Make Layoff Payoff!

Have you been laid off, downsized, or rightsized? If you have, then this is the first step you will take on your new journey into the world of unemployment, underemployment, employment and reinventing a career, starting a business, or jump-starting your life. For some of you, this may be your first experience being unemployed. For others, you may have gone through this experience before and are again facing unemployment. Whoever you are or whatever your circumstances may be, you can make layoff payoff . Being a victim of layoff is not an accident. Being unemployed at this exact moment is not an accident; but it is your destiny. Believing this is paramount to success. I always believed that no matter what happens in life, it was meant to be for some reason even though the reason may not be apparent at the time. NEVER let negative people tell you otherwise!

If you are unemployed, what you do with this newly found “free” time is entirely up to you and this is the most opportune moment in your life to sit down and reflect upon how you want to proceed on this new path. For the first time in your working life, you are in absolute control of what happens next. Think about how powerful you are at this very moment. Follow your heart and act on your dreams and money or moneymaking opportunities will present themselves to you when you least expect them and they will come from the most unlikely of people. Remember, if your goal is to make tons of money, there is more than enough money in this world for all of us to have. You just need to travel the road that is right for you and that road will lead you to the money. I am certain you know this is not an easy road to find or to follow, but it is not impossible if you believe in your abilities and commit to working smarter instead of harder. Let’s clarify this right now, working harder does not guarantee success. I am not saying to be lazy and success is yours. What I mean is that you must find the path of least resistance that will lead you to your goal. Once you find your way, the rest will seem easier.

What is success?

Money alone does not define success. In fact, some people do not require an abundance of money to consider themselves successful people. What then, is success? Success is a personal mindset and it means different things to different people. Collecting all of the money and material things in the shortest period of time possible makes a few people feel successful. For others, it is helping those in need and being charitable without monetary compensation. It may be leading a religious life and following the way of the Lord that defines success to a spiritual person. No matter how you define success, you need to first think about what success means to you as an individual. When you know what you want to do or be that will make you consider yourself a successful person, then you must then go after it and find the shortest path to completing your objective. Yes, the shortest path not the most difficult. Doing things, the hard way may build character, but you probably do not have the time or the money to wait it out. Visualize yourself in that successful state and start acting like that person you see in your vision. I am not saying to sit around and do visualization exercises all day long, because visualization without action will not get you anywhere.

Here is an example of what I mean; if you want to be a successful manager, then you must study successful managers. Find out what they read, how they dress, what they do in their leisure time, how they speak, what words and phrases they use in their vocabulary, where they hang out when they are not working; then observe and emulate their behavior. Read books about management and put what you learn into practice. Doing all of this will make you more confident and it will put you on an equal level with the managers interviewing you for your next position. If they see themselves, in you, an automatic connection will be made and your chances of getting hired will increase.

However, before doing anything, you must know what it is that you want out of life and once you have a clear picture in your mind of what success means to you, then and only then will you be ready to arm yourself with the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve your goal. Having a clear mental picture of yourself in the successful role you visualized, the necessary skills and knowledge, an iron determination, and a passion for attaining your goal, when combined, will make you a force to be reckoned with.

It’s not the end of the world!

As with any endeavor in life, a positive mental attitude and a positive self-image are keys to the kingdom of success. How you project yourself to others and how they perceive and react to you are part of the total package and persona that you are marketing. That is correct, you are the package and you have to market yourself to those whom you believe will hire you or fund your business venture. You are like any other product; products require a marketing plan, attractive packaging, they must be able to do what their advertising says they will do, they must be reliable, accurate, arrive in a timely manner, and last for many years. A polished, sophisticated, attractive résumé and cover letter are required to market this package called, you. If you do not have a good résumé and have no idea how to begin, the Internet has examples of different types of résumés. However, the best approach is to find a professional résumé writing service or a job coach that will help you not only to write the résumé, but will also help you with interviewing techniques and preparing for an interview. Check your local phone book and talk to your friends to find a résumé writing service or job coach that will match your needs.

