Bouncing Back via Self Motivation impacted by Job Loss / Getting Fired / Lay-off / "What Not in this Corporate World"

"What not in this corporate world" - Does suits many of us in the Asian continent though not leaving the westerners far behind!

Does it mean having the proper balance between our personal & professional life, or is it more about having the skill to make quick decisions? Control is defined differently by each person, & every once in a while, we let that control slip out of our hands.

Getting fired or laid off can be a frustrating & emotional experience. We’re not sure what to do with our time, & worse, sometimes we start to questioning our own value.

Whether we saw it coming or not, getting fired is a real shock & its impact is daunting forever irrelevant of one gets out of it successfully or drowns more deeply to the unexplainable situations more often than not the culprit being the lovable commitments. What did we do wrong? What are we supposed to do next? When will we stop feeling so angry on our own-self?

It’s easy to let our emotions get the best of us after a job loss. It helps to take things a day or two at a time & ensure we stay engaged.

Things usually feel out of control when we begin to neglect or ignore the things & people who matter to us, even if it’s temporary. It’s at these times that we may have to start wondering how to get our life back on track. It’s also about understanding that once we let one thing slide, it’ll become easier to let other things go, which will cause us to feel off balance.

1. Deal with the Shock of Getting Fired:

To lose our job is to lose our identity as a worker & as a person. Studies states that 7 out of 10 of us define ourselves by our job titles / organization we work for / professional life-style, since work is where we spend the majority of our time & energy.

Being laid off affronts our sense of self-worth - It implies that we simply are not good enough. It’s no wonder we feel confused & emotional.

The first thing, then, is to take some time to digest what happened & deal with the overflow of sensations. People who quickly recover from the pain of a job loss tend to do two things very well:

First, they accept their feelings of sadness, anger, fear and shame as a part of the natural healing process.

Second, they do their complaining to their friends!

Never to call out our boss in the office or on social media, a thumb rule I've learnt via great mentorships from my early stages of professional life. It’s indeed a bad form to speak ill of the company we've worked for / the manager we've reported while being in the assignment / etc. Stay stylish, & our employer will speak better of us when we need a reference. A hard truth but a reality, lessons learned typically though being a Leadership material from the Indian sub-continent!

I did this when I was laid off in October 2023 with just a 5 days notice, and it was indeed useful. For me, the sense of purpose was the most helpful aspect of it. I enjoyed feeling productive again, rather than wondering what I was going to do with my time or my career in general. It was a welcome & productive distraction positively.

2. Stay Away from the Drama Kings / Queens (pun intended):

Mass layoffs are, unfortunately, very common though sometimes visible to our naked eyes more often than not being invisible just that lay-off happens in a bunch but at different intervals based on the Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A). If this is our situation, then we may be surrounded by a lot of angry people, ruminating and lamenting their fate.

“It’s not fair!” they say. “After everything we did for this company! We don’t deserve this!”

We’ve lost our job & that’s tough on our life, simply put. But please resist the urge to join in the negativity. Positivity is by far the most important attitude to apply right now. If staying upbeat means we've to limit our exposure to the Negative Nellies, then that’s what we've to do.

Remember, life is not harder for us than it is for other people on this planet i.e. think of people who don't even have a shelter or have something to eat for at least 2 times a day. We live in a democracy, we've freedom of choice & we enjoy a certain material abundance.

Stay positive & focus on what’s going well in our life and the exciting future opportunities available to us. "Getting fired is only a temporary setback" says the one who was fired typically 8 months back from this writing.

3. Do a Life Audit:

Life audits are great to help us start paying attention to different areas of your life - career, intimate relationships, family relationships, emotional well-being, health, finances, spirituality, & creativity. When it comes to getting our life back on track, it’s best to assess where we're at this present moment.

When things are beginning to feel out of control, it’s usually a sign from the universe that we must check-in with ourself in order to get back on track. Sometimes, when life takes over & the busy-ness sets in, we neglect important & vital areas that cause us to sacrifice our health & overcompensate our time & energy in relationships and things that aren’t serving us.

The first step is to check-in & see how happy we're in these major life areas if we want to learn how to get our life back on track. Successful people are those who can be honest with themselves about which areas of their life need the most work (harder than being presumed).

4. Take a Break & Let the Dust Settle:

What we need is to pause a while & do some self reflection. Instead of running straight into another job that may not be the right one either, take a short break to recover from the job loss. We need a week, month, year or so just even to de-stress and meditate on the next step, depends on our mindset. I'm typically taking all the time in this world, being unemployed for 8 months now at the time of organizing this article in early July 2024, without any source of income for my own-self, being unable to support even the basic necessities for my family, hats-off to my lover/wife Swetha AKV as she took all the pain in her shoulders with very limited budget in hand, that's a great motivation indeed! How many of our better-half been very supportive, let me know; love to hear those stuff?

Back to where we're, being attentive to our need for self-care during this interlude is very important. Everything goes so fast these days that we often do not stop to think or give ourselves the permission to do a little mourning.

Getting fired is a big shock - we need time to refocus & take stock of the new reality. Ensure that we do not make things harder for ourself!

5. Regaining our Confidence:

Confidence is the root to how we show up every day and into the long-term. Showing up is more than getting up and going to work; it’s about showing up with an intention for the day.

When things are spiraling out of control, it’s because we lack physical and mental clarity. Although confidence may seem an intangible element to grasp, it’s far more within reach than we think.

Think about what gives us confidence, and find things that correlate to that. If it’s feeling good about our body, commit to fitness. If it’s knowledge, learn from those we admire, or reach out to those mentored us who we'd like to work with.

