I know that with downsizing, reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, dried up venture capital, etc. it may appear to be a bleak holiday season. We continue to hear from people who have been on the receiving end of “Axed, canned, decruited, deselected, destaffed, negotiated departure, personnel surplus reduction, redundancy elimination, selectively separated, and workforce imbalance correction.”
But we are also hearing from many people who realize they have been given freedom to pursue their dreams – to find or create meaningful, fulfilling and profitable work. One lady said she had been given the “grace of interruption” in her work life. Others are describing these unexpected changes as “reinvention, graduation, repurposed, unencumbered by employment, released to fly free, transitioning from caterpillar to butterfly, and prompted to success.”
Whatever your situation, this is a great time to be anticipating the beginning of a new year. In 1937, Napoleon Hill wrote this in the original edition of “Think and Grow Rich:” “The ‘depression’ was a blessing in disguise. It reduced the whole world to a new starting point that gives every one a new opportunity.”
Now I doubt that people going through the depression saw it a blessing. But it did give rise to thousands of new ventures and fresh career direction for many people. Maybe now is your time to simply give thanks for being given a new opportunity.
Tags: dream, fired, holiday, napoleon hill, thanks
Dan Miller's Blog 
December 1, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Thanks for the uplifting article. Now that I’m w/o employment, I’ve had time to think about my “dream”. Only thing is, I seem paralyzed and can’t seem to move ahead in ANY direction. It’s just terrible to be so overwhelmed along with the stress of finding something to make the most of my time both in pay and satisfaction. Suggestions on how to get out of this funk?
December 1, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Hi Jackie,
Good to hear from you. I am with you. I was there 3 years ago and PPL changed my life. Pse give me a call and I will help you and introduce you to the leadership to make you successful. If you have a dream and willing to work at helping yourself – I will help you. I am in Atlanta, GA but travel to AL tomorrow to be with our AL Attorneys but avail. now on 404-805-5558. If you are local to me, I will meet with you ASAP too.
Thanks
Dean
December 1, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Thankfulness is a powerful antidote for today’s perpetual diet of gloom and doom coming at you from every direction. One night my wife and I were both feeling really down. Nothing in particular- just the world caving in on us in general. We started giving thanks for everything we could think of, down to the simplest of things we liked, like smooth river rocks, yellow roses, sunny days, the smell of coffee. Our list grew and grew as we included every detailed thing we could think of that gave us pleasure. Once we had finished, we both felt light, happy, and well blessed. There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for.
December 1, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I spent more than a little amount of time thinking about this post yesterday and today. I think I finally figured it out.
I’ve had two friends get laid off in the past week, while we were traveling in Europe. We’re all about the same age. One has… okay… prospects for finding another job. The other has very limited skills, and it’s a good thing there’s a healthy safety net in this country. Except for, well, the $1,000 dental bill.
I am coming around to believe that the time to hone your skills and determine your creative niche was two years ago, or a year ago at best. You can prepare for a hurricane given three days warning. Good luck trying to put up a tarp and plywood in 100 mph winds.
I question how effective it is to ask people to find their new opportunities when some of them don’t know where their next meal comes from. 20-somethings are not known for their saving propensity, and again, the time to recommend saving was 2 years ago. I will, however, also submit that when 3,000 people are submitting resumes for one position, that it may be the only way to survive.
So in a sense I guess for my friends that they can be thankful they have a roof over their heads and aren’t hungry, for now, and if worse comes to worse, they can join the ever-lengthening line for food at the nearest food pantry. But I am also continually aware of the great deal of harm and suffering that is happening around us, past my eye, where kids and parents are getting evicted from houses and living on the streets, and there are more hungry bellies than there were before.
December 1, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Hi Dan,
I wanted to share what I consider a huge “blessing” that covers the last 3 years, although I didn’t see it that way when it first came about.
In late October 2006 the company I worked for closed it’s office in the town where I lived. It is a small town in Southeast Ohio where unemployment tends to be on the high side.
