Back On Track
Monday, November 25, 2013
We all have bad days at work. But some days are much worse than others!
If you've received a layoff notice, learned that you've been
passed over for a promotion, or been formally reprimanded for your
performance, these things go beyond having a rough day at the
office. They can be major career setbacks.
When something like this happens to you, it can seem like the end
of the world.
Will you lose your job? Will you be able to find a
new job? Will you ever get the opportunity and recognition you
desire?
With worst-case scenarios running through your
head, it may be hard to pull yourself together and start planning
your next move. But that's exactly what you have to do. You must
dig deep, and find the strength to move on.
If you worry and focus on the negatives, you'll miss out on the
positives. And developing a positive outlook can help you rebound
quickly. In fact, with the right attitude and set of skills, you
might emerge from a career setback with a much stronger belief in
yourself – and in what you can accomplish.
Getting Past the Impasse
When you encounter a career setback, you have
a choice: Accept the situation and make positive plans to move
forward. Or resist the situation and try to fight the change.
Either way, whether you like it or not, things have changed.
Isn't it better to have a say in those
changes? After all, most of us will hit what appears to be a brick
wall in our lives at some point. This is often what initiates
change in the first place. It's best to decide to view the change
as a challenge and a growth experience. If you don't, you risk
internalizing the situation, thinking that you've done something
wrong, or fearing that you're inadequate in some way.
Tip:
Want to learn more about getting beyond impasses in your life and "unsticking" your career? Read this interview with
Tim Butler
, author of "Getting Unstuck," for practical information and helpful hints.
Try to remember that no matter how
disappointed, upset, angry, or discouraged you feel right now, it
will pass. You're facing a new and different reality. To get
through this setback, you need to adjust your perspective to the
changes you're experiencing.
These basic guidelines can help you change
your outlook and improve your attitude.
Step 1: Acknowledge Your Feelings
Take some time to accept your new reality, and give yourself permission to feel bad. It's important to recognize and admit to your emotions: Keeping them inside may only make them seem larger and more overwhelming than they really are.
Take some time to explore unresolved issues that often surface in
times of stress and setback. Do you have lingering self-doubts?
What does your "inner critic" say to you that makes you feel
unworthy? Evaluate thinking patterns that may keep you trapped in
a negative cycle.
Seek support and assurance from others. It's really important to have at least one
person you can talk to about what's happening. You might need to
vent your frustrations, or you might need a sympathetic audience.
Often the perspectives of others help you see the situation more
clearly.
Step 2: Expand Your View of Success
Encountering a career setback does not mean that you've failed or
that you're unsuccessful or unworthy. The reality you're facing is
not a reflection of your value as a person or as a team member.
Learn from this experience. Don't focus exclusively on the
negatives. Rather than view your setback as a problem to surmount,
focus on the future opportunities that will open up for you.
Put the setback into
the right perspective. This is only one incident in your career.
Don't make it into a catastrophic event that will mark you
forever.
Avoid failure
terminology. Say instead, "I tried, and it didn't work out this
time." This will help keep your viewpoint positive.
Practice rational and positive thinking , and make sure that your
perspective is well aligned with the reality of the situation.
Step 3: Develop New Skills
Use this as an opportunity. Do you need to upgrade your skills to
get a promotion or new job? Do you need to develop new skills to
take your career in a new direction? This is the perfect time to
start.
Discover your passion. What is it that really excites and inspires
you?
Determine what your
core skills are, and build your career goals around them. These
don't necessarily have to be technical skills. Find out which
competencies have been most instrumental in your success so far.
Step 4: Build Your Resiliency
You need to be mentally tough and able to maintain your
professionalism – even when things aren't going so well.
Resilience is essential. It allows people who have it to be much
more successful than they would otherwise be. A resilient person
will probably bounce back from a hardship much more quickly and
easily than someone who is more rigid and "thin-skinned."
Here are some key
characteristics of resiliency that you can develop in yourself:
High self-efficacy
– believe in your ability to be successful. Don't simply want,
hope, or try to be successful. Expect success, and put yourself
in a position to capitalize on the opportunities you've been
given.
Positive outlook
– be optimistic about your future, and don't allow present circumstances
to cloud your vision of yourself.
Introspection – ask
yourself what's working and what isn't. Understand that success
requires flexibility, and constantly look for ways to do things
better and improve yourself.
Focus on controllable
things – if you can't change it or control it, then your energy
is wasted when you dwell on it. When you feel in control and
focus on things that you can influence, you'll also reduce much
of the stress and pressure that you're feeling. Keep making
decisions and solving problems, even when you doubt yourself
and feel less than confident.
Tip:
To learn more about developing resilience , listen to our interview with Cal Crow. Find out what makes a person resilient, and pick up great tips on how to develop your own resilience and self-efficacy.
