If you have a job that makes you especially proud. Gives you confidence. And a significant role in the community.
What would you do if you lost that job? Maybe you did.
And it doesn’t have to be your day job. Because for some people, their most valued job is not the one that they work from 8-5, but the one that keeps them away from home a few nights a week. Being on the board of a local charity or your son’s little league.
But for many it is that day job. It is all they have known and all they’ve been known for throughout their career.
In fact, they are so tied up in that job that they can’t imagine doing something else or being introduced as someone else.
Did this happen to you? Or a friend of yours?
If so, you know that this can be one of the toughest lay-off or firing experiences. Someone has taken away your identity. Perhaps something you were passionate about in life. Your platform.
And those first few weeks at home after leaving your position can be miserable. Not just the shock and awe of the experience (like a tornado just hit) but also the slow realization that this role was tied directly to your social life. And now your career path, it appears, has just been interrupted.
And for some this platform was powerful enough that people returned your calls the same day. With an urgency to see what you needed. And now they don’t because you lost your platform. That job or role in life that helped you stay up above others on the priority list. And now they don’t.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
You can start now. To create a new platform for your life and career. One that is not reliant on one day job or one volunteer role to keep you afloat in case of emergency.
How?
Start by writing down the events, people, projects, and places that matter in your life. Where are you currently finding your joys, sense of purpose and sense of belonging? If your list is really short. Or if your list is long but centered on one big role that really defines you.
Then I think you need to rebuild your platform. To establish a broader focus in life. So that if one of the supports is removed, you can still stay afloat.
I can hear some of you saying that you don’t have time to build a bigger platform. That with a day job, house and kids, there’s no time for anything else.
But I think there’s always time for something you care about. Maybe it is a passion or a pursuit. One less hour of TV a night can be the time you read books on the subject. And waking up one hour earlier can get you working before the kids wake up.
So what can you build in and around your life to prevent the removal of that one thing destroying a big part of you?
Have you lost a job that really mattered? I’d like to hear from you . . .
Also, see part two of this post later this week: 5 Ways To Build A Stable Career and Life Platform.
