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By Jon Gordon, Author, The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy

We received this article from Jon Gordon, www.jongordon.com. He's an author, a speaker, and a consultant, known for his positive outlook, from which we can all benefit!

We're in a recession and you're out of a job. That's the bad news. The good news, says author Jon Gordon, is that by making a few key decisions you'll not only make your job search more pleasant, you'll actually make it successful.

 

The days following those fateful words, "We have to let you go," are dismal ones indeed. Some mornings, it's tough to even get out of bed. As you scour the skimpy classifieds and job boards, grim scenarios play in your head on a repeating loop: We'll lose the house...We'll have to move in with my parents...I'll never find work in this economy. Tangled in despair, you can barely move, much less move on. How can you clear away the dark clouds and see the light on the other side?

Jon Gordon has been where you are right now, and he has some good news: the layoff you think is bad today will actually lead to great events in the future with the right approach and action plan. "It's all about implementing the strategies that will help you focus, make changes and turn things around."

Gordon speaks from personal experience. During the dot.com crash, he lost his own job. And that's when his journey of reinvention began.

"I thought it was the worst event of my life," recalls Gordon. "I was two months away from being bankrupt. I had a mortgage, two kids, no insurance and very little savings. I was a paycheck away from losing it all. But then, one day I decided that I wasn't going to let this challenge take me down. So I made some decisions that changed everything and led me to do the work I do now as a writer, consultant and speaker. It is during these times that we ask the important questions and make decisions that change the course of our life."

If depression, anger, and fear are your motivating factors during your layoff, you will be making a tough journey even tougher for yourself and your family, says Gordon. Worse, you'll hinder your own progress. Negative beliefs lead to negative actions, like paralysis, bad choices, shutting out friends and family. Fortunately, the opposite is also true: Positive beliefs lead to positive actions. "You must call a moratorium on negativity--anger toward your former boss, jealousy toward employed friends and ex-coworkers, worry that you'll never be able to replicate your former salary--and start practicing positivity."

You may not find the positive energy switch right away, he warns. But keep looking and you will find it. He offers a few life-changing tips that can help you change your outlook and go from fired to fired up:

1. Jettison your anger. Allow yourself to be angry, sad, bitter, upset for a few days and then let it all go. Forgive the company. Forgive your employers. Release the bitterness. Know that you can't create your future by focusing on the past. Gordon says after he was laid off, he made a conscious decision to forgive his company for letting him go with only two weeks' severance pay. "I chose to thank them, not hate them," he recalls. "Making the decision to let that bitterness go helped me to think more clearly and have more energy to take positive action."

2. Say to yourself, "I have a dream." Then start working to achieve it. Having studied many successful people, Gordon says he's found that they all can pinpoint the moment where they decided what they truly wanted. It's a practice that should be required for all of us. After all, if you know what you truly want out of life then you will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Obvious as this may sound, many people live on autopilot, letting circumstances shape their days and months and years and decades. "When I lost my job, I realized that though I was initially sad to lose it I hadn't been truly happy," says Gordon. "So, I took a moment and asked myself what I truly wanted to do with my life. 'What was I born to do?' I asked. 'Why am I here?' After a few days of thinking, the idea to open a franchise restaurant, which would hopefully allow me time to write, popped in my head. And off I went toward achieving my dream."

3. Choose to have faith in what you want, rather than what you don't want. Try out this riddle: What do fear and faith have in common? The answer: A future that hasn't happened yet. So why would you choose to paint that future bleak and empty, when you could paint it vibrant and fulfilling and fun? "Fear believes in a negative future while faith believes in a positive future," says Gordon. "Even if you're not a spiritual person, why would you choose to believe the worst is going to happen? It just feels better to look to the positive future.

4. Take three actions every day. When you get up each morning, ask yourself this one question: What are the 3 things I need to do today that will help me find the job and create the success that I desire? Then, take action on those 3 things every day until you've achieved them. This is a great way to keep feeding your positive energy." You may not get there in two days, a week, or even a month," he says. "But every day you'll be one step closer to your goal. And, eventually, you will get there. Or maybe you'll find yourself somewhere even better."

5. Take on a "glass 92 percent full" approach to the recession. Today's employment-related statistics can be hard to get out of your head when you're searching for a job. But unlike the pundits on TV who seem all too pleased to focus on the most negativenumbers available, you can choose to focus on the flip side, says Gordon. Rather than fixating on 8 percent unemployment, focus on 92 percent employment. "Dwelling on the higher number will likely be better for maintaining a positive state of mind during your job search," says Gordon. "Always remember, the choice is yours."

6. Choose to be humble and hungry. Know that you don't have all the answers and can learn something from everyone. Know that there are always new ways to learn, improve, and get better. Be open to advice. Be open to learning a new skill and trying a job you haven't thought of before. Also, be hungry: Seek out a mentor, take him to lunch and model his success. Think of his life as a blueprint you can follow. Continuously improve and seek out new ideas and new strategies. "These are two very important H-words," says Gordon. "Being humble and hungry helped me achieve another great H-word: happiness!"

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About the Author:

Jon Gordon is a speaker, consultant, and author of the international bestseller The Energy Bus:10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy and The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work.  Jon and his books have been featured on CNN, NBC's Today Show and in Forbes, Fast Company, O Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

For more information, please visit www.jongordon.com

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