Three Keys to Surviving the Economic Downturn

On Monday, different companies announced a total of 75,000 layoffs. That’s about the number of people who will be present to watch the Super Bowl this weekend. In November, 533,000 people lost their jobs. A month later, 692,000 people joined them. In the last two months of last year, 1.5 million people were laid off. That’s a lot. It’s almost as many people as went to all regular season Tampa Bay Rays games last year for 81 home games.

President Obama estimates that more than 10% of workers will be unemployed before the economic slump passes. And many estimates place the recovery at late 2010. In short, layoffs are a part of the foreseeable future.

Three keys exist in making it through to the other side when you’re laid off:
1. Build your network now.
2. Be passionate and creative, starting now.
3. Have faith, starting now.

Branch Rickey said that luck is the residue of good design. Prepare now in case the worst happens. Find people in your field of work and get to know them. Bring them value. Show them how you can help them. Care about them and engage them personally.

The tools are there: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogging. More important than the tools, though, are the ways you use them. Be helpful. Do what you can as you create your network to assist others. Show them you care. Also, show them you know something about your job. Your network should be a byproduct of your social presence, not its objective. Social media is about being social. Demonstrate your ability to help. It’s worth money, if it comes to that, and the people can be pretty cool, too.

Second, be passionate and creative, starting now. Surviving—and dare I say even thriving—in a layoff starts with attitude. And it’s nearly impossible to create a passionate, creative attitude when you’re worried about paying the mortgage. So start now.

I get to work early in the morning, just as the downtown skyline is backlit by the dawn. It’s breathtakingly beautiful some mornings. For years, I would have walked by that. Now I get out the Blackberry and take a picture. Having the ability to see those types of blessings where they exist, even on a crappy day, helps keep me leveled and sane. I can’t control whether the day is going to be difficult, but I can control how I respond to the difficulties. I have been working to create a habit of responding creatively and with passion. It’s hard. But it helps me see that the difficult is finite—it’s not forever—and it also provides me a chance to expand my abilities and my confidence.

And that leads me to the last point: have faith, starting now. Faith builds your networking ability and your ability to response to difficulty with creativity and passion. It’s also built by those things. When I got laid off in 2001, I had no network. I didn’t really know how to network. I started from scratch. Instead of preparing, I fretted, sitting in the hot water with my fellow frogs, complaining about how the water was getting hot.

By building a network now, I don’t have to worry. If I happen to get laid off, I’ll have done what I can do. I’ll be as ready as possible. That frees me at work, where I can now do a better job because I’m not dwelling on the possibilities. It also helps me to see the future without a job as something I’ve gone through before, and something I am certain I will do better in.

So in closing, I’m going to give you a challenge: if you’re concerned about being laid off, build your network now, think creatively and passionately—show yourself and others how you can help, build your faith now by building your network and making a habit of seeing opportunity, rather than gloom.

Then, make a vow that if you’re laid off, within a year, you’ll have figured out a way to do better than you were at your job. If that’s uncomfortable, make a vow that you’ll pay your bills throughout. It’s possible—I’ve done it. As for what’s possible for you, only you can know that. Losing your job is awful, but you can survive and even cut down the worry now. You just have to believe it, then do it.