Having said this, we can next focus on your mental attitude, which if I am not mistaken, needs some care and adjustment. You lost your job and no matter how tough you try to think you are, it hurts and will continue to hurt until you come to grips with this new situation and decide that it’s not the end of the world!

Losing your job, livelihood, and status is, no doubt, a devastating blow to your psyche and your bank account. However, now is not the time for self-pity. It’s not the end of the world. You will survive if you are strong-willed and simply never accept defeat. Focus on the positive and look at this moment as a new beginning – an adventure that will take you into uncharted territory. Are you ready? If you are, then buckle your seat belt and firmly grip the handlebars because, baby, this roller coaster ride has officially begun! Remember there is life after .

There is life after

I worked at Eastman Kodak Company from 1974 to 1998. I started there when I was only twenty-four years old. I made a huge mistake by allowing what I did for a living and where I worked, define who I was as a person. There was nobody more dedicated, fair, and honest than I was. I gave that company all but my life and was rewarded handsomely for my contributions. It was a fantastic place to work until the last three years. When I left Kodak, I received a great severance package including a year’s salary, so for the first month after leaving, I did not look for another job. I had been writing a short work of fiction (Not Without Protest) on and off for a couple of years and decided that I was not getting any younger and that it was time to finish the book. And that is just what I did.

I took a few days off to decompress and to get my head together and I then jumped into writing, which was a wonderful escape from reality. Having the freedom to write any time that I felt like it and not to have to worry about money was wonderful. And I know that not all of my readers will have this luxury, because there were other times after this, when I was working on short-term contracting jobs that ended on specific dates. That is when the money stopped. Since I owned a home-based business, I could not collect unemployment and had to focus my energies on finding another contracting job before the next mortgage payment was due. Talk about pressure, this was extreme, but I was mentally prepared to deal with my new challenges. I remained positive and persistent.

My point is, in case you were wondering, is that there is life after layoff and if I could survive being laid off from Kodak at forty-eight years old, you will survive being laid off from wherever you were employed. I live in Rochester, New York located in picturesque Upstate New York and just south of Lake Ontario. In our community, Kodak and Xerox were once the largest local employers. When I started working at Kodak, they employed about 67,000 people in Rochester. Today, they employ about 15,000 people in Rochester, which is their international headquarters. Today, too, they are still downsizing as a solution to their problems. After losing their jobs, some people moved to warmer places. Some invested their entire retirement funds in new business ventures while smaller employers within the community absorbed others.

If you worked at Kodak, during its premier years as a photographic giant, you had status and brand recognition working for you, which made buying a car or a home much easier than it was for non-Kodaker’s. Doors to financial institutions would open and the bankers would bend over backwards to get your business. It was great! However, leaving involuntarily was not so great and suddenly, many of the bankers were not so eager to accommodate.

Was I upset? Was I hurt? And was my confidence shaken? You bet! Did I dwell long on the negative aspects of the layoff? Hell no! I knew that if I were to survive this temporary setback, I would have to focus on the future and maintain a positive perspective on life and this new card that fate dealt. Nothing is worse than carrying negativity on your shoulders 24 hours a day. Once you allow this to happen, it will follow you right into your first interview and do not think for a second that the interviewer will not notice your negativity. It will exude from the look in your eyes, your body language, and it will slip into the conversation. Some interviewers will try to bait you into saying negative things about your former employer.

If you fall into this trap, they will not likely hire you. Stop reading this article right now, look at yourself in the mirror, and promise me that you will not let the negativity control your destiny. Remember, there are success stories . And you can be one of them.

Never surrender!

Some people give up their job searches out of frustration. In fact, when you read in the newspapers that unemployment figures have gone down, part of the reason that they have gone down is because some people have totally given up looking for work and their unemployment benefits have run out so they are no longer counted as being unemployed. These people surrendered because they could not roll with the punches or just tired of the whole effort. Some did not have the skills or education needed to gain employment in a changing market and surrendered.

You must never surrender if you want a new career or to start a new business venture. I keep repeating this because it is absolutely the key to your future success. No matter what profession a person selects and no matter what your age may be, the difference between those who succeed and those who bleed is that the successful people never accept defeat.

