Friday, August 26

FUNemployment | First things first: Adaptation

Vacations and relaxation are great, and easy to enjoy when you can rely on structure and routine to return momentarily,
but how do you adapt when it becomes your new way of life?



Whether you've been laid off or left a position of your own desire, life as you knew it is over. A nine to five job eats up the majority or your weekday life, so with its sudden disappearance (good or bad) you have to consider what to do with your new-found free time.

If you've been laid off, you (likely) will have received a severance package offering a certain amount of financial stability, and therefore flexibility, while you figure out how to deal with the curve ball you've been thrown. I am the sort of person who enjoys staying busy and thrives in structure, so I made it my first goal to anchor myself and create a plan of action before all my big ideas ran rampant and became overwhelming. Whether or not you are a person who strives for structure, creating a new routine is a great way to ensure you stay on track and (if you're like me) make sure you don't waste your time fretting as to whether you've just wasted your day away.


STEPS TO CREATE A ROUTINE
  1. Identify what's important to you. This is your time, your routine; so, if catching up on Pretty LIttle Liars and eating an above average amount of pastry is important to you - put it down.
  2. Identify what's important to your next move. This isn't as fun, but is definitely just as necessary. These goals can include updating/refocusing your resume, identifying ideal companies or career paths, deciding whether you would like to relocate and research ing accordingly, and more.
  3. Assign each item a rank based on what's most important to you. Remember, this can change week-to-week, day-to-day, so if yoga and coffee dates are top of your list the first week, go for it! You can always re-focus once you've had your fill.
Mine looked like this:

Once you have identified and ranked your goals, use them to create a guideline for your new routine. Since spending time outdoors is very important to me, I have outlined my routines based on whether the day is sunny and warm, or dull and raining. At this point my routine is a general to-do list of goals for each day leaving room for non-flexible appointments, workshops and lunches. If I notice a day begin to stack up, I will create a more specific schedule for it the night before to ensure I will still be able to accomplish those things I consider to be most important. Organizing my routines this way also allows me to combine activities so I can achieve a few goals at once. For example, the last few days I've worked on my accomplishment statements and blogged while outdoors enjoying the sunshine. 


Currently, I am still largely focused on the first bunch, although I can feel my priorities transitioning. In my first week of unemployment, I was only concerned with the first bunch of items because I was, naturally, excited for my newfound freedom. Into my second week I could feel a shift toward the second bunch but it was for the wrong reasons. I was still trying to enjoy, and take advantage of, my free time began to feel overwhelmed by all the things I "should" be doing. Instead of ignoring those feelings I factored in a bit more time for accomplishment statements and reached out for some help, allowing myself to sidestep the downward spiral of fretting that would have definitely ruined my week. Now that I am into my third week, my head is clearing I have begun to tackle the items from the second bunch that I consider a priority. Since I am listening to, and managing, myself I am able to spilt my time between doing those things I enjoy most, and working effective and efficiently through what's less fun. 



So there you have it, the steps and techniques I am using to begin my adaptation.
Have you ever encountered a similar situation? 
How did you handle adapting to your new reality?

20 comments:

  1. Girl, you are WAY more organized than I am. I have a list, which I make every Monday (and usually another on Wednesday or Thursday). I carry over the stuff from last week (usually the longer term stuff) and add in stuff that may be due soon. I'm also trying to stay on a good schedule, but so far I've only got the waking up and eating part down (hope to add in exercise soon). I think the first few weeks off from the hard stuff is good to clear your head and refresh your soul a little.

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  2. This is kind of... amazing. The last time I was unemployed, I definitely just lied around in my pajamas, watching Battlestar Galactica and crafting. So I'm thoroughly impressed that you're actually making yourself stay productive and mobile -- there's a lesson in that for the rest of us. Well done; I hope this experience ends up being rewarding for you!

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  3. wow you have some really excellent handwriting. :)

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  4. I agree, I wish I had your handwriting!

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  5. Can I just say your handwriting is incredible neat and so uniform! These are great tips, I anticipate being laid off next year (company shutting down) so I look forward to reading about your journey and learning from your experience!

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  6. Well, now I'm going to spend all my free time practicing my handwriting. Yours is so perfect!

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  7. I love your handwriting too! Please tell me you rewrote it for picture purposes ;-) Also I'm not used to the English style of leaving the 0 away before the dot. For a few seconds I thought you are doing 5 hours of yoga and excercise first thing in the morning on a rainy day. Wow :-D
    Anyways, I think it's excellent that you keep your head up and a strategy in tow. You'll be back in employment in no time!

    Relatable Style

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  8. I love your handwriting!
    And I'll remember your list once I need it!

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  9. 1. Your tips are kind of super fantastic. (I need to bookmark these for next summer if I'm actually brave/smart enough to take the summer off from teaching...)
    2. Is this SERIOUSLY your handwriting?? Make this a font, stat, you cuteness!

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  10. i guess im not the only one but your handwriting is just darling

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  11. Thank you for the advice! And I know I'm not the first, but your handwriting is amazing -- like a font :)

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  12. haha it may seem that way but I still spend lots of time not working within my goals! For example, on Friday, rather than waking up, leaving the house and finishing my accomplishment statements I hung out, read blogs and puttered around. AND I still have yet to exercise!

    I really like your list strategy too! It's actually exactly how I would deal with my day job to-dos.

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  13. I LOVE Battlestar AND crafting! that sounds pretty fantastic. to be honest, if it weren't summer and so nice out, things might have been different :)

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  14. Thanks, and I definitely hope that I am able to offer useful insight!

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  15. 1. Yay! I'm glad you are into them. I think it's important to balance enjoying the time you have off, and being productive.
    2. Yes.. yes, it is. I think Century Gothic is pretty similar!

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  16. I think that's how I got my handwriting like this. I used to practice writing all the letters in the alphabet over and over when I was in high school. It also helped that my grade 6 geography teacher used to measure all our letters to make sure they were the same size, when we were labelling our maps!

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  17. oh my goodness your writing is SO PERFECT!! *swoons*

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  18. I love how positive and focused you are during such a difficult time! Good for you :)

    Also, this is weird, but I want to make a font from your handwriting. It's perfect. So jealous, haha

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  19. Wow, you are SO organized and your writing is ridiculously neat. You should add "build your own font" to your list of things to do on a rainy day - ha!

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! I love getting to know you all a little better each time :)