With unemployment wavering at 9%, layoffs are likely to continue throughout 2010. Bleak, dismal and discouraging are words the half empty use to describe the current state of the economy, while the half full see this as a new challenge to overcome or a welcome opportunity to make a long awaited change.
Having polled a number of experienced professionals in recent months both gainfully employed and unemployed due to being laid off, I have come to the conclusion that the unemployed seem to be in a better place.
Top 5 Reasons to Embrace a Lay-off
#1 You will no longer be stretched so thin at work that you have lost sight of what your position responsibilities entail.
#2 You can start over with a clean slate after a short hiatus which you likely needed. Let’s be honest…tough times produce compiled challenges in the workplace that can become a pressure cooker. Even the best supervisor, leader, or CEO eventually starts to “crack” when sales slide.
#3 If your environment was dysfunctional, you now have a pressure free opportunity to find something better suited for you.
#4 You can get back to the basics of living your life with less. After interviewing a number of executives and professionals, each agreed that they were back to the basics and were happy doing so. One executive admitted, “I now realize I no longer need that $200K income a year. I worked so much that I never enjoyed it [my earnings]. Being a conservative spender, I banked my money. I can actually live on less than I thought!”
#5 You can work on everything that you put on “hold” because you didn’t have time. One professional stated, “I am rediscovering my passion for visiting museums as I enjoyed in my 20’s. I am no longer on airplanes every other week and this if fine by me!”
This person has actually started working part-time at her local art museum. Mary is thriving.
The list is endless and the success stories even longer. Find your passion, niche, or silver lining in your lay-off and GET MOVING!
Lesson # 3: Choose a healthy attitude and you will radiate like Old Baldy once did; beckoning ships to it’s shore, leading the way for the lost and reveling in your glory of standing tall during the most tumultuous storms.
