Up there with death and natural disaster, job loss falls into the tragedy category for most people. It’s almost drummed into us from a young age that the appropriate response to job loss is shock, anger and depression.
For the almost twenty years I’ve spent as a career and life coach, I had to bite my tongue and tap genuine compassion when presented with a job loss scenario. In truth, I wanted to jump up and down, grab the person and congratulate them on the huge opportunity that just befell them.
Losing your job does not have to be the end of the world. In fact, here are five ways that could help you see why you may have landed in a pile of luck.
1) You get to eliminate your complaint list. You’ve just been given the key to leaving your complaints behind. New criteria for your future job satisfaction can now be created from the list of things you just eliminated from your life.
2) You get to self-correct like the stock market does. When the market swings too far one way, it finds a way to self-correct. Now, you can re-adjust and decide to move forward looking for a position that truly fits you and what you want to do.
3) You can throw caution to the wind. Don’t burn any bridges, but this is a ‘hell-if-I-care’ moment. Give an honest exit interview with constructive suggestions. Outside of work, do something you’ve always wanted to do. Most people would fear spending money on a vacation when they are not sure where the next check is coming from, but this is the time to have a likely put-off hurrah before getting down to the biz of finding work.
4) You can get rid of excess without guilt. Back out of activities, relationships and belongings that you didn’t want anyway, but did not have the time to deal with while employed. You have an excuse now. Get lean and mean with your budget and determine what is really a necessity. Extricate yourself from any relationships that were not great to begin with. (This will probably get done without much effort since we find who our real friends are when we hit a patch of what most see as bad luck.)
5) You can do a makeover. Just like going to a new school, or off to college, you get to start over and remake yourself. Any internal changes or external appearance changes can be made now without any need for explanation or justification. This can go for business skills, too. This is an opportunity for growth.
More knowledge, a specific skill set or just an attitude adjustment could go a long way for you at this time. None of this fills your bank account immediately, but I’d bet good money it-fills your personal energy coffers. Zest, high-energy and enthusiasm, even if they almost feel like a free fall (scary!), will keep you on track with your job search and/or reinvention a lot longer than shock, anger and depression will. Get going!
Laura Fortgang
Laura Berman Fortgang is a twenty-year veteran of the career and life coaching field, the founder and owner of Now What?® Coaching. Her latest book is “The Prosperity Plan”.
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