If one road does not lead them to their goal, they try another road and keep doing this until they reach their ultimate destination. If the Wright brothers believed every naysayer who said flight was impossible, we would not have airplanes today or a more determined inventor would have created the airplane. I really believe that the only impossibilities are those, which, we define for ourselves and thereby, become imprisoned by the walls we build from the bricks of self-doubt and the mortar of defeat.

Many times entrepreneurs are forced into bankruptcy and the ones who ultimately succeed are those with the guts to start another business and try it all over again. Many successful inventors tried, failed, tried again, endured public ridicule, and finally succeeded.

For whatever reason a new business may fail, the smart entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes, do not repeat the same mistakes, and move ahead with another idea or refine their original idea.

Business is like war and you have to remember that in a war, one must never underestimate the enemy forces and likewise in business, one must never underestimate the competition. Some businesses fail because the entrepreneur does not do a good job identifying the competition in his or her business plan. The entrepreneur should know the strengths and weaknesses of the competition and go after the weaknesses. Whatever you are trying to do, you just cannot give up when something goes wrong. You must never surrender if you are to succeed and if you are to succeed, you must remember to think positive thoughts and layoff, will payoff .

Think positive thoughts and layoff, will payoff!

Negativity wastes energy and has a way of feeding on itself. When you encounter negative people, distance yourself or else they will drag you down into the abyss. Negative people love to complain about what happened to them and how mistreated they were. In our community that was so terribly devastated by layoffs, it was not difficult to run into former coworkers and there was never shortage of those that bashed the company and complained about how bad it was. The truth of the matter is, that there were many good and profitable years that we all spent at Kodak and one must be thankful for the things we learned and the money we earned. Whatever you learn in a given job is always transferable to the next job. I have always said, “One year at work is equal to two years of college.” And nobody can take that away from you. You have to find a way to capitalize on what you learned in your former job and package this in a way that will benefit your next employer or your business venture.

When you encounter a negative person, you have to be blunt. Tell them that you are really feeling good about the possibilities you see for yourself on the horizon and that you do not have the time or desire to get sucked into the currents of their negative undertow. It may sound harsh, but perhaps it will wake them up to the fact that in order to move on to better things, they too, need to be positive. Here is a challenge, try to find one person that has realized a high degree of personal success and also has a negative attitude. I believe I am on safe ground when I say it will be a futile search. Negativity and success are like oil and water, they just do not mix and neither should you mix with negative people. You are who you hang out with and if you have any hopes of achieving success, the last thing you want to do is to be associated with negative people.

Get rid of your negative thoughts and get ready to make layoff, payoff â . You must let go and move on .

Remember, that there is nothing wrong with you and you did not do anything wrong. Do not forget that you are a victim of:

• The economy
• Companies that refuse to change
• Companies controlled by people without principles
• Companies that continually violate the values they espouse at team meetings. Values that are printed on wall posters and on pocket-cards for employees to worship each morning before beginning their workdays.
• Managers and supervisors who only care about themselves and not about their people

This is, perhaps, the most difficult step you will take during your adventurous journey.

Remember, it is an adventure and the sooner you change your perspective about this, the sooner you will be able to move forward.

When you think about it, the only obstacle to your success is YOU! Let the past go. Forget about what once was, concentrate on what now is, and move forward to what will soon be your new future.

If you were laid off, or your job was eliminated as mine was, you are a victim of circumstances beyond your control. It does not necessarily mean that you were not a good performer and I think recruiters are finally beginning to realize that there is a wealth of untapped talent swimming in the pool of unemployment.

