Surviving Layoffs
A rough economy has a backlash in all directions. Companies are looking to keep their investors happy. If they’re not selling products they’ll be looking to trim the fat. You may not think you are part of the fat, but the higher ups might not see it the same way. It’s up to you to insulate yourself as best as you can against being tossed back into the unemployment pool. It’s important to have a plan in place that will speed up the process of landing a new job.
I had a friend who recently was laid off. She describes her experience and plans in this email:
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When Your Career Sucks, You Can Fix It
If you take a hard look at your career, you’ll see hundreds of failures. A failure is rarely a dramatic occurrence. Most are usually small and hardly leave a blip on our awareness. No matter how small, the blip is registered and it often builds or reduces confidence. So if we break down our work happiness psyche, it all comes down to our ability to deal with each obstacle and how we use these experiences to build our careers.
Many people encounter difficulties and they either give up or avoid the challenge, instead of pushing through their fears.
Fear has dictated many of my actions.
When I didn’t enjoy my job it was usually because I was afraid of:
- Not being able to find a job that I really liked so I kept quitting and looking for something else.
- Being fired because I didn’t want to put effort into something that wasn’t rewarding me properly.
- Trying really hard and still getting caught in a tough position so I would just coast along, doing work that was just okay.
Fear is based in assumptions. We assume that our boss doesn’t care about our hard work, so what’s the point of trying. We assume that our hard work doesn’t matter. Our fear holds us back from reaching true greatness. The funny thing is that even the greatest business people often see faults in the choices they make. The difference is that they don’t let the fear dictate their future decisions.
I’ve seen dozens of people get fired because they did not put their full effort into making their job a success. They either wanted something easier or something more challenging. They were stuck on the seesaw of emotions, flying high or low, never really knowing what they wanted. Ask yourself: are you truly happy where you are? If not, you have choices and it’s up to you to empower your career and give it a good kick it in the butt.
Help Yourself Make a Choice
When you lay out all your options it’s easier to see what you need to do to find a career that will get you excited and keep your energy level high, whether it be a new perspective on the present job or doing something completely different. Some of you may make lists of all the pros and cons of staying at your present job, use mind mapping techniques or talk to a trusted friend who knows you almost as well as you know yourself.
The only way to do work that you enjoy is to take risks:
- Ask for new tasks at your present job
- Try a similar job at another company
- Go back to school
- Experiment with other jobs that you think will hold your interest
- Start a company
Some of you may not love your jobs, but you are okay with this because you get to do what you love on the weekends. If you do a decent job that you enjoy and it doesn’t create that much stress then don’t be afraid to keep doing it. You don’t need to conquer the world if you enjoy what you do. However, for most of you this won’t cut it, so you need to find what type of work will trigger the most happiness.
An Emotional Foundation
It’s all about being honest with who you are and what you want. If you need to wake up and get excited about what you do to earn a living then it’s time to make a plan. You need to do some soul searching and write a list of emotional needs as related to your career. When working happy, money isn’t always a powerful motivator. Your career happiness will most likely depend on two main factors: Your ability to feel productive and the people you work with.
I created a list about 5 years ago and my shortened version looks like this:
- Writing
- Poetry
- Marketing/business
- Self-help
- Novels
- Public Speaking
- Although it made me nervous it got me excited.
- Flexibility
- Ability to go and be where I wanted, not be stuck in an office.
- Sharing of Ideas
- I love to share and develop ideas with other people.
- Laughter
- I wanted a job that was fun. Nothing too serious and uptight.
- Grand Goals
- I wanted a job that had almost infinite possibility.
I realized that there wasn’t one job out there that was able to satisfy my needs. I am building on my career to get where I want to go. I looked at my list and tried to figure out what niche would best fit my talents. I pictured myself in a whole mess of careers: advertising, copywriter, freelancer, massage therapist, chiropractor, poet, school counselor, artist, teacher, and novelist. None of them seemed practical and a solid fit for me. I knew that I wanted to write, but not sure what niche. I also knew that I wanted to speak and engage the public. The more that I kept coming back to my desires, my career came into focus.