Once we have control over how we show up everyday, we will feel more control in the other areas of our life.

6. Carry out a Brain Dump:

On average, we have 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day basis the so called researches. Although it’s impossible to keep track of every single thought that crosses our mind, there is still an uncontrollable list that flows into our consciousness, which can get in the way when we want to know how to get back on track.

Some of these thoughts spark inspiration or excitement, while others may trigger stress or feelings of being overwhelmed, which can get in the way of getting our life back on track. Eventually, a long list begins to appear, including things to do, daily chores, errands, people to see, project ideas, etc.

Brain dumping helps declutter the mind and is a chance to bring all those ideas and thoughts onto paper in order to get back on track. By relieving some of that space, we'll now have room to focus.

Next time we're to feeling overwhelmed or feel that things are spinning out of control, take a 15-20 minutes of brain dumping. This exercise isn’t supposed to have structure. Instead, do it free flowingly, and write everything that comes to mind.

Afterward, we can begin shuffling through our notes, and prioritize them into different categories; just as I did for this writing this article (pun intended)!

7. Be Anchored in the Present:

Since we no longer have a hold on the past, but have not yet designed our future, try to build ourself up with the present. What do we mean by that?

We mean that right now is the only time we've any control over. Focus on that instead of losing ourself in memories or reliving the awful day we've got fired over and over, in our head.

The body needs rhythm and habits. We'll feel much more energized if we keep a consistent routine. Maintain a healthy lifestyle, revisit our budget, play sports, & volunteer. Take care of the practical stuff like claiming unemployment. Enjoy the small pleasures of everyday life.

When we’re busy, there’s no room for the inner critic to raise up and derail ourself. Keep active, and we'll gain more of the precious energy we need so much so that to move forward.

8. Defining our Purpose:

Redefining or identifying our purpose is a root that must be planted within us. This, in fact, is the core of building our motivation.

Diving into self-awareness can help identify or define our purpose, and that is the core of us. Even in harsh weather, trees tend to stand firm, despite how strong the wind or rain may be. When we define our purpose, we’re building that strong base for ourself.

When things seem to be spiraling, refer back to our purpose and the joy that comes from it. Let that root us as we try to getting our life back on track.

9. Understand the “Why?”:

There are lots of reasons why people are fired. Sometimes the mistake is ours' and it’s embarrassing to admit we backed ourself into this corner.

Other times, it’s not our fault. Businesses change direction all the time - maybe ours' is going through a major transition or merger and our job is disappearing.

And more often than not, in the corporate world of India; who are used to be in helm of taking decisions on behalf of the organizations, its just nepotism / favoritism / they might simply will not like new ideas that may be more efficient than the current ones that they are following!

Any way, to give the situation some closure, we need to understand why we were dismissed. What slipped? What could we have done differently? Was our boss really out to get us or did we do something wrong to put our job in jeopardy?

Being honest with ourself provides immense wisdom. It’s not easy to admit that we might have dropped the ball but it’s the only way to turn the situation into a learning experience.

10. Don’t Need To Be Too Hard on Ourself:

When things feel like they are stacking against our favor, sometimes we’re quick to put pressure on ourselves to get our life back on track immediately, which can negatively affect our mental health.

Although there’s no one solution to help us learn how to get our life back on track overnight, understand that it’s a series of steps towards a specific goal.

Routines are built through consistency and patience. Actions that consists of “re”– redoing, reinventing, reassessing - means to do something again or differently. Know that this process does take time, and maybe time is what we need first.

11. Rediscover Your Strengths and Talents:

A personality test can also give us clear insights into our strengths, weaknesses, motivations and work potential. Do we've leadership abilities? How do we communicate and manage conflict? What benefits do we add to an organization?

Identifying our working style should be our top priority right now, otherwise we risk accepting a new position that has all the same problems as before. The last thing we want is to reproduce the same old dramas the next time around.

When we become aware of our potential, we'll have the confidence to search and find the type of work we love.

Maybe this dismissal is an opportunity to launch the business we’ve always dreamed of but never dared to admit to ourself? An other article afresh on this one sometime later, when I'm typically on that mood to write one!

By considering all our special skills and talents, we increase our chances of finding a job we would really enjoy, and not just the one we can do; will make a whole lot of difference in both our personal & professional life!

12. Adapt & Persist:

Throughout this being unemployed journey, we inevitably will go through moments of self-doubt and disappointment. There are undulations in every road, and these are the normal steps for regaining self-confidence after getting fired.

Stay tough! Don’t conclude that our future is hopeless just because the dream job doesn’t land straightaway. We open a positive path when we can just maintain the required focus. Have the confidence to know that the perfect job for us is out there.

Remember, we are not alone. Many people walked this road and they would urge us to keep the momentum. Stay open-minded and go where the opportunities take us: it will bring us closer to the job we really want.

THE CRUSH:

When life seems to be out of our control, it’s also a sign to slow down and reassess where we are in life. Oftentimes, when things start crumbling all at once, it’s an indicator that we have lost the balance that centers our lives.

Acquiring balance is a lifelong lesson and changes with major life events and throughout time. Next time when we feel like everything is happening at once, know that it’s also another opportunity to rebuild and get back on track.

While getting fired isn’t the ideal situation, it isn’t the end of the world either. Even if it feels like a doozy right now, we'll get through it and emerge happier on the other side.

Be clear on what we want, have courage and believe in ourself. In the end, we may decide that getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to us! It can be the catalyst for a powerful, career-fulfilling change!

"We need to give ourself an emotional reprieve from any anxiety by spending some time supporting others through their difficult circumstances; that's how we learn & understand the matter of fact - how fortunate we are in our life”