seekers who are damned near paralyzed in their efforts. They're running like mad, applying for lots of jobs, even going on some interviews.

Yet, they're just not landing the job as quickly as they want (or need) to.

Over time, some of these people begin to feel like they have some sort of fatal flaw that is preventing them from succeeding.

And this, as you might imagine, does not work in their favor.

I recognize that there's not a quick-fix answer for depression among job seekers. I don't in any way imply that I have any sort of magical wand for significant mental health issues.

But for those of us who beat ourselves up more than we really ought to, and let those annoying seeds of self-doubt get in the way of progress? I want to let you in on a little secret:

Even the most successful people you know... the one's who appear to have just annoyingly charmed lives? These people are, at least sometimes, utterly convinced that they have some sort of fatal flaw. And that they don't stack up. And that they are bound to fail.

Everyone has at least some thing about themselves that they hate. Something they're certain will sink them should anyone "find out" what they are all about.

(Mine, for instance, is the fear that I don't have enough charisma or stamina to grow into a top career expert.)

And most often? It's nonsense. We fear things that either won't happen, or we ruminate over "issues" about ourselves that no one would even mind if they did know about. In fact, sometimes the very things that we think are horrible flaws? Are actually part of what makes us so damned endearing to the people around us.

(Don't get my husband going on this topic, oh please do not.)

So if you're sitting around in misery today, convinced that this glaring flaw is going to be (or already is) your ultimate career demise? Please try something new.

Say to hell with it.

That's right, say to hell with accepting this nonsense and then get out a sheet of paper and write down AT LEAST 10 ways you know you add value -- at your work, in your family, in your volunteer work, among your friends and neighbors. Write them down. All of them.

And then look at the paper when you're done and realize this:

If you had a fatal flaw, there's no way you'd be able deliver this kind of awesomeness, now could you?

No, you could not.

Now take this awareness back with you to the job search. And since you now know your delay in progress has simply nothing to do with a fatal flaw? Dissect your current search methods and consider the ones that aren't working.

Ditch the tactics that aren't moving you forward, all of them.

This is not about you being faulty. It's about your willingness to accept that yesterday's passive job search methods will not likely move you forward.

A lot of people have a hard time with this, because those old standby methods are pretty deeply ingrained. But once you do? You can begin to devise a better plan.