That’s why I started Work Happy Now, my fifth blog. It fit with my degree (Business – Marketing), my passions (writing and public speaking), and it also satisfied the most crucial need for me (The ability to be creative). Practicing this work on the side makes my day job easier to go to each morning. I know that I’m building toward a greater goal.
Building Your Skills
I’m currently working for a company, but I’m also gaining valuable experience to build on my career foundation. I speak to various schools about financial literacy (public speaking), I create PR for my company (refine my business writing), and I get to design brochures and web banners for the website (creative).
When you can find ways to increase your skills at your present job then it will become more enjoyable.
You must create opportunity to help see greater possibility. That may mean doing work outside of your job details, but that’s how you get ahead.
Try building on your career foundation by:
- Asking a co-worker if they need help on a project.
- Asking your boss’s advice on a report.
- Asking your boss for a specific project that interests you.
- Develop a project that you think will help the company and when it’s got some substance – pitch it to your boss.
You have to create opportunities.
Pride + Passion = Success
Being good at a job takes pride. We have to care about the outcome or we are never going to double check our reports or follow up with that annoying customer.
It’s harder to care about work that is monotonous. If you can’t find a reason to care about the outcome of your work then it’s up to you to take control and find out what you really need to feel successful.
You have to ask yourself why you either lost or never had pride in your job. If it’s fear then it’s your fault. If you are bored then it’s also your fault. I’m going to be honest. You are the reason that you are in this position. It’s really up to you to release that fear and do what gives you the best odds to be happy.
Find A Career that Fulfills Your Dreams
Look at your list of emotional needs and find the theme that emerges. Every list has a theme and yours will help lead you to the career that will build energy instead of sucking it away from you.
Down deep, you probably have some idea of your dream job. It’s your fear that keeps you from pursuing this career. The easiest way to release your fear is to imagine yourself doing what you love. Allow yourself to feel these emotions. Let them build passion. Visualization is a great technique to build motivation, but you must also act on these feelings to encourage change.
If you want to change career paths then start taking little steps toward that goal:
- Talk to people who have a similar career and find out how they created their path
- Go to night school
- Create a website
- Join a club
- Join a network online
Every time you add new tools to your skill set, your fear will likely regress. Start small and keep on taking baby steps.
If you only have a general idea of what you would love to do then create a list of steps to accomplish. As you mark off your progress your confidence will grow and the apprehension will wither away. Before you even reach your dream career you’ll be enjoying the foundation that will make it happen. That’s what it means to work happy NOW. You have to appease the “present you” to keep yourself motivated to improve your career.
So go take a baby step and surround yourself in an environment that will make you happy. If you like to organize then join a club and make contacts. If you love writing then create a blog. If you like sports then volunteer at your local college and start making contacts that will help you develop this passion.
Your skills will take time to build, but I promise if you stick with it you’ll see progress. You’ll slowly add new friends in the industry. These new friends may one day help you find a job that will make your dream career a reality.
Now go get started and add a new skill to your foundation and see what happens.
Here are a few articles from my fellow bloggers that will help you gain a better understanding of what direction to take:
- Escape from Cubicle Nation: Stop searching for the perfect job and start finding your life’s work
- Seth Godin: Get to vs. have to
- Get Rich Slowly: How Do You Turn Passion into a Career? (And Should You?)
If you haven’t found your perfect job (like most of us) then what are you doing to find a career that fits your emotional needs? Let’s discuss in the comments so we can learn from each other’s choices.
Articles Related to Making Your Career So Cool that You Almost Pee Yourself:
- Your 3 Careers – Are You Ready?
