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A few months ago I had lunch with some of my old colleagues from my most recent corporate job that I left 9 months ago. As they were busy stressing about having taken a lunch break (my boss will kill me!), shuffling papers for work (I just need to get this one thing done!), and generally apologizing for their human need for oh say food and connection, I could see much more clearly with the eyes of having been removed from that environment. Energetically I felt more stressed out in their presence than I had in months and I started wondering about the self-inflicted hell we create for ourselves.
Now I'll be the first to say that this whole self-employment thing is an interesting journey. There is most definitely uncertainty and a lack of security around cash flow. Yet, I wonder how much more uncertain and stressful it really is.
As my friends were stressing, talking a mile a minute, and seemingly wound so tight that their body could snap, they looked at me and said something like "Wow, I wish I could do what you're doing. But I don't think I could ever handle the stress and uncertainty!" At that moment I was the calmest person at the table. All this drama while they are chattering on about all the layoffs, reorganizations, and recent market/product failures within the company. How safe and snuggly does that make you feel?
There is a huge psychological toll that accompanies the slash and burn we've seen in corporations -- to those getting laid off and to those left behind. Most recently the article in the NY Times "Wall Street Exodus: Fear, Panic and Anger" focused on these tolls in the financial industry:
Since August, banks worldwide have announced plans to eliminate as many as 65,000 jobs. Many losing their jobs now have lived through other crises on Wall Street -- the 1987 market crash, the widespread layoffs of the early 1990s and the financial upheaval of 1998. But investment bankers, recruiters and psychologists say the current economic downturn, the cascade of layoffs and the steady beat of grim financial news have exacted an especially daunting psychic price.
"These are people’s lives," said an investment banker in his 30s who was laid off in November from his job at a Bank of America office in New York. "It’s not head count. We’re not cattle."
Cattle or not, it seems the trend toward a continual season of layoffs is just becoming more commonplace. The tension with those who survive layoffs are palpable. Like it or not and whether you own up to it or not, your job is not safe, secure, or certain. It is an illusion my friend.
In "7 Reasons to Change Careers Now (Never Mind the Recession)" Pamela Skillings shares reason #1 (with an awesome "Caution -- Cliff Edge" sign on her post to boot):
You may be tempted to grit your teeth and cling to your current position until the economic forecasts start to look sunnier. In today’s workforce, that’s a dangerous strategy. When an 80+-year-old Wall Street institution like Bear Stearns can disappear practically overnight, no job is truly secure. It doesn’t really matter how good you are at your job or how much boss butt you kiss.
If you have been contemplating a career change, there’s no good reason to put it off until the unemployment rate falls again. I’m not suggesting that you make any rash moves like quitting before you’re financially ready, but you can start developing your career change strategy now. Get started on the homework you need to do while you’re still collecting your paycheck. Update your resume, step up your networking, explore your options, and develop your skills.
You will be taking a career risk whether you resign yourself to staying in the job you hate or start moving toward the job you’ll love. Why not put your energies into the risk that could have the biggest reward?
Gritting your teeth and bearing it is not a career strategy, it is desperation and fear. Nothing good comes from desperation and fear unless you transform it into action.
Whether you are sitting in a job you loathe uncertain what to do next or on the path toward entrepreneurship I can tell you that it pays to keep your energies focused on the positive and keep yourself in action. One of the saving graces for me as I