Good employees are laid off every day because companies are mismanaged and the immediate way to show profit is to reduce expenses by getting rid of salaries and benefits which are a significant portion of any corporation’s operating plan. When CEOs do this shareholders and the board of directors are temporarily appeased because it looks like the CEOs are taking the right actions to turn the company around. However, this is just like placing a bandage on a major wound. It looks like you are trying to help the situation, but it is impossible to stop the bleeding. When companies layoff people and outsource jobs offshore, their profits may temporarily spike, which makes the major investors happy, but in the long run, the costs of doing this will bring the company to its knees. Getting rid of people allows a major talent pool and a large body of knowledge walk right out of the door. Many times, companies remove the older and higher paid employees only to turn around and replace them with younger employees that they can hire for far less money. However, the cost involved to train these new employees is astronomical and the lost knowledge is irreplaceable.

You should not allow yourself feel guilty for a single nanosecond if you lost your job, because it is not worth wasting your time and energy over. The company and its mismanagement caused you to be unemployed not anything you did unless, of course, you were fired and not laid off. If you were fired, it was probably your own fault. Learn from this and move on. People get fired and if they play their cards right, can get hired into better jobs at other companies. I had the unfortunate experience of working for a couple of different incompetent managers at different companies. Both of whom were fired and both went on to other management positions at different companies. I feel sorry for their new employees! These people will not change their behavior, because they just don’t get it. They have to hold up the mirror and take a long hard look at themselves.

Many corporations are led by people without principles, just look at the list of CEOs in this country who have done unscrupulous things in order to line their pockets with gold and steal from their employees. Now they are paying with jail sentences and fines. You can never control the actions of unscrupulous individuals, but you may fall victim to their actions. However, you cannot let it destroy your desire to move on to a better place.

If you dwell on what happened to you, it will eat you up inside like cancerous cells feeding on unsuspecting organs and it will prevent you from taking the positive actions needed to propel you ahead. Dwelling on the negative, will make you physically and mentally ill if done for an extended period of time.

I am not a doctor, psychiatrist, or certified counselor, but I am positive that good physical health will slowly erode if you have a negative mental attitude. The mind is a powerful entity and when it goes awry, the rest of the organism soon follows.

The poor economy, the stagnant and mismanaged company that was run by people without principles who continually violated the corporate and moral values are all the roots of the problem, not you, so forget about it !

Take a positive step forward and forget about what the bastards have done to you. The sooner you are able to do this, the sooner you are released from the:

• Darkness
• Depression
• Negativity
• Self-pity
• Self-doubt

Is it possible to totally forget all of these negative things? Probably not totally and forever, but what is possible to do is to forget about how they make you feel and how you allow your feelings to react when confronted by the negative feelings, people and situations. You either decide that you want to wallow in this ugly state of affairs or you decide to reject it and all it stands for so you are able to survive and succeed. Can you do this? You better say, “yes”. Congratulations !

O.K., you have now made it over your first major hurdle and you should feel great about this accomplishment. No matter how bad things are or appear to be, remember that this was all meant to be. There is a reason that you were forced onto this path by life’s circumstances so take advantage of this time with yourself. If you believe that there is a reason for all of this and that everything will work out for you then you will be able to achieve awesome results. This is a tremendous opportunity so do not squander your time. It is important to take small steps forward each day from this point on so that you are continually making progress towards achieving your goals. Celebrate each successful step and learn what you can from the unsuccessful steps, then move onward. Remember, mistakes and failures provide the greatest opportunities for learning and growth, if one is willing to be accountable for their mistakes.

It is important to have some fun too and make sure you spend some time each day doing a recreational activity that you enjoy. Maybe you like to read novels, or to go to a local coffee house and sip your favorite coffee while enjoying the newspaper; just do something other than working on your business plan or job search. Your mind needs time off so it can get reenergized.

If you are invited to a party or other social function, do not talk yourself out of attending. You never know who you will meet that may lead you to your next job and do not be embarrassed to tell people that you are unemployed. Often times, people are willing to help you, because they were in a similar situation once or know somebody else who has been laid off. I went to a holiday party and ended up with a contracting job that led to a full-time job at a contracting house, because someone at the party played golf with the vice president of the contracting house and he asked the VP if I could call him for a courtesy interview. I called the next working day, was asked to come in for an interview and the day after the interview, was offered a job. Whenever somebody asked me what I did for a living, I would proudly reply, “Nothing!” that got their attention and then I would tell them about my new adventure and journey into the uncharted. Besides, it was great fun looking at the expressions on their faces when I said this and it was a great icebreaker that stimulated the conversation. So, where are you going?