- Trapped in a Job You Hate? How to Take that First Step Toward Career Bliss
- You Should be Celebrating Your Average and Tiny Successes
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Images courtesy of orphanjones and Walsh
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Trapped in a Job You Hate? How to Take that First Step Toward Career Bliss
This is a guest post from Janelle Vadnais, who is social media manager and a business blogger.
“It’s amazing how much unhappiness we needlessly cause ourselves by ascribing negative meanings to simple things that happen in our lives.” -Gaile Blanke
I hate my job. Well, at least I used to. Let me start at the beginning.
As long as I can remember, I’ve been an overachiever. All throughout elementary and high school, I went from wanting to be a scientist to wanting to be a journalist. The days of dreaming about DNA in test tubes quickly gave way to thoughts of working in a busy office environment editing news stories and meeting deadlines. Bringing home anything less than an ‘A’ was unacceptable, and earning my Baccalaureate, Masters and then PhD was never an option; it was only a matter of being able to answer the question: “in what?” I finally decided on writing and editing because I determined it was what I liked above all else. When college rolled around, I earned a full athletic scholarship to North Carolina State University for cross country and track. And all throughout my undergraduate years, I thought I wanted to be a journalist. I even did an internship for a well known, local magazine, but I soon realized that this wasn’t what I wanted to do; so through the course of taking a few electives, I transitioned into the fascinating field of Sociolinguistics and went on to earn my Masters degree in Linguistics. I set aside my applications for PhD programs when I came to the horrific realization that somewhere along the lines of having endured non-stop education from the time I was two years-old; I was burned out with school.
Crap.
The problem with most people who are unhappy in their “chosen” careers is that they are the victims of their own misery. When I was in college, I was so determined to get that coveted sheet of paper-you know, the one that said I was a “Master of Arts” that I actually ended up losing focus of the other things around me that were important: my happiness. I thought that having proof of an advanced degree would somehow make me happy, but in the end I was burned out and miserable…miserable because my only plan of action at that point was to immediately continue into getting my PhD, and I hadn’t exactly factored “burn out” into the mix. And of course, as fate would have it, this all happened during my last couple of months of college. With plan ‘A’ shot to hell and no plan ‘B’ to speak of, I knew I had to act fast otherwise I would wind up moving back home with my tail between my legs, so I did what anyone else in my situation would do: I joined the police department.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In retrospect, I can understand now how experience makes you wiser. Going through the police academy taught me many things, mainly that I did NOT want to be a police officer for a living. Needless to say, it was a unique experience and I certainly credit many of my friends and other officers I’ve met who are still serving the fine state of North Carolina. But there came a point early on when I first enrolled in the police department when I thought to myself, “This is a mistake; you’re only doing this because you couldn’t find a job fast enough”. It’s true. I knew that I needed a job relatively quickly and the police department was hiring. 2+ 2=4, right? Wrong. Sometimes you have to re-do the math and show your work. I really didn’t think it through. In fact, I even made up excuses and justified how a career in the police department might actually work out for me. I could take my background in writing and editing, combine it with my background in sociolinguistics and maybe wind up as a detective behind a desk someday solving the world’s problems one crime at a time. Who the heck was I kidding?
The long hours quickly wore me down. I would come home exhausted after a 10-12 hour midnight shift and get up the very next day to do it all over again. The work, while it was physically challenging, was not mentally challenging enough. I found myself bored while I was at work, and then too exhausted when I came home to do much of anything else. What little social life I did have had almost died, and I soon found myself absolutely dreading going to work. Hardly my dream career. My overall outlook on where my career was heading seemed bleak. I had been applying to jobs but only half-heartedly because negative thoughts coupled with low self confidence as well as feeling trapped in my current career were heavy on the forefront. It finally took several long talks with my boyfriend and family to realize that I was the captain of the ship, and as the captain, I needed to pick a direction and stop blowing around in the wind. I wrote down all of the things that were worrying me, possible solutions to the problems as well as why the problems weren’t getting solved, and you know what was to blame? My attitude.
