Q. My industry has had a series of disasters this last year. I'm still employed but I'm exhausted. How do you maintain your effectiveness when you go to work every day expecting the next bomb to drop?
A. You start out by having some compassion for yourself and your coworkers that we are living in difficult times. Few industries have escaped unscathed by our global financial troubles. If you are feeling exhausted, burned out and jumpy, you have lots of company.
Bucking up or pretending these emotions aren't going on just requires even more energy to deny what is true. Admitting that you are feeling crappy provides you with the comfort of being anchored in reality.
The root meaning of the word "compassion" is "to suffer with." Compassion implies that our personal suffering is a portal through which we can understand our commonality with all of humanity.
If you can admit your own suffering right now, you won't feel isolated. You will look around and see that many people are suffering in exactly the ways you described in your letter.
After you've acknowledged your internal state, realize that how you feel does not need to dictate your behavior. You can still make phone calls, still do your budgets and still attend meetings. In fact, you'll do all these tasks more effectively if you aren't swimming upstream against the reality of your uncomfortable emotions.
The one fact that is certain about life is that everything changes. When times are good, things change. When times are bad, things change. The faster we can let go of "how it used to be," the faster we can muster ourselves to adapt to our new circumstances.
Ask yourself what "bomb" you are most afraid of at work. When you identify this fear, put a plan together to survive this challenge. If you just worry vaguely about your future, you'll become so exhausted you'll have no energy left over to respond if you do face another crisis.
You can't control what will happen at work, but you can be prepared instead of scared.
The last word(s)
Q. I'm unemployed and don't see any point to trying to find a job right now. Wouldn't it work better to wait until the recession turns around?
A. No, what works better is to keep looking even though you are discouraged. Tenacious people eventually find jobs in any economic climate.