Jobs end, especially for professionals-and usually without warning.
Times and business needs change. Decisions are made. The news is delivered, and you’re out the door. It’s not personal; it’s business. And it is that fast.
Business is about bottom lines. The four most important ones to know are:
1. All jobs are temporary, even if they last 5, 10, or more years.
2. It’s not a company’s job to take care of your needs; you’re an employee, not a dependent.
3. Your boss’ job is to keep a higher boss happy and look out for company business interests.
4. The only one responsible for taking care of your best interests is you.
Those are sobering words. The sooner you know and accept those bottom lines, however, the more quickly you’ll be willing to take healthy and positive measures to look out for yourself, protect your professional intellectual assets, and create security options for your career. The latter are addressed in another publication, the “CYA (Cover Your Assets) Guide for Professionals.” Here, taking care of yourself, constructively addressing the fears, feelings, and emotional impact of job uncertainty, is the focus-because that’s what’s going to hit you first and most powerfully.
Losing a job suddenly is stressful. Even thinking of the possibility is anxiety producing. Dealing with it strategically and proactively, before it happens, will allow you more freedom, less stress, and better options later.
The first stress-freeing tip is acceptance:
Acceptance that you can’t control the actions of others;
Acceptance that you have marketable skills and attributes;
Acceptance that you are a good and valuable human being, apart from your work and role in the company.
Breathe deeply. Accept what you cannot change. Act on what you can.
The second stress-freeing tip is to develop an open and positive attitude about change. Start practicing the next time change comes your way. Feel your apprehension, your emotional reactions; acknowledge them, thank them, and release them. Then choose to see what opportunity, what positive outcome or benefit might be opening to you with this new development. When one door closes, others open. Perceive the positive, dream of possibilities.
The third stress-freeing tip is take time for you, a daily fifteen- to 30-minute appointment of quiet time with yourself. Read inspiring or empowering works, take a walk, dream, write, and imagine. You are not your job. And your current job will not be forever. It is only part of your training and education for other roles you are yet to play. Nothing is wasted in the school of life. Get to know yourself. Love and honor the total person you are. Listen to your inner knowing, your intuition. Pay attention to connections. Be open to all possibilities.
The fourth stress-freeing tip is Take the high road. Tell the truth, take responsibility for your actions, treat all with respect and decency, and have laughter in your life. These are timeless and priceless. Volunteer where your heart, interests, and talents lead you. Connect with others who share your interests. Take the high road and be genuine there too.
Once you have the soft side strategies in place, you can move on to workplace practicalities of protecting your professional assets and creating a safety net for your career. You can’t control others.
You can do plenty for yourself while you still have the job, though. More on that in a follow-up publication, “CYA (Cover Your Assets) Guide for Professionals,” by the same author.
The bottom line: YOU need to take care of yourself- your life, health, happiness, career, connections, and talent. Acknowledge and release job stress. Find balance, wholeness, and peace within. That is your job. No one else can do it for you, and no one else has the vested interest you do. Be well, successful, and happy.
(c) 2005 Anne Wondra. Anne Wondra is a life spirit and career
coach, HR professional, writer, workshop leader, and author of the
CYA (Cover Your Assets) Guide for Professionals, and Opportunity
Knocks in Job Loss Situations, both available at
http://www.wonderspirit.com.