Step 5: Determine What Went Wrong
Your own role in the setback will vary from situation to
situation. A company-wide layoff is probably beyond your control,
whereas being terminated or reprimanded for performance issues is
something for which you can take more responsibility. Regardless,
it's important that you make a thorough assessment of the
situation to maximize your learning and correct any wrongs.
Identify the aspects of the setback that were and were not in your
control. Was (or is) the job a good fit for your skills? Do you
have what it takes to be successful in the position – or do you
need more training, experience, or other development? Did the
organization's leaders simply make a staffing decision based on
economics?
Determine what you
need to do to make sure that you learn from your mistakes and
never repeat them. What would you do differently next time? What
behaviors or decisions contributed to the setback you're
experiencing?
Where possible,
correct your mistakes and reduce the damage as much as you can.
This is especially important if your actions had consequences for
others on your team.
Avoid blaming others,
because this only keeps you focused on the negative aspects of the
situation. It's not a constructive use of your energy.
Step 6: Take Action
When you know what factors contributed to the setback, develop an
action plan that will help you get your career back on track.
Create a strategy for your career. You have a new perspective and
a new set of circumstances. What you used to believe, and the
direction in which you were heading, may no longer apply. Assess
all of your options, and determine which options provide the
greatest potential. Brainstorm ideas, and talk to your network to
develop a broad range of ideas and opportunities.
Break down your strategy into a detailed career plan .
Identify manageable pieces, and develop goals for yourself.
Using what you've
learned about yourself and what you need to improve, determine
what you now need to accomplish – and by when. The more specific
your goals, the more likely you'll be to follow them through to
completion.
As you accomplish
your smaller goals, your self-confidence will increase, and you'll
be motivated to keep moving forward and believing in yourself.
Step 7: Rebound
Look to the future. Maintain your positive outlook, and don't look
back. Every experience provides value. Use everything you've
learned about yourself to build a new and better reality. And remember that what happened
didn't kill you, and did make you stronger.
Key Points
When you suffer a setback in your career, you
need to realize that it's not the end of the world. You're not
the only person who's lost a job or made a big mistake. You are,
however, the only one who has the ability to turn the situation
around and make it a positive event in your life.
When you adopt the right attitude and realize
that there are many other opportunities available, you can recover
from almost any setback. In fact, if you take the time to learn
about yourself and assess what went wrong, you'll emerge in a
better position to take advantage of future career opportunities.
A setback only sets you back if you allow it to do so.
Tags:
Career Skills, Skills
If you've received a layoff notice, learned that you've been
passed over for a promotion, or been formally reprimanded for your
performance, these things go beyond having a rough day at the
office. They can be major career setbacks.
When something like this happens to you, it can seem like the end
of the world.
Will you lose your job? Will you be able to find a
new job? Will you ever get the opportunity and recognition you
desire?
With worst-case scenarios running through your
head, it may be hard to pull yourself together and start planning
your next move. But that's exactly what you have to do. You must
dig deep, and find the strength to move on.
If you worry and focus on the negatives, you'll miss out on the
positives. And developing a positive outlook can help you rebound
quickly. In fact, with the right attitude and set of skills, you
might emerge from a career setback with a much stronger belief in
yourself – and in what you can accomplish.
Getting Past the Impasse
When you encounter a career setback, you have
a choice: Accept the situation and make positive plans to move
forward. Or resist the situation and try to fight the change.
Either way, whether you like it or not, things have changed.
Isn't it better to have a say in those
changes? After all, most of us will hit what appears to be a brick
wall in our lives at some point. This is often what initiates
change in the first place. It's best to decide to view the change
as a challenge and a growth experience. If you don't, you risk
internalizing the situation, thinking that you've done something
wrong, or fearing that you're inadequate in some way.
Tip:
Want to learn more about getting beyond impasses in your life and "unsticking" your career? Read this interview with
Tim Butler
, author of "Getting Unstuck," for practical information and helpful hints.
Try to remember that no matter how
disappointed, upset, angry, or discouraged you feel right now, it
will pass. You're facing a new and different reality. To get
through this setback, you need to adjust your perspective to the
changes you're experiencing.
These basic guidelines can help you change
your outlook and improve your attitude.
Step 1: Acknowledge Your Feelings
Take some time to accept your new reality, and give yourself permission to feel bad. It's important to recognize and admit to your emotions: Keeping them inside may only make them seem larger and more overwhelming than they really are.
Take some time to explore unresolved issues that often surface in
times of stress and setback. Do you have lingering self-doubts?
What does your "inner critic" say to you that makes you feel
unworthy? Evaluate thinking patterns that may keep you trapped in
a negative cycle.
Seek support and assurance from others. It's really important to have at least one
person you can talk to about what's happening. You might need to
vent your frustrations, or you might need a sympathetic audience.
