Your key asset if you're laid off

"The economic outlook is bleak as corporations reported sharp earnings declines last quarter...President-elect Obama said he expects the unemployment rate to top out at more than 10 percent...All the major auto companies reported huge declines in sales over last year...More than 500,000 lost their jobs last month, with perhaps millions to join them in 2009."

You might lose your job this year. The thought tortures you, like an itch you can't reach.

Getting laid off is emotionally complicated. It's like experiencing the death of a loved one. You go through all the stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, with a healthy dose of fear as a side dish. Aside from the ego blow and the anger over the unfairness of it all, the structure that provided some safety is gone. No more paid benefits and vacation and sick time. Instead of just showing up and doing your job, you have to find the work, too. What if there's no next job?

When I got a captive job after a long layoff, my wife was thrilled. I had mixed feelings. Beside the relief was disappointment. I had taken on all those tasks and done well at them. We took on debt while I was out, but we made it through. And I had done it--with a lot of help, of course.

In a lot of ways, I never felt more alive than when I was laid off. The work I did mattered. Every single contract I worked on during my layoff was extended at least once. Some were extended for months. I collected a total of seven weeks of unemployment, in a Tampa job market that had almost no technology work.

If you have to run a gauntlet, you might as well decide you'll succeed. You might as well decide you'll come out the other side stronger than you went in. You might as well decide you can handle the challenges and that you aren't going to fail.

There's no appeals process when you're laid off. Accepting your fate and dealing with it--mentally and emotionally--is the first, most important key. From there, you'll have the freedom to find the next thing and run with it.

Your mental energy is your number one asset when you're on your own. And there's a limited amount of it. If you spend your mental energy angry at your former employer, or worried about inevitable failure, you won't notice that next opportunity, that next client, that next skill set.

Getting laid off sucks. Having a network to fall back on is key. But the bigger key is to decide you'll succeed, and then act on that decision. You'll be surprised how well you can do.