Stay angry. Stay hungry. Stay busy.

This post and the subsequent discussions showed up recently on BNETwith Stanley Bing

March 18th, 2009 @ 8:40 am

I just lost my job. I feel very angry and want to kill everybody. At the same time, I have to go out and look for a new job every day, put on a happy face, and act like I’m a dynamic person ready to leap into action — while really all I want to do is hang around the house in my pajamas and start drinking at noon. Is there anything I can do to knock myself out of this? I’m really in no frame of mind to do interviews.

Down in the Dumps

Dear Dumps,

I’m very sorry. Losing your job is more than simply a loss of income. Your job is who you are. To a certain extent it defines how you dress, where and when you eat and drink, your standing in the world. The more status and goodies attached to your former position, the harder the landing when you come down off that high...

It’s easy to tell you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and all that kind of nonsense. Of course you’re not going to be doing that. Don’t you hate it when people tell you to cheer up? I know I do.

You are, however, going to have to get yourself into gear. This you can do through two things, one interior and one exterior. From the inside, you’re going to have to use the one greatest asset you have right now — your anger. Anger is a terrific motivator. It wakes you up with a lump in your stomach every morning. It keeps you from falling asleep at night. You can eat your anger and make yourself sick, or you can use it to generate ideas, resumes, pitches, appointments, whatever keeps you in motion. That second part is the key to your external strategy: constant motion.

My friend Larry just lost his longtime post as the head of a department at a big publishing company. He is now running around town offering himself up for print and video interviews as a recently fired person. I’m not kidding. The media is starving for people to interview about the recession. He’s now got a small cottage industry going as a spokesperson for fired people. It’s not the thing I would do. But it’s what he’s doing, and it’s keeping him sane and in front of people, one of whom just might give him his next job.

Stay angry. Stay hungry. Stay busy. When you must, pretend to feel better in order to make whatever impressions you need to. The rest of time, be as miserable as you like. There are time in life when you just have to suck it up and go through the motions until things get better. They do, you know.

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