 |
|||
| |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
Job or no Job: The Certainty of Uncertainty
Headline from AP via Yahoo News! January 11, 2005: "Chrysler Expects No Job Cuts in 2005, 2006." Headline from Detroit Free Press, January 12, 2005: "Chrysler Cuts 200 Hourly Workers." Job uncertainty has become part of the employment landscape in America. Just three weeks before the holidays, with no warning or explanation beyond "financial reasons," I was handed my walking papers. Laid off. The company just couldn't afford me (or numerous others) anymore. It's a very strange feeling to have one's disposable income evaporate and watch one's savings account trickle away. Even stranger, the realization the event is not what ultimately gets you - rather it's the inability to deal with the steady stream of unknowns ahead. Human beings are security junkies. According to Abraham Maslow's theory of personality (Motivation and Personality, 1954) humans have five fundamental needs: physical health, security, self-esteem, love-belongingness, and self-actualization. One of those needs, security, demands a sense of order and predictability within one's life. In a tumultuous business environment, how does that work? How does one manage the human need for security - and the fear of losing everything? It's not easy. But there are a few things you can do. Don't go it alone. Call in your favors. Use your support system, and if it's not enough, consider engaging a well-regarded and thoughtful therapist. No money for therapy? Sell off baubles accumulated when money was good on Craigslist or eBay. Consider meditation. Meditation is a powerful way to clear and calm the mind. Meditation is simple. The very intention of quieting the mind is beneficial. Many people use guided meditations to assist them. Try Chakra Suite by Steven Halpern or The Soul of Healing Meditations by Deepak Chopra. I'm currently using the Holosync System by Centerpointe Research Institute, which requires nothing of me except to listen to the recording for half an hour per day. Quantify your efforts. Set goals, but keep an action journal. Record all of your efforts in the journal. You may find you're doing more (or less) than you think you are to move yourself forward. Think of it as a project list for your life. Monitor your unstructured time. Notice the (productive) things you gravitate toward doing with your free time and record them in your action journal. By becoming aware of what you like to do gratis, you will sensitize yourself to paying opportunities you may have unwittingly passed up before. Feel the fear, and do it anyway. In her book Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway, Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., talks about different levels and kinds of fear. Level I fear is either about fear of things that happen, or fear of things requiring action. Level II fear is about the ego and has to do with states of mind, not events. Educate yourself about the construct of your fear; expose it for what it is, and take action to disarm it. Uncertainty is here to stay. Learn to anticipate, look for and embrace change. It's the only thing you can count on to stay the same. Helena Bouchez is a writer, musician, artist, teacher and former advertising agency associate technology director. She has a B.A. in Art from Wayne State University and a Certificate in Business Administration from University of Illinois Chicago Center for Entrepreneurship, is nearly finished with her first novel, tentatively titled "Till you Make It", and enjoys playing bass guitar in all three of her bands. http://www.helenabouchez.com, http://www.thelevitators.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Stop Searching for A Job and Start Attracting Professional Success! 1. Assess - Evaluate your skills, interests and abilities. Telecommuting Resumes Your resume needs to outline your skills and experience, as most know. What some may not know is that employers want to know what you'll bring to the table. Six Sure-Fire Ways to Get Yourself a Pay Rise Many employees do not care too much for their bosses or supervisors. It is an all too common trait. Consultants - If We Cant Laugh At Ourselves? There are hundreds of varieties of Consultants these days. We can find Consultants to take care of our diets, our physical well being, our mental well being, and pretty much anything you can imagine when it comes to business. Dissatisfied With Your Job? Stop Believing The Myths! If you are dissatisfied with your job, you are in a self-imposed career slump!Why are so many of us in career slumps? Bottom line?we are not doing work that satisfies us! No matter what our employer does for us, if we are not doing work we really want to be doing, in a way that fits our desired life-style, we will never be satisfied.What keeps us in career slumps for so long? The number one thing that keeps us in our slumps is that we believe the "myths" we were told!1. Rejection Got You Down in the Job Search? REJECTION IN THE JOB SEARCHGOT YOU DOWN?It's true, no one wants to be ignoredor rejected in any situation. Thejob search/interview rejection ispainful. Could You Write Performance Reviews For Money? Writing performance reviews can be an excellent way to earn a living. Who wouldn't want to go from place to place watching actors, singers, and chefs perform at their best (and maybe their worst)? Getting paid to do something like this just seems like fun, doesn't it? But, in reality, these jobs are not easy to come by nor are they easy to do. Ten Things To Do If You Really, Really Hate Your Job 1. Begin focusing on what you want instead of how much you want to escape. What is My Calling? "What is my calling?" Do any of us really have complete clarity about our life calling? Even those of us with the knowingness we must teach, write or sing may often ask, "What direction am I to go, now?" How do we answer these soulful questions?Richard Bolles, author of "What Color is My Parachute?" and the granddaddy of the employment industry says, when people are asked what they would like to do they often respond with "I don't know." Bolles maintains this is because people interpret the question to be "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?"This question is too big, too daunting, immobilizing people. Have You Given Up On Yourself? Have you given up on yourself? Have you decided to take the easy road and coast for the rest of your life? Have you come to the decision that you have done all you could possibly be expected to do in your life now it is someone else's turn? As you get older you may not be able to run as fast, swim as far, hit the ball as hard or even concentrate as long as you used to but is that the reason to give up? Surely your aim should be to be the best you can at whatever age you are."Navratilova wants to be as good a player as she can possibly be at the age of 47, just as she wanted to be the best she could possibly be at 19, at 25, at 35". How to Conquer Job Hunting Apathy Jack, downsized from his last job, was frozen in a place called Apathy. Had been for months now. How to Evaluate Job Offers and Zoom In On the Right Opportunity for You You've been successful in your job hunt and have received a job offer. Maybe you received more than one offer. How To Become a Mortgage Broker The mortgage industry accounted for $1,815,949,279,000 in loan transactions in 2004. That's one trillion, eight hundred and fifteen billion, nine hundred and forty-nine million, two hundred and seventy nine thousand dollars. Im just me - An Overview of an Web er.. Designer, Developer, Consultant and Friend I am going to give you a breakdown of my .. Job Search -- One of the Secrets of a Trade Show A trade show is a great place to network, look for a job, find a new employee or develop a partnership.Are you in the market for a change? Maybe. The 6 Stages of Modern Career Development Career experts say that people will change careers (not jobs) 5-7 times in a lifetime. This being true, career management is an important life skill to develop and cultivate. College Labor is Available in Ohio Ohio has always been big on education and that means a bright, energetic and reliable workforce for expanding businesses. A business which wants to expand its number of outlets should be looking strongly at the Ohio market place as there are many very strong and economically viable areas to do business. Useless Resume Objectives What's wrong with an objective on a resume? The problem with objectives on resumes is that a typical objective is self-centered and self-serving; therefore, it is useless. Instead of an objective, use a power statement. Prepare for Your Performance Review Before You Start the Job When you start a new job, you probably realize the first three months are critical to your long-term success. Everybody's eye is on the "newbie" as you learn the ropes. Getting Past Fear Have you gotten tons of career advice, solicited and unsolicited? You nod when you hear it and think, "Yeah, I know this stuff." So, what else is new?But what have you done with the advice? Fess up.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