I wish I had Known Then What I Know Now
Having been an athlete all my life, you would’ve thought that I might have had an inkling into just how powerful a role your mental state plays in your life. Negative thoughts are like a virus. Once they get into your head, they have the potential to spread and multiply like wildfire. I felt like I wasn’t in control of my career path. I began to feel miserable and didn’t even know why. Getting out of bed every day and chanting to yourself, “I hate my job I hate my job” is bound to get anyone down.
I think that the vast majority of people wind up in jobs or careers that they hate simply because their minds aren’t completely made up with what they really want to do. This lack of experience lands you in a never ending circle of self-doubt, low confidence and feeling like you have to stick with whatever job you because you’re now bound by financial obligations, etc. The key to happiness is changing your attitude. If you’re unhappy about something- anything, assess why you feel that way. Write it down, tell a friend. Whatever you do, just make sure that you do something. (Karl’s note: I agree. One small step leads to another, which builds a career.) In my own struggles to get out of a dead-end career and into something more suitable, the following things have helped me:
Be knowledgeable: Know what makes you happy. If you don’t know, perhaps it’s time to figure it out.
Be determined: Know what your goals are and stick to them.
Be positive: Know that things can and typically do go wrong. Nobody is perfect, but you can be better by knowing how to more effectively handle your stress.
Be surrounded: Know that you are not alone. Use your resources: write down your thoughts; talk to a friend. These things will help you. Surround yourself with positive people who will encourage and guide you to make positive changes in your life.
Be wise: You’re never too old to make a change, and you’re never too young to learn from your mistakes. (Karl’s note: Yes! Go for your career happiness now!)
Janelle Vadnais is the Social Media Manager for Unlimited Web Solutions, Inc. and is the main blog writer for Create Business Growth. You can follow her on Twitter also at ‘janellevadnais‘ or visit her on StumbleUpon.
Articles All About Finding a Job that will Bring You Career Happiness:
- Building Your Future Career Foundation
- Never Stop Expanding Your Network
- Give It Your All, Not for Your Boss, But for Your Own Work Happiness
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If anyone is interested in writing a story or article for Work Happy Now, please contact me at karl (at) workhappynow.com, thanks.
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Image courtesy of lamazone
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Never Stop Expanding Your Network
You may do your job well, even so well that no one can complain, but you never get ahead. This career trap can cause many problems. The cause of the problem may be that you are one dimensional. You are so good at what you do and you’ve become so comfortable that you’ve stopped sharing thoughts, ideas, and helpful hints.
I’ve seen friends fall into this trap. When they need to expand their network they ignore the signs.
- Co-workers stop coming to them for help.
- They don’t reach out to people below and above them.
- They don’t take advantage of programs that might help them expand their skills.
Your Corporate Network
Many of you may be imagining some old man on the verge of retirement that has trouble adapting to the latest computer programs at work. This happens at every age. I’m relatively young, 32, but a few months ago I felt like I had become complacent at my job and I wasn’t keeping my co-worker network strong.
I decided to start calling people within the organization to just say hi. I always make it short and sweet and keep the conversation on them. They love it. They have been more willing to help me out with a problem instead of pushing me on to someone else.
Customer Network
This same problem happens with your customer base. When we get too comfortable and we stop reaching out to old contacts, we hinder the circular flow of love from our networks that helps us succeed.
You have to communicate to all levels within the organization to stay on the pulse of your company or your business, but you don’t have to push from just one angle. If you sell refrigerators and all you do is talk about how good they are, all day every day, people will tune you out.
Talk to people about what they enjoy most – themselves. Let them remember you for your graciousness and they will return the favor.
What do you do to expand your network?
Related Career Tips and Advice:
- Give It Your All, Not for Your Boss, But for Your Own Work Happiness
- Losing Heart In My Company – Reader’s Question
- Tell Your Boss You Need Leisure Time
* Buzzoodle Marketing wrote about being one dimensional, which spurred this article.
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Image courtesy of luc legay
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