Tips to Survive Downsizing
Tips & Tricks Stress
Busters DO’S DON’TS ● Breathe deeply, inflating your ● Don’t demand perfections,
stomach– like a balloon. success
or approval. ● Lighten
up. ● Don’t expect to be understood
Put ‘fun time’ into or
to be apologized to.
your day.
● Don’t live in the past or in ● Accept yourself and what you the
future.
cannot change. ● Don’t expect the worst, ● Listen to your body for distress that’s
exactly what you’ll get.
signals. ● Don’t try to do everything ● Get a dream. and
fix everybody.
Insist on it! ● Don’t keep trying to feed ● Do one task at a time. the ever-hungry dragons –
● Assess
what’s realistic to do. irrational, narcissistic
or ● Delegate,
delegate, delegate. manipulative people .
DO NOT...
1. blame yourself. It's not your Fault.
2. repeat the "If only I had" along with the "could of, should of
"refrain unless you want to make yourself miserable.
3. stuff feeling rotten.
4. ignore what you learned on and loved about this job.
DO...
1. acknowledge there is nothing wrong with you or reason for shame.
2. talk to yourself like a loving parent. Say what you would love to hear.
You did the best you could even if you did not see or act on the coming downsizing.
3. feel the roller coaster of emotions --mad, sad, scared and glad-- that
can surface all in the same hour.
This is a normal reaction to the trauma of loss. So is feeling none of the above.
4. take the time to grieve a real loss -- of a job, a dream and a lifestyle.
5. talk repeatedly to someone you trust about the trauma.
6. make a list of things to avoid AND keep from the job you lost. Focus on the tasks, skills
and environments that bring out or undo your personal best.
7. above all, be gentle with yourself and find small, creative and inexpensive ways to nurture yourself. Yes, yes, HAVE FUN!
also...