If you’ve been laid off, fired, or quit this year, you’re not alone.
Tens of millions are either out of work or under-employed right now.
Having been there myself more than once many years in the past (including during horrible economies); I know how it feels. Let’s not sugar coat things; it sucks.
The rejection, stigma, and patronizing of well-meaning people doesn’t help either.
But as someone who made an epic comeback; one that took me from having to budget for a $7 Jimmy Johns sandwich to 7 figures and a better life than I ever thought possible; trust me when I say there’s more hope for your situation than you realize.
Still to this day I reflect on my own comebacks, looking for new insights to share with my clients. After all these years, it’s amazing how I’m still able to extract new tactics to share with them – and there are few things more rewarding than watching them implement those tactics and changing their lives forever.
You see, most people in times of despair are only focused on getting back to status quo. The very thought of arriving at a place superior than before their crisis hasn’t even occurred to them.
Selfishly, this is pretty cool for me; because once they realize that they don’t have to shoot for status quo, but can actually take the setback as an opportunity to catch their dreams; it’s really cool to see how they light up.
To date, I have helped so many people in their lives, careers, and businesses that I stopped counting; because I’ve never done it for bragging rights. It’s most definitely in the thousands though.
Helping others recover from setbacks is something I simply love to do – and it’s probably why 100% of people that implement my tactics succeed. Passion is important. This is something most gurus lack, because money is what actually drives them. Not me – and that’s why this playbook has no price attached to it.
Even though I love helping people, not everyone is able to pay me to help them personally; even if it will help them go from $7 to 7 figures and catch their dreams.
So with that being said, I’ve put together several of the tactics I help people implement. If you implement each of these tactics with tenacity, they will change your life, and you will make an epic comeback. Guaranteed.
Comeback Tactic #1 – Get Real with Yourself
As silly as this sounds, the first thing you need to do is actually ask yourself the following question:
“Do I even really want a job right now?”
Earlier this year a friend of mine got laid off. I checked in with him a few weeks later to see how he was doing, and asked him if he found another job. Here was his reply:
“I got some things working. Since getting laid off, I have never been happier.”
He’s not the only one in that boat though. There are actually a lot of people who after getting through the shock of the setback, they later start to feel peace, even though they’re not actively engaged in something.
There are also people that say they want a job; but the truth is, they don’t want one bad enough to take the kind of action necessary to get a good one.
Also keep in mind that before jumping right back into the workforce, or your next startup idea, this might be a good time to consider a sabbatical. Taking a break for a feasible amount of time to reflect and plan is proven to have a huge impact on your aim in life.
Spend some time ruminating over whether or not you are ready to get back into the game, if you like the industry you’re in, or the kind of job you were doing. Consider all the possibilities. Is it time to make a industry change? What about leadership opportunities? Starting a business? Think abundantly here.
Comeback Tactic #2 – Cut it Out!
This is the most important tactic of all.
Failing to do this can all but guarantee that you will fail.
Stop letting your fear response take over – and stop listening to conventional wisdom and naysayers.
When I made my comeback, I changed industries. Someone very close to me, after hearing about my decision to change industries, said:
“Justin, what makes you think you have the ability or qualifications to do that?!”
My response to him was, “I’m only going to know after I try.”
What his face was showing after my response made something very clear; his brain was in that moment developing new neurological pathways. He was well-on in his years and he never considered that maxim.
Ironically, that decision changed my life forever; for the better. I learned those new skills to launch a business in one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world, and am now in a place I never even considered as possible.
If I had listened to conventional wisdom and naysayers, who know where I would be, but I doubt it would be where I am now – and I’m not just talkign about the 7 figures part; I’m talking about personal fulfillment, happiness, lifestyle, and faith.
To quote myself, I often tell people “Show me your mentality, and I’ll show you your destiny.”
Most self-help types are misguided. They tell you that you can will things into existence. No you can’t. You’re not God!
But, your mentality is arguably the best indicator of the future results in your life.
This is why many lottery winners, professional athletes, and celebrities go broke. Their windfalls do not change their underlying mentalities – and that’s why the money leaves their lives.
