Sometimes, other people say it better. In this case, it's Forbes magazine, with an article called Advice for Laid-Off Engineers. Of course, the advise applies to anyone who's laid off. But such advice is worthless without the right mindset.
When I was twenty, or even thirty, I could spend days in a blue funk because time was endless. Someplace in the last three or four years, I figured out that time is precious--probably because I have a lot less left than I used to. What I do from this point forward matters. Wasting weeks, days, or even hours, fretting over things I can't control seems like burning money.
A better use of the time is figuring out what I want and pursuing it. That way, when I'm propped up in my death bed, I won't be filled with regret. Life is magic, but magic loses meaning when it's not valuable. What value is a good thing when everything's going well? After a couple months of sunny days, another sunny day is no big deal. After a Chicago winter full of gloom and claustrophobia, the sun is a blessing. So it is to build something when things are bad.
It's hard, motivating yourself when things look helpless. When I was laid off, I spent far too much of the time I was blessed with drinking beer and feeling sorry for myself. Instead, I should have taken the time to figure out and pursue my dream.
A lay off is neutral. Even with what I wasted in my layoff, I can't call it bad, because I learned so much.
You get the cards you're dealt. However bad your hand is, there's someone who figured out how to do more with less.
And you are worth trying to turn your loss into the biggest gain of your life.
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