I am a Navy reservist and they “happened” to open up a school to reservist that was normally only for active duty personnel. The school was for 3 months in Texas which is over 1000 miles from where we live. With no other prospects in sight, we decided to go for it as it would provide at least 3 months worth of work and some medical benefits for our family and also give me some training that would come in handy for my reserve work.
Unbeknown to me at the time, this was the start of a sequence of active duty assignments that included almost a year of deployment to Iraq and then a follow-up at another base within the states which lasted until January 2009 when I was finally discharged.
Well, to get to the point, all this training and experience came to the attention of a company that provides contract work for the Dept of Defense and they called me about a month before I completed my mobilization and over the phone, in about 5 minutes of time, offered me close to a six figure job in the state where we live, which has a fairly high rate of unemployment! This position will eventually allow us to move back to our home state in a couple of years.
I not only get paid well, but love the work, which is set up on flex-time schedule and gives me time to develop other income interests based on your principles of Talents & Ability, Passion, and Personality!
I thank God everyday that He enabled us to make the sacrifice of family separation and deployment for a short time for what turned out to be the best position ever!
December 2, 2009 at 1:57 am
I’m thankful God is still in control of all things on planet Earth. And for food, shelter, clothing, water, bed, heat. Lots of things to give thanks for.
December 2, 2009 at 2:25 am
I am experiencing the grace of interruption and fortunately it was my choice. The current economic conditions probably make it seem more crazy to my friends and previous co-workers that I quit my job a few days ago. But the pain of the nail became too much so I had to move. I chose to give myself some time to re-charge and re-evaluate and I am “learning to pause.” It’s a new experience but I firmly believe I am where I am supposed to be right now. My thoughts are with those who are between opportunities but not of their own choosing. As Admin said, the Almighty Creator of the Universe is still on His throne. He is faithful and He is perfecting that which concerns you.
December 2, 2009 at 4:46 am
Both my husband and I became jobless within the last three weeks. We have a home, 5 children, car payment… you know the drill. But we have been here before with my husband being laid off once for 10 months and another time for 16 months.
We both have great references and are young enough to get new jobs so we are blessed. My company laid off 40 of the 200 employees in the same day. I think it must have been much harder for my peers who stayed who were scared to death to leave their desks for fear they would be next.
We will be fine, were before and will be again. I love the idea of counting your blessings.
It is my theory that you either have time or money but not usually both. So now we have time: time to spend with our kids, time to think, time to pause, time to regroup. I love it. I spent the whole day in my pajamas today and my phone barely rang. After months of travel and late days at the office, this is a refreshing change.
I think I’m starting a business, writing a book, and actually looking at the world around me a bit. I love it. Now there will be days where it will be hard. I know I will struggle to pay my bills and cut back for Christmas, but these are just things. We are lucky to live in a great country where we are free. We are lucky to have food to eat, even if it’s peanut butter. Those things make us richer than most of the world.
Dan, thanks for the reminder to be thankful, no matter what we have to be thankful for. I’m choosing to have a feast!
December 2, 2009 at 6:21 am
Gratitude has to with ones heart and what one choses focus on in life.You can either chose to be thankful or not. it also helps to remember that nothing in this life is permanent so it is important to be thankful for what you have because you surely dont when you going to lose it.
December 2, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Dan, Thank you for the great article. I also love the responses. As of Dec 1, 2009, I am so very grateful and this was before I read the article.
Until last month, I was gainfully employed, but my position was eliminated and have spent the last 3 weeks in a haze. I was excited that I got the call to human resources but fearful at the same time. Has it has been noted, I have been given this grace of interruption. I plan on using this time wisely!!
From a grateful heart.
December 3, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I am definitely grateful to this recent economic slump. Even though it derailed my husband’s first company, he just landed a position with a company that has already made him very happy, only two days in. I am grateful for all that unemployment taught us, and for the opportunity my husband has found since. Thank you for asking us to find the silver lining in this cloud.