Now is not the time to be worrying about whether or not you are qualified for a partifular role, or whether you’ll fail to get it. So what. All you can do is the best you can.
If you focus on doing the best you can wherever you’re at; then eventually the odds are incredibly high that you’ll land right where you need to be, and will blow the doors off your goals.
So, develop the right mentality of growth, and then get out of your mind.
The industry I got into was considered 1 in a million odds. But I did it. So can you.
Also, stop thinking that there’s something wrong with you. That is usually not true. Maybe you made some mistakes, and that’s life. Learn from them. But, never ever doubt for a second that you don’t offer valuable experience and abilities to the world, because you do!
Comeback Tactic #3 – Face the Music
One of the most common pitfalls I see when helping entrepreneurs and professionals is that they do not start pursuits with eyes wide-open.
This is bad.
When you start taking action without having your expectations in line (or close to it) with reality about what’s going to be required to succeed; then you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage.
Many self-help folks that want to sell you books will tell you otherwise. They’ll tell you to think only with extreme optimism, and to be unrealistic. But keep in mind, this is only to make you feel good long enough for them to get your money. These days, it seems like people are afraid of knowing the truth, and so they label realism as cynicism, and then try to act like reality isn’t there. It doesn’t work.
Let me be very clear, not only is it not helpful, but it’s actually detrimental for you to try and ignore reality. Optimism is important, but to ignore reality is reckless and foolish. This is not a lesson you want to learn the hard way, like I did in Colombia South America.
In Colombia, they do not have the same resources as America, so in the smaller cities, their sidewalks are not well-maintained. I am an athletic guy, and have never been clumsy. Yet, I rolled my ankles, fell, and tweaked my knee while walking Colombia’s sidewalks; multiple times.
Why?
Because I continued to expect their sidewalks to be different from reality, and I kept walking as if I was in America. My expectations were unrealistic.
Zig Ziglar, God rest his soul, addressed this best when he said, “The truth is something you can deny, but not something you can avoid.” Now think about that; that’s coming from Zig; one of the most optimistic men who ever lived.
The key with optimism is that you should always be optimistic about whether or not your situation has hope, but it’s essential that you align your expectations with the reality of your situation.
Landing your dream job in the middle of a crisis is going to be simple, but it isn’t going to necessarily be easy. Being a realist about this gives you a huge advantage over both the inert cynics or the ignorant optimists.
Why?
Because you know and have accepted the difficulty; so when you encounter it; you’ll be ready. Everyone else will be shocked and quit – and you’ll win.
When you fully grasp the reality of the situation, you can complete a true gap analysis that allows you to identify what is going to be required to get from where you are, to where you want to be. This is wonderful for improving your odds of success.
Now, don’t deflate when I tell you that there’s a very good chance that making your comeback is going to require that you work smart and hard. However, you have to ask yourself if it’s better to take the comfortable route and maybe secure an “ok” opportunity, or if you’d rather be knuckle-down working very smart and hard for the next 120 days to get something better than you ever thought possible?
If you’re fine with an “ok” opportunity, that’s up to you, because there truly is more to life than achievement. However, over 80% of people hate their jobs, are disengaged, and fantasize about something better. My opinion is that it’s just better to go after the best opportunity you can. In many respects it would actually be the same level of effort.
The point here is to make sure that you are fully in-tune with the reality of your situation and it’s implications – and not from a cynical standpoint, but from a matter-of-fact perspective. Implementing this tactic will give you a more solid game plan for getting where you want to go.
Comeback Tactic #4 – Whip Out the Compass
When we go through big setbacks in life, they’re almost always disorienting.
Recently a buddy of mine, the President of a company, fired his CEO.
This CEO had been slacking for months, and everyone in the office knew it. In fact, my buddy held multiple conversations with the CEO about his lack of performance.
In other words, the CEO knew he wasn’t cutting it.
Yet, when he got fired, he actually told my friend he was surprised. Huh?!
