30 days to the job you love - Day 8

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 8

Our mind is like a garden, and our thoughts are like things that grow on it. If we don’t take care of the garden, it will be filled with weeds. Therefore, if we aren’t careful with what we let into our mind, our thoughts may be filled with harmful subjects. 

After a job loss, we suddenly have a lot of free time. It's easy to go down the path of filling our minds with useless and potentially negative content during our free time. The news usually contains more negative topics than positive things, and binge-watching TV shows can become a habit. 

Consuming unhelpful information stays at the subconscious level and manifests itself on the surface, causing irritability, anxiety, and depression. Staying positive after a job loss is difficult; therefore, we need all the help we can get. 

Consider these tips to stay positive: 

1. Join a community club known for positive thinking and helpful actions like Rotary, Kiwanis, or Toastmaster. 

2. Read "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale and "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen to help shape your thinking to be more productive and positive. 

3. Volunteer for an organization to help put your thinking into perspective and develop your leadership skillset. When we serve others who are less fortunate, we have a better perspective of our situation. When we lift others up, we also lift ourselves up as well. Volunteering can be an excellent way to develop your leadership skills. Unlike in a corporate setting, where power can come from position and money, volunteering organizations often require a different approach. To lead people in volunteering organizations, you must learn how to influence them. Consider volunteering as a way to build your leadership skillset and learn to lead through influence.

Remember, we are the average of the 5 people we hang out with most frequently. Likely, our job was the number one source of our social life and whom we hung out with; and therefore, after losing the job, our social life may only consist of our immediate family, the internet, and the television. If we aren't careful with what we consume from the internet and television, we may develop negative attitudes and unhelpful thinking. Let's take care of our mind garden and allow positive things to grow.

This phase shall pass. Stay positive so that you can persevere and come out of this stronger. I believe in you.

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." - Aristotle