Where are you going?

How many of you followed through on your childhood dreams? If you are reading this article, then you probably did not follow your dreams and would not be looking for answers now. The decisions you have made, continue to make, or fail to make, are affecting your future course on the sea of uncertainty . I firmly believe no matter what your current situation may be, or how old you are, you and ONLY YOU have the power to make positive changes in your life! Therefore, it is essential to create positive changes in your life by using your positive mental attitude when you meet new people, when you try new things, and when you take chances and believe me, you must take chances. Get out of your comfort zone and get used to staying out. If you are shy and withdrawn, force yourself into social settings and be more outgoing. Make a point to circulate and have conversations with new people. If you have trouble keeping a conversation going, get them to talk about themselves by asking an open-ended question rather than a closed-ended question requiring only a yes or no answer. Most people love talking about themselves and they will think you are a good listener and interested in what they have to say if you use open-ended questions.

What about that childhood dream that was put on the shelf because all of the adults at the time thought it was foolish? Or that one thing you always wanted to do, but never tried? I know you have not forgotten about these things and at times, wonder, “What if?” Is it a foolish idea or not? If not, then what would it take to make it happen and is it something that will generate income for you and your family, or improve your confidence? If you still think it is a good idea and it is something you can do for a living, then what is holding you back now? Is it money or fear of failure? There are no more excuses and you do not have a job that is eating away at your spare time as well as your daytime. Why not make it happen? People will tell you it is too much of a risk, but if you are not working, what do you have to lose? Take charge and start planning the details that will get you on the road to success. Remember, you are in control of the course you chart .

You are in control

No matter what your current situation is, you and ONLY YOU have the power to change! It is absolutely essential to create positive changes from a positive mental attitude towards everyone and every situation we encounter. This is not a cut and paste error, I am intentionally repeating myself because it is imperative that you hear this over and over until it is cemented in your subconscious mind and until you really believe that this is true. I’m not just blowing sunshine up your ass! You are in control of your destiny.

You are in control of your course and only you have the power to chart a new course so that you can sail into new adventures.

The only person stopping you from taking control is you. We negatively program ourselves for failure instead of success or have allowed others to do this to us. Unfortunately, well-meaning parents often discourage their children from trying something different and force them into their own mindsets. Our fear of the unknown and the comfort of the known prevent us from taking action to achieve what we desire. The first time that you leave your comfort zone will be the most difficult, but you will feel like you made the trek to the base camp and climbed Mt. Everest once you have done this. The next time you leave your comfort zone and all subsequent times will be much easier. This is like the first time you asked someone for a date, but once you did, the next time was much easier. You cannot get stuck because of the fear of rejection or of failure; take that first baby step forward and once you have, you will feel much better. Get over the fear of rejection and do not waste your time trying to change the mind of the person who rejected you. This is like the old rule successful sales people follow; they try to double their rejections because it gets them to the “yes” faster. They do not waste their time trying to change the mind of someone who said, “no”. Instead, the successful sales person moves ahead and to the next potential customer.

If you do not take action , there will be no reaction . You can have the best idea and plot for the next great American novel and have all of the marketing plans, advertising campaigns, book tours and website all ready. However, if you do not take action and write the book or do not take action on any of the plans once the book is written, no reaction will take place. The book won’t publish and sell itself!

As difficult as it may seem, you simply have to take control of your destiny and make that first step happen otherwise you will never find a job or succeed at anything you attempt. You have to take control and chart your course of action and then execute according to plan. There are some people who do this instinctively without creating written plans, but if you are like me, you need the discipline of committing plans to paper and then executing according to the plan. My grandparents certainly did not read self-help books, business books, or go to college. They barely finished grade school. However, when they came to the United States with no money in their pockets and only the clothes on their backs, they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. As simple as it was, they had a plan and a vision of what they wanted and worked at whatever jobs they had to in order to realize their dreams. The willingness to do anything and the indomitable spirits they had made them successful people.