Now switch gears to the millions of people who lost their jobs that did not deserve to lose their jobs; how much more disoriented do they feel? Since most layoffs are due to poor management, it’s likely that you were one of these victims as well. Losing your job unfairly makes it even harder to reconcile.
Being without a mission is chaotic; so before we start looking for the next opportunity, we need to get oriented – and we need to take that process very seriously.
This is where we pull our metaphoric “compass” out, because the last thing we want to do is jump from the frying pan into the fire out of desperation.
Being in transition is a great opportunity to review your core values and explore what makes you tick. It also helps you identify what you want to avoid in your next adventure; which only promotes further contentment down the road.
Reflect on moments when you were happiest both in life and at work. What were you doing?
If you were independently wealthy, what would you do with your time?
What are your hobbies and interests – and what are you passionate about?
Many people think they don’t have the luxury to think this way. That’s a fatalistic crock. Sure, you have to pay the bills, but even if you had to temporarily deliver pizzas or work as an Uber driver; that doesn’t mean you can’t think about your next step. And trust me, you should routinely ponder your next step.
I have a brother who is a bonafied genius. He said something to me that is very spot-on about how we live our lives with respect to value systems. We either choose a value system and then adjust our lifestyles accordingaly, or we choose a liftestyle and adjust our values accordingly. Awesome, right?!
So document your core values. These will serve as your compass moving forward – and you can hold yourself accountable to them.
When you act pursuant to your core values, you will feel more peace about every decision you make, and peace is far better than anxiety.
By the way, I think “Responsibility” should be on the core values list of every human being on planet earth.
Why?
No one on this earth cares more about your life than you do. Every day people walk by dead homeless people on the ground, and they could care less. In fact, they don’t even bother to see if the person is alright, and that’s why they lay there dead for several days. It’s sad.
Put some serious thought into this phase. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Comeback Tactic #5 – Tighten Up Your “Ship”
I’m now going to list a few things that you need to straighten up.
Even though these will all seem obvious, it never ceases to amaze me how few people actually put forth effort into these things despite their situation.
Finances: Stop all discretionary spending. Set a tight budget. The average American eats almost twice as many calories per day as what is recommended. This is an opportunity to save money and get healthier. Do it. You need to keep tabs on every penny you spend, or are about to spend. Run all expenses through this test, “Do I absolutely need this?”
Some people say this is a scarcity driven approach. I disagree, strongly. There is a big difference between scarcity mentality and prudence. You don’t need to be eating $200 steak dinners when your out of a job; especially since most people live check-to-check. That’s just dumb.
I also want to point something out. Over the last fifteen years, I have worked with thousands of people on their personal finances. Less than 5% of those people actually had a budget when I started working with them.
The ironic part about this observation is that most of them, if they had actually budgeted and put “hay in the barn” would not be nearly as stressed without a job. People that don’t manage their finances well suffer twice as much, because not only are the anxious to be productive again, but their anxious about running out of money. These people wreak of desperation and it only hurts them in the job acquisition process.
Get on a budget. Now.
Appearance: I absolutely hate vanity. It’s an empty and shallow way to live that only breeds insecurity. There are few things that upset me more than watching another human belittle or mistreat another human being because of their appearance.
However, we live in a world full of vain people. People judge you based on how you look, and since people are vain and insecure, they actually fear people who are not vain and not insecure. So what does this mean for you?
First, let me clarify that I am advocating that you NOT be vain and insecure, but you also have to empathize with all the people that are, and you have to maintain a clean and professional appearance to avoid triggering their issues.
People don’t judge you based on how they should judge you, instead they judge from their own perspectives. So if most people are vain and insecure – and because of that they dress a certain way, they are subconsciously going to expect you to do the same. If you don’t, you lose points.
Start dressing as nice as you can. It makes a difference. In fact, it’s been proven for centuries to make a difference. We’ve actually been conditioned to believe it makes a difference; which is why those of ancient royalty had always dressed nicely.
It seems like we expect people that are successful to dress nice.
Some might argue that those times have passed and everyone can be more casual. That perspective deserves some credence, but not too much, because that’s not what the research shows.
