Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

Chapter 10. TRANSITION

The dreaded period called transition, a nice term for unemployment, is a situation that people think is the last place in the world where a cool, slow approach would be appropriate. When you are unemployed, the busyness of work comes to a screeching stop and all of a sudden Monday is no longer the beginning of another week in the rat race. Instead, it represents the start of five long days of emptiness and despair.

Even if you yourself are currently employed as you read these words, and you feel you are too busy to think about anything other than your overloaded schedule, it is still worthwhile to read this chapter for two important reasons:

1. The skills and techniques described here aren't just for those who happen to find themselves out of work. They reinforce the idea that above all, the best thing you can possibly do to improve your ability to sell, to influence, to be productive, to remain employable, and to get things done is to cool down.

2. You might not be employed in your current job this time next year (or even next month). No-one's job is very secure anymore. In that case, learning now about these strategies will cut out a lot of stress and lost time from your own transition period if, or when, it happens.

SHELLSHOCK

When I work with people who have been recently let go, they are often still in shock. Their eyes are glazed, and they have that air of disbelief about them that says, "This can't be happening to me. I'm too good." But it does happen, and it ...