It’s Friday night and you’re stressed our perusing the Web searching for job leads. In just two weeks you’ll be on terminal leave from the military and you’re nervous. The economy is in shambles, jobless rates are at an all-time high, and you have zero experience in the corporate world. To make things worse, you’re competing against folks with stacked resumes and a huge network, and the outlook appears dim.

You’re about to go to combat in the real world except you have a problem, you’re not ready for battle.

Fighter pilots don’t strap on our gear and fly unless we’re fully prepared (i.e. up to date with tactics, intelligence and skill.) Did you ever strap on your gear and deploy without being prepared? I didn’t think so. It’s called being Mission Ready (“MR”.) Becoming MR takes work.

Simply put, you need to fully trust yourself before you can go on a mission. You have to trust yourself to win.

• You have to Prepare.
  
• You have to Train.
  
• You have to Sacrifice.

Just like transitioning to the military was very challenging for most of you, transitioning into the highly competitive job market also takes a tremendous amount of work. But it’s not the job searching and networking that you should concentrate on initially. Rather, you should work on yourself.

Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “Nobody ever got muscles watching me lift the weights.” I have a question for you: Have you lifted your career transition weights today?

So, rather than spend most of your time delving deep into the job search and getting stressed watching the news, what you need to do first is get busy at preparing.

Here are a few wingtips.

1. Instead of watching “Grey’s Anatomy” and playing online poker, head over to Barnes and Noble and find the best books you can on job interviewing techniques, résumé writing, cover letters, and recruiters. Sit, read, and take tons of notes. Do this every chance you get. Essentially, you need to get a private degree in career transitioning and you have to be willing to sacrifice your time.

2. Plan to interview at least one civilian businessperson a week over coffee or lunch. Maybe that person you strike up a conversation with at Starbucks can be a perfect candidate. Sometimes, strangers can be a great resource of information. Just be friendly and inquisitive. People like to help.

3. Get on Linked In or Facebook and search for people who are former military. Develop a relationship with them if you can and do what most military folks don’t like to do: ask for help.

Here are some great book resources you should check out (“Google” them):

• “The Military Advantage”
  
• “Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed”
  
• “Military-to-Civilian Career Transition Guide, The Essential Job Search   Handbook for Service Members”
  
• “How To Win Friends and Influence People”
  
• “Think and Grow Rich”

Notice I didn’t just list job resources. Personal development guru Jim Rohn says “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” I agree 100 percent.

All these resources and strategies will help you develop what I call your Inner Wingman. When you trust your inner wingman, you become confident. Confidence breeds action which leads to performance. People who lack confidence are fearful. They fear change, failure, and rejection. Fearful people have a survival mentality, but confident people have a winning mentality. Confident people have positive attitudes and companies love to hire people who are positive and trustworthy.

If you don’t trust yourself, neither will your interviewer.

So, before you start complaining about how difficult your job search is or how little opportunities are out there, ask yourself if you’ve done the heavy lifting necessary to build trust in yourself in this competitive job market. In life, nobody is flying your jet but you. You have to earn your wings before you can fly.