30 days to the job you love - Day 12

With 200,000+ tech layoffs in 2023 and more being let go in early 2024, it is easy to get discouraged. Personally, I have many friends who were and are affected. For those whom I worked with, I am grateful that our paths crossed.

For 30 days, I will post a tip each day to encourage you and give you some suggestions on how to stay motivated during your job search.

Day 12

There is a Zen story about a man riding a horse very fast through the village streets.  A bystander saw the horse galloping by and shouted out “where are you off to?”  The rider responded, “I don’t know.  Ask the horse.”

Are we just going through the motions of life without a clear goal in mind? The story of a man riding a horse through a village reminds us of the importance of knowing where we're headed. Like the rider who didn't know where he was going, it's easy to get caught up in the routine of life without a clear direction. We go to school, get a job, climb the corporate ladder, and then suddenly, we are let go from the job.  We may find ourselves at a loss, not knowing what to do next. However, just like the rider, sometimes a sudden stop can be a blessing in disguise. It's an opportunity to reflect on where we want to go next and how to get there.

Clayton M. Christensen, a well-known author and professor at Harvard University, wrote in his book “How Will You Measure Your Life?”: at the fifth-year reunion of Harvard business school, everyone seemed to be doing extremely well – great jobs and happy.  But at the tenth-year reunion, many of them didn’t show up.  As he looked them up, he found unhappy stories of divorces and dissatisfactions.  As the years went on, things only got worse. Some ended up in jail, mental institutions, or committed suicide. These are the people who graduated from one of the best business schools in the country.  They are probably the brightest people with the intention to change the world.  What happened to them?  It's a sobering reminder that success is not just about what you achieve in your career, but also about the choices you make in all other areas of your life.

Today, let’s take some time to think about what we want out of life.  Stephen R. Covey, the author of “The 7 habits of highly effective people,” has a solemn but impactful exercise on how to do this.  It is called the Eulogy exercise.

Find a quiet place to sit down.  Take a few deep breaths and clear your mind.  Visualize the day of your funeral. See it with your mind eyes – what size of room it is, and where the coffin is placed.  Your immediate family members (spouse, children, parents, siblings), friend, colleague, and neighbor gather and take turns to deliver a eulogy about you.  What do you want each of them to say?  What kind of person do you want to be remembered as?  Take some time to reflect on this and write down what you want each of them to say.  These are your top priorities.  Make them your life's mission.

When we go through life, if we have the foundation right, everything else will fall into place.  A house with a weak foundation will crumble regardless of how mighty it might have looked to the outside.  What you wrote down from the eulogy exercise will help set the right priorities and build a solid foundation.  As Stephen R. Covey said, “if the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”  What will you do to ensure that your life is going in the right direction?