Research shows that the better looking you are, the more successful you tend to be. Again, it’s sad. No, it’s sick. But that’s the way it is.
So you need to look the best you absolutely can. Not for vanity, and definitely not for insecurity, but to simply put your best foot forward. Get into the habit of looking your absolute best for every person you talk to, meet with, etc.
No exceptions.
People will notice, and they will treat you differently.
I have noticed a difference in how flight attendants treat me based on how I dress; even when I’m flying first class. I like to travel comfortably; so I tend to travel in fitness clothing. However, I’ve noticed when I travel in business casual attire, the attendants treat me better than when I’m wearing fitness gear, even though I’m still in first class – and even though on average I usually spend 3-4x on travel than anyone else in first class. Yet, many times I get treated the worst; almost like I don’t belong there. To me it’s funny, so I deal with it and learn humility on the way.
It is what it is…
Dress as nice as you can, stay perfectly groomed, get your nails done, and look as sharp as you possibly can from here on out. Some battles aren’t worth fighting, especially when you’re trying to make a comeback.
Fitness: The goal of this playbook is to help you make a comeback as quickly as possible, and we know that getting fit takes time; so I’m not going to tell you to lose a bunch of weight or get a six pack in two weeks time.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that the body is an integrated network of systems, and the sharper your body is, the sharper your mind will be too.
Also, if you immediately establish a routine fitness regimen, your confidence will experience a boost, and this will only help you as you make your comeback.
Now is not the time to be dealing with lathargy, and feeling bad about yourself.
Start exercising TODAY; even if that means just going for a nice brisk walk. Something is better than nothing. Do it, and do not overthink it. Don’t go buy a Peloton, and don’t go buy a Bowflex. Get up early every morning and go for a hard brisk walk – and during your work strategize over your day.
Getting fit will also help you relive anxiety and stress, which will also pay huge dividends in the comeback process.
Do you remember that scene from Dark Knight, when Bruce Wayne was finally ready to get out of the pit in the ground prison? It was the confluence of mental and physical preparedness that go him out of there, and it was an incredible scene.
You can be this way too. Do it.
Comeback Tactic #6 – Hunt with Scrutiny
When our situations look scarce, it’s easy for us to forget how abundant of a world we live in.
For example, 8,500 children per day die of starvation. Many would look at that and proclaim we do not live an abundant world, but one of scarcity.
However, all it would take is for approximately one half of Americans to donate just $10 per year – and all of those children would live. Now think about that. Imagine the impact if one half of all the people in developed economies did that?
You see, it’s all a matter of perspective. But the truth is, there is a lot of abundance in the world.
The last thing I want you to do is to relegate yourself to a lousy job or business, that’s not going to help you thrive. Even though you’re in a tough spot right now, and feel the urge to take what you can get, be cautious with this.
You may need to find a less than ideal gig to pay the bills, but you should never ever succumb to a fatalistic mindset about whether or not you have hope of ascension; because you do have hope. A lot.
As converse as it sounds, you actually have plenty of opportunity to be selective during this time, if you do things the right way.
For example, if you slack, and only fill your pipeline with a couple of opportunities, and need a new gig fast, well then you can’t scrutinize much.
But, if you hustle and fill your pipeline with as many opportunities as you possibly can, then you can incrementally start being more selective as those develop. It’s logical, right?
How great would it be to have multiple offers, and pitting companies against each other in a competition over who “gets” to have you? Total paradigm shift.
So let’s go back to the very first tactic for a second.
How bad to you want to get back in the game?
When you do get back in the game; to what degree? Do you want to land in a better position than before, worse, or the same?
My advice is to take this as an opportunity to bounce back to a superior spot; just like Bruce Wayne did after escaping from the whole in the ground prison.
Bane had destroyed Batman when he dumped him in that prison. How silly would it have been for Batman to go through all of that effort to get out of there, just to only be able to lose to Bane again; or even just match him blow for blow? Talk about a disappointing movie climax!
No, instead, his comeback involved defeating Bane and saving his city.
You can do that too – and in my opinon; ascension should be your goal.
