Don't get fired without a plan

the only certainty is uncertainty

Swanagan Ray
January 24, 2024

“I think I’m about to get fired.” - my friend, to me a couple of hours ago.

The customer that he works for primarily is super volatile, and just told his manager that they want to get rid of him.

And there’s no other opportunities in the company.

That really sucks.

But it happens. Life is full of uncertainty. It’s the only certainty.

You’ve no doubt had similar experiences

So what to do in these types of high stress situations?

More specifically, what did I tell my friend in his situation?

Here is a rough structure of what I relayed to him:

Breath. Do some breathwork. Some simple box breathing for 2 minutes will calm your sympathetic nervous system.
Take stock of your situation. If you aren’t staring up at roots, it could always be worse. Yes, this sucks. But you’ll make it through. The worst thing you can do now is exacerbate the situation by freaking out and reacting poorly.
Make a plan. There’s always options. Set a direction and take the next right step.

As an optimalist, your primary objective is to have the tools in place and alternate paths available for when this stuff goes down.

For instance, if I were fired tomorrow, I would do the following:

Do a quick meditative practice. Immediately go to the gym and/or hop in the sauna. What are they going to do? Fire me?
Call a friend or mentor and just vent. The right people will both give you perspective AND help you realize your options.
I’m constantly trying to come up with plan B, just in case. So, for me I would either call someone in my network that is hiring OR go all in on my agency.

The key is to keep your head on a swivel.

It's better to have a plan and not need it than to be blindsided.

Oh, and one more thing…

It’ll all be ok. You’re resilient, resourceful, and resplendent with optimism. You got this.

Swanagan

P.S., if you are getting good vibes from these emails, send it to 5 friends and I’ll send you a sick t-shirt.