Plans without actions end up in a file drawer someplace or in a directory on a computer’s hard drive where they sit for all eternity. If you charted a course to sail from New York City to the Bahamas and planned every part of the journey, but never pulled up anchor in New York Harbor and set sail, then you wasted your time planning for a trip that would never happen. It is the same with anything one does in life; if you just sit and dream and wish for things, they never happen until you take action. You can visualize yourself in that mansion from now until eternity, but if you do not take any actions that will move you towards achieving that goal, you will be stuck in the apartment for the rest of your life.

All too often, we are unwilling to change our preset courses, even if we are miserable with our current situations. After all, it’s easier for some people to complain and do nothing than it is for them to be positive and to do something. It is critical to create positive changes from a positive mental attitude towards everyone and every situation we encounter. (Yes, I repeated myself again.) Change involves taking risks and you must be willing to take calculated risks.

Change involves taking risks

Change involves intentionally placing yourself in uncomfortable situations so that you can learn from mistakes and benefit from these valuable lessons. Change also involves effort and sometimes the added work becomes a barrier to achieving a goal. Excuses are never lacking for people who cannot take action, but when examined closely, they are usually self-imposed excuses. And they are under the individual’s control. For example, “I’ll do it tomorrow when I’m not so tired.” Chances are, “tomorrow” will not be any different from “today” and the excuses will perpetuate. Instead of making excuses, which are avoidance reactions, think about all of the reasons why you should take a risk. When a person does not take a chance and try something that they have always wanted to try, but never had the courage to do so, then they will wonder what would have happened if they had taken that one chance. Lost opportunities are often life altering opportunities that will be gone forever if they are not acted upon. There are other people in the same situation as you who procrastinate about taking chances; so remember, you are not alone . However, you can separate yourself from the pack by taking that one chance. I had an opportunity once to invest $1000.00 in a stock for a gold mine. At the time, the price of gold was down, but there was an upward trend coming. The shares were one dollar each. If I had invested the money when I wanted to, I would have made $25,000! I could also have lost that thousand, but something in my subconscious told me I would not lose. However, I allowed others to talk me out of taking the chance and lost. We need to cultivate our intuitive powers more and listen to our subconscious minds more and act on the subconscious suggestions by taking those calculated risks instead of procrastinating.

You are not alone in this procrastination snare, many people find themselves in this exact situation and feel paralyzed. Remember the words of Aguste Barthelemy, who said,

“The absurd man is he who never changes” (Ma justification, 1830 – 31).

Do not become absurd and start changing right now. Look at the natural world and you can learn some valuable lessons.

All throughout recorded history, you will find examples of animals and civilizations that were not capable of changing and ended up in extinction and gone forever. Like those animals and civilizations, you too, must change or else face employment extinction. Change is difficult and the acquisition of a new habit takes at least 90-days before it is imbedded in your subconscious mind and becomes part of your routine. Once you embrace change and take action, you will feel energized. It is like when you clean your office, or move the furniture around in your house you feel better and have a different outlook towards your house. Remember, you must never give up!

Never quit on yourself. Be persistent, flexible, confident, and positive . Think of yourself as a computerized navigation system that is controlling the course and speed of a luxury ocean liner traveling around the world. Like the navigation system, you must constantly correct and change course to avoid the perils facing you on the Sea of Uncertainty . As employment conditions change, you will need to adjust your strategies, skills, and education.

Be like a windmill – Charles Caleb Colton once said,

“A windmill is eternally at work to accomplish one end, although it shifts with every variation of the weathercock, and assumes ten different positions in a day” (Lacon, 1825).

In order to reach your goal, you must work smarter, not harder and shift your position as required. As conditions change, so too, must you. In any biological system, the one that adapts and evolves survives. If you do not adapt to your new situation and evolve to becoming comfortable with it, you will not be able to to attain your next position.

Stay tuned for the next segment...

Copyright 2010, C.R. Associates of Western NY, Inc.