Even though there are less opportunities out there, you still have an opportunity to be selective. In fact, in at least one respect, you probably should be. You don’t want to jump from a sunken ship to a sinking ship out of desperation. There are tons of business shutting down and letting people go. You must avoid this.
So be selective here. Look for opportunities that you know you would enjoy the role within a company that you know has values that align with your own. Also, do your research and don’t put any faith in brand names. Let me explain why.
Don’t fall for brand luster. I know someone who always dreamed of working for one of the more illustrious tech giants (Hint: name rhymes with noodle). Lots of people dream about working for this company.
Well he finally got the opportunity to work there on an exciting new project. He went through the somewhat grueling interview gauntlet process and was offered a job. Everyone seemed nice, humble, and cool.
But after a little while, he started noticing things that concerned him.
He discovered that the head of the project was nothing more than a placeholder designed to bring credibility to the project, and they provided no real leadership at all, nor did they care about the future of the project.
He also discovered that the sales team was lying to customers in order to win their business, and the sales were in the millions of dollars. They even expected him to go along with the lies. One of the clients was threatening a large lawsuit.
Another employee there told him that there was active fraud by the finance department taking place that was being swepped under the rug. Finally, he realized that the company was just as greedy and unethical as any other company out there.
Here my friend was, working at a place many people will always dream about, and he was completely disenchanted. Yuck.
As you start building a list of targets, make sure you’re doing research on the companies. Glassdoor is actually a very good resource, for everything from the interview process to the culture, and more.
BE SELECTIVE. You are about to embark on a simple, yet hard process of making a comeback – and you want all the time to count for something by landing a wonderful next role that you’ll want to hang onto for many years to come.
Build a list of potential target organizations and roles. Do your research.
Comeback Tactic #7 – Behave Like an Owl
Owls are fascinating creatures. They are tough too.
Not even eagles will mess with certain owls.
But there’s one thing all people think about when they think of owls:
Hoot, hoot, hoot. However it sounds more like Hoo, hoo, hoo.
The current perspectiveon why owls make this noise is to either (a) protect their territory or (b) to let potential mates know their ready to “watch a movie”.
And this is the behavior I want you to apply to your comeback.
You need to be thinking about hoo, hoo, WHO you need to get infront of to make your comeback – and you need to let them know that you’re looking in a non-desperate way. You also need to maintain contact with those people, to protect your relationships with them; because one of their spoiled cousins comes a long and asks for help for that job you want.
Here’s a dirty secret of the field of careers; most of the best opportunities are not filled via job boards or postings.
Most of the best opportunities are filled by recruiters or by insiders giving referrals.
Let’s take Donald Trump’s daughter for a second, Ivanka Trump.
Ivanka is smart, beautiful, educated, and hard-working. One of her first jobs out of college was NOT a barista at Starbucks, but a Vice President of an international real estate company.
Need I say more?
Don’t misconstrue me. She clearly has shown that she is not an impostor for that role, and her father has the right to hire whom he chooses; but how many smart, beautiful, educated, and hard-working women do you know that have never gotten that kind of opportunity?
The point I’m trying to make here is the golden key to getting a great job is networking with the right people – and I emphasize the “right people” part.
So hoo, hoo, WHO are the right people for you to meet with?
Thankfully, for our purposes, this is a really easy thing to identify.
When it comes to job searching, or even client searching, there are only two kinds of people. There are those who don’t help people, and there are those that do.
I know that sounds stupidly simple, but I can’t tell you how many times I see people going straight to the selfish, apathetic buttheads and asking them for help. It’s a waste of time. Or the insecure weaklings. No bueno.
So, think about everyone you’ve ever met, including those you worked with, and identify who are people that generally seem to care about other human beings other than themselves, and add them to a list.
There is a strange phenomenon I noticed over the years that I haven’t quite figured out. This phenomenon is that when you go to a selfish, insecure, and scarcity-minded person (which is most people by the way) and ask them for help, they shutdown mentally – and instead of thinking of ways in which they can help you; theye start making excuses for why they can’t help you.
