If you are feeling worn out and frustrated as you try to re-invent yourself or transition your career, have faith. It is not going to kill you. So much of this re-invention procedure comes down to making the decision to play to win – then place yourself to really do it.

What to do?

• Get dressed in the morning. Look good. Feel good so that you can deliver.
• Exercise. Do you stop exercising as you become depressed or do you get depressed because you quit exercising? Do whatever you will need to do so as to maintain your depression at bay. Take your meds. Pray. Take care of yourself so you can deliver at your best level of performance.
• Take control of your brain. If you set negative in, you receive unwanted out. Put positive in, get positive out. You’ve got enormous power to control what you’re thinking and, when you start hearing the negative tapes, just give yourself a verbal”Stop” cue. Deliberately replace your negative thoughts with something positive. It’s easier if you’ve got a list of five positive things to visit for all those low moments.
• Know that these challenging times won’t last forever. As much as it seems as if you’re sinking into a bottomless pit of quicksand, you are not. Don’t let yourself slip into the mentality that says you might never get another job, you might never earn as much as you made, that you’ll need to work before the day you die. All that does is make you fight more.
• Remember who you are and that you aren’t. I see a good deal of individuals who experience rejection and then process it . They forget how talented and workable they are, so it becomes harder to project themselves as desired. That poises them for more rejection. You haven’t lost your talent. And your setbacks haven’t erased your successes. They’re just obstacles. You’ve succeeded in the past and you’ll triumph in the future.
• Choose your friends carefully. If you surround yourself with impossible people, you are going to eliminate hope. This may be hard if nearly all of your friends are former co-workers that were laid off. And, that may be even worse if you’re competing for the same jobs against your friends. You’ll always wonder why somebody got an interview or job that you did not. For now, be around people who will propel your success.
• Network. Duh. We’ve all heard”It’s not what you know but who you know.” Well, it’s also how you understand them. Don’t network to generate business connections. Network to create relationships. It’s more important that you know that someone likes to watch Grey’s Anatomy and enjoys pizza with anchovies than it is that you understand their job description. Make important individuals fall in love with your personality and leverage those friendships so that they take good care of you professionally.
• Listen. What exactly are you supposed to do with your life? The world will send you lots of prompts. Great turning points often present themselves in passing.
• Don’t restrict yourself to the classifieds. They don’t wish to advertise jobs because they do not want 8,000 resumes. Network, network, network. Figure out where you want to work, then begin writing key individuals to introduce yourself. There’s much more on this in my book, Finding the UP from the Downturn.
• Know your weekly goals and reach them by placing daily tasks. Then, DO THEM. Do something each day to move you closer to your objective. Whether you spend time media or writing letters or taking courses or attending job fairs, do something to keep yourself in the game.

Conclusion

The main thing is to have faith. Things will work out. I’m not being flip. I am not shrugging off your pain or doubt. Things do have a way of exercising. I don’t wish to minimize anyone’s distress or delude myself into believing that hope , but the fact remains that there are quite a few of you who will end up eating from garbage cans. There’s so much you can not control, so give it to the end.