Often the perspectives of others help you see the situation more
clearly.
Step 2: Expand Your View of Success
Encountering a career setback does not mean that you've failed or
that you're unsuccessful or unworthy. The reality you're facing is
not a reflection of your value as a person or as a team member.
Learn from this experience. Don't focus exclusively on the
negatives. Rather than view your setback as a problem to surmount,
focus on the future opportunities that will open up for you.
Put the setback into
the right perspective. This is only one incident in your career.
Don't make it into a catastrophic event that will mark you
forever.
Avoid failure
terminology. Say instead, "I tried, and it didn't work out this
time." This will help keep your viewpoint positive.
Practice rational and positive thinking , and make sure that your
perspective is well aligned with the reality of the situation.
Step 3: Develop New Skills
Use this as an opportunity. Do you need to upgrade your skills to
get a promotion or new job? Do you need to develop new skills to
take your career in a new direction? This is the perfect time to
start.
Discover your passion. What is it that really excites and inspires
you?
Determine what your
core skills are, and build your career goals around them. These
don't necessarily have to be technical skills. Find out which
competencies have been most instrumental in your success so far.
Step 4: Build Your Resiliency
You need to be mentally tough and able to maintain your
professionalism – even when things aren't going so well.
Resilience is essential. It allows people who have it to be much
more successful than they would otherwise be. A resilient person
will probably bounce back from a hardship much more quickly and
easily than someone who is more rigid and "thin-skinned."
Here are some key
characteristics of resiliency that you can develop in yourself:
High self-efficacy
– believe in your ability to be successful. Don't simply want,
hope, or try to be successful. Expect success, and put yourself
in a position to capitalize on the opportunities you've been
given.
Positive outlook
– be optimistic about your future, and don't allow present circumstances
to cloud your vision of yourself.
Introspection – ask
yourself what's working and what isn't. Understand that success
requires flexibility, and constantly look for ways to do things
better and improve yourself.
Focus on controllable
things – if you can't change it or control it, then your energy
is wasted when you dwell on it. When you feel in control and
focus on things that you can influence, you'll also reduce much
of the stress and pressure that you're feeling. Keep making
decisions and solving problems, even when you doubt yourself
and feel less than confident.
Tip:
To learn more about developing resilience , listen to our interview with Cal Crow. Find out what makes a person resilient, and pick up great tips on how to develop your own resilience and self-efficacy.
Step 5: Determine What Went Wrong
Your own role in the setback will vary from situation to
situation. A company-wide layoff is probably beyond your control,
whereas being terminated or reprimanded for performance issues is
something for which you can take more responsibility. Regardless,
it's important that you make a thorough assessment of the
situation to maximize your learning and correct any wrongs.
Identify the aspects of the setback that were and were not in your
control. Was (or is) the job a good fit for your skills? Do you
have what it takes to be successful in the position – or do you
need more training, experience, or other development? Did the
organization's leaders simply make a staffing decision based on
economics?
Determine what you
need to do to make sure that you learn from your mistakes and
never repeat them. What would you do differently next time? What
behaviors or decisions contributed to the setback you're
experiencing?
Where possible,
correct your mistakes and reduce the damage as much as you can.
This is especially important if your actions had consequences for
others on your team.
Avoid blaming others,
because this only keeps you focused on the negative aspects of the
situation. It's not a constructive use of your energy.
Step 6: Take Action
When you know what factors contributed to the setback, develop an
action plan that will help you get your career back on track.
Create a strategy for your career. You have a new perspective and
a new set of circumstances. What you used to believe, and the
direction in which you were heading, may no longer apply. Assess
all of your options, and determine which options provide the
greatest potential. Brainstorm ideas, and talk to your network to
develop a broad range of ideas and opportunities.
Break down your strategy into a detailed career plan .
Identify manageable pieces, and develop goals for yourself.
Using what you've
learned about yourself and what you need to improve, determine
what you now need to accomplish – and by when. The more specific
your goals, the more likely you'll be to follow them through to
completion.
As you accomplish
your smaller goals, your self-confidence will increase, and you'll
be motivated to keep moving forward and believing in yourself.
Step 7: Rebound
Look to the future. Maintain your positive outlook, and don't look
back. Every experience provides value. Use everything you've
learned about yourself to build a new and better reality. And remember that what happened
didn't kill you, and did make you stronger.
Key Points
When you suffer a setback in your career, you
need to realize that it's not the end of the world. You're not
the only person who's lost a job or made a big mistake. You are,
however, the only one who has the ability to turn the situation
around and make it a positive event in your life.
When you adopt the right attitude and realize
that there are many other opportunities available, you can recover
from almost any setback. In fact, if you take the time to learn
about yourself and assess what went wrong, you'll emerge in a
better position to take advantage of future career opportunities.
A setback only sets you back if you allow it to do so.