It seems like they internalize your hardship and somehow perceive it to be a threat to their own gravy trains; which therefore triggers a fearful response and they shut you out.
Sounds illogical and pathetic, right? It is. But that is the curse of the scarcity mindset. It’s also indicative of our individualistic culture.
Instead of spending all your time applying for hundreds of jobs from Indeed and meeting with small-minded people; take a strategic approach and identify a list of what I call “Advocates”.
These are people that are secure in themselves and in-touch with their emotions. These are people whom are generally very successful in life; but are not people that are pretentions or snobbish. Those people are selfish, scarcity-minded butt heads that just happened to “make it”.
So start building a list of who you are going to talk to. These people should not just be people you know/knew, but people you don’t know.
Remember that list you made of potential organizations that interest you? Reach out to people from those organizations on LinkedIn. DO NOT tell them you’re looking for a job. Instead just say something like this:
“Hi XYZ, it looks like you’re really successful at ABC Company, and as someone interested in transitioning to 123 industry, I would really appreciate being able to ask you a couple questions about your journey. Do you like what you’re doing now?”
This has zero desperation smell. It’s authentic and honest. No trickery.
When I made my epic comeback years ago, I reached-out to a total stranger and offerred to buy him lunch.
We ended-up meeting at Jimmy Johns and I bought him a $7 sandwich. He and I became friends, and he helped me break into an industry that I would later go on to make 7 figures in. The guy never asked me for a single thing, and he completely changed my life. I will always be grateful for him, and will never truly feel that I have reciprocated enough for his generosity.
Now it’s important to note that before I met with him, I had applied for dozens of jobs and never even got a phone interview. I’m not saying don’t spend any time applying for gigs, but rather given the fact that most good jobs are filled by the ways I mentioned before, it makes a lot of sense to spend considerable time networking.
However, even though you are now meeting with the right people, you still have to do it the right way. Don’t appear desperate. Highlight your successes. Clean yourself up. Don’t complain. Don’t act entitled (that drives people like me, who had a real dog fight to get where we are) nuts. Don’t say you’re a victim because you’re X race or Y gender, because honestly, none of that actually helps you move forward. In fact, just the opposite. To quote myself again:
“Perpetual self-victimization loses 100% of the time against striving to overcome.”
Now, to summarize this tactic; hoo, hoo, who are you going to meet with?
Build that list and go do it. Start now.
Here’s what you can expect as you follow this process. What you will do is you’ll start to build and develop relationships with new people, and you’ll further deepend relationships with people you already know.
At one point you’ll have a helathy rapport with these people, and that’s when you’re going to TACTFULLY make your ask. Remember, however, that you must be authentic and honest. No using people. Reciprocate, and be prepared to reciprocate. No one like a selfish, opportunistic butt head that uses people!
Now, with that little rant over. Here’s exactly how you you make your tactful ask:
“Hey Jonny, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you, learning about your industry, and learning about the company you worked for. I actually checked out your company’s website and noticed that they are looking for someone in the ZYC department. This seems like a great fit for me, and I would like to learn more. Would you mind either introducing me to the Hiring Manager or putting in a good word with them? If not, no worries, but it seems like such a good mutual fit that you might end up being that person’s hero ; )”
No, you must realize that they have every right to tell you no; although speaking from personal experience, if you have a true rapport with them, those odds are very low.
To be fair to yourself, expect 50% of people to tell you they can not or will not help you. That is fine. And DO NOT disappear off the face of the earth. That is called using people. Instead, send them a small gift and thank them for their time. And STILL, do not disappear. In fact, there is a very good chance you’ll be able to ask them for a referral to a friend at another company. In fact, if you handle the rejection with grace, they’ll appreciate that – and they may help you anyway.
If you are working your networking right, this works very well.
Think of it this way; if you met with the CEO of General Electric for lunch, and asked him for help, he may tell you no. But, how high are the odds that he knows people that could either hire you on the spot or know someone who could? Astronomical.
And don’t even think about telling me that you can’t reach people like that, because you can. I’ve done it. It’s not that hard, especially with LinkedIn.
But you don’t need to go that high up the food chain. I just like to beacuse it’s fun for me. It’s a form of entertainment for me now.
If you follow this process with tenacity, eventually you are going to get the kinds of introductions you need – and since they are coming from trusted people, your odds of success are very high. And, you get to SKIP becoming a needle in a haystack of applications. Not more filling out hundreds of apps and never hearing back. Yay!
Also, most organizations have an employee referral program; so there is actually a monetary incentive for your contacts to introduce you! Work that angle too! “Hey, you know that new Rolex you have been wanting. I know a way to get you one for free : )”
I have heard of people getting notified that the job they applied for had hundreds of applications. Sad. Why not follow this process?
Let me tell you this. People working togehter are the key to solving not just your problems, but the world’s. People. Not technology. Not underhanded tricks. Not money. People. Good people.
Start keeping track of how many introductions you ask for. Let me give you a baseline to shoot for. Shoot for 50 personal introductions to hiring managers, or 50 “good words” put in.
I have NEVER, in all my years, seen someone achieve that number and NOT get a job. NEVER. Can or will there be a first? Sure. But I highly doubt that will be you.
To be honest, if you actually followed this process and achieved that 50 mark, I wouldn’t be surprised if you get multiple competing offers, even in this lousy job market!
Get after it.
Now You Have a Playbook for an Epic Comeback! Use it!
This should be the only piece of content you need to read to go out and make your comeback to something better.
I’ve done my best to condense much of the information I use to help my clients into a brief, actionable, playbook – and I hope as many people implement this playbook as read it. Please share it!
Look, you know you have valuable abilities and experience to offer the world; now you just need to find an opportunity that offers the best mutual fit.
And if you follow this process with tenacity and fervor; you will.
Let’s review the tactics that form this epic comeback playbook, because honestly, we’ve covered a lot:
Tactic # 1 – Decide whether or not you want to get back in the game now; or if you want to take some “you” time to recalibrate. Remember, sabbaticals are valuable and we don’t often get opportunities to take them.
Tactic # 2 – Stop doubting yourself, minimizing your value, or listening to naysayers. Start thinking abundandantly, accepting your present reality while having an optimistic outlook for ascending from this temporary setback.
Tactic # 3 – Don’t try to trick yourself into believing the situation isn’t hard or that it doesn’t exist. That’s not helpful. Instead, face the situation head-on and focus on identifying where you are and where you want to go next.
Tactic # 4 – Revisit your values, “Golden” moments, hobbies, interests, and passions. Document them. Use these as your compass for navigating your comeback with discernment.
Tactic # 5 – Get your finances, appearance, and fitness in order. People judge you based on your appearance, and your confidence is affected by your physical fitness. A budget mitigates unnecessary stress and eliminates the desperation.
Tactic # 6 – Although the job market seems very scarce right now, it’s actually quite abundant. You may have to take a role to pay the bills temporarily, but don’t surrender to that. Look for great opportunities with truly great companies. Absolutely ignore brand luster, unless you are willing to suffer just to pad your resume a bit.
Tactic # 7 – Concentrate your efforst on meeting with advocates. People that are not small-minded or selfish. Focus on people that don’t need anything from you and will not perceive your situation as a risk to them. Reach-out to people that you know for a fact can help you get to where you want to go. Don’t act desperate.
Everything I’ve shared here is useless if you don’t take action. Please don’t be a victim of inaction.
The truth is, I have learned that most people who complain about a lack of results in their lives tend to have a lack of effort.
Please implement this playbook with as much tenacity and fervor as possible, and please share this material with as many people whom are in a situation like yours.
I truly do not want to see another person end their own life due to being out of work. It’s unnecessary, and it’s tragic.
You can recover from this setback, and you can arrive at a place far better than you ever thought possible; just like I did. Let me make something clear: I’m a man of faith, and I believe it’s our job to do the work to the best of our ability – and leave the final outcomes to God. This approach has served me incredibly well, and I believe it will do the exact same for you.
Get after it!
Blessings,
J. Patrick Nichols