By: Barbara Bowes

Do you remember the children's story about Chicken Little? Chicken Little was hit on the head with an acorn when walking in the woods and thought immediately that the sky was falling.

She panicked and raced to tell the king. Well, I can tell you that sometimes when I'm listening to the news, the story of Chicken Little often comes to mind.

Frankly, the news is just plain hard to decipher. I ask myself, while the economy is wrecking havoc on the United States, will it be as bad in Canada? If the economy is wrecking havoc in some provinces, especially Ontario and Alberta, what impact will it have on our home province? When will the so called recession arrive? If the recession is here, what can we do to survive?

There's no two ways about it, some of our organizations and our citizens will be affected. There are already layoffs in many industry sectors. But what worries me is the number of people who are frozen in personal fear and anxiety. Those who are still employed are struggling to remain calm.

Their productivity has declined and they hunker down in career survival. Those who are laid off are struggling to maintain a positive attitude and wonder where they'll find their next job.

All in all, this negativity causes a troublesome work environment, a challenging social environment and stress for all concerned. Let's face it, it's downright difficult to remain positive and optimistic while at the same time being realistic about our future.

Yet for those who have been through these challenges before, we know there are some personal strategies that will help you to weather all of these career/lifework changes. Some of the successful techniques include the following:

Learn about and accept economic realities -- First of all, Manitoba is not a province where the economy relies on one industry sector. In reality, we have a highly diversified and stable economy and are still creating jobs while other provinces are shedding jobs. That old saying, steady as she goes, readily applies to the Manitoba economy. At the same time, we must acknowledge we are in a difficult economic cycle and we can't always be fully prepared for the challenges that come our way.

Recognize your own personal strength -- Be honest, you've confronted and handled challenging situations before. You've experienced personal fear, death in the family, the breakup of a relationship, children leaving home and job loss from previous employment. Recognize the emotional pain you went through, recall how you adapted and adjusted and recognize that you do indeed have the strength of working through any situation that you confront.

Confront your fears and anxiety -- Whereas fear and anxiety are emotional elements of our being, in most cases, we don't stop long enough to determine what constitutes that fear and or how to define it. Without definition, we can't effectively deal with it. Take time to examine your fear and assess what elements of this fear you can control. While you can't control this downturn in the economy, you can control how you react to it, how you protect yourself and how you intend to move forward to career success.

Maintain a positive frame of mind -- Believe it or not, science has proven you can control the thoughts going through your mind. Think -- every challenge presents an opportunity; search your situation and find it. Learn to recognize your most common negative thoughts (i.e. "I can't) and erase them from your vocabulary. Reframe each negative thought into a positive, even if you have to write it down to get you started on the road to positive thinking.

Discard negative friends -- There is nothing worse for one's morale than to be hanging around with a bunch of negative people who commiserate with increasingly terrible tales of woe. Being sympathetic and listening to the stories once is OK, but when it goes on and on, these stories and these friends will drag you down. Stay away from negative people.

Seek accurate information -- Rumours will abound during challenging economic times and so you need to ensure you act on fact and not rumours or fear. Educate yourself by seeking out accurate information from reliable sources. And don't believe everything you hear or read.

Take time for personal focus -- Tough times and personal challenge always provides an opportunity for self-reflection and perhaps a change in personal direction. Are you really doing what you like to be doing? If not, what can you do about it? If you have been recently laid off, use this time to reassess your interests, skills and ability and shift your career toward a more satisfying career?

Create your own job security -- In my view, the only job security you have is yourself; yes, you and all your skills and capabilities. This means that you have to stay current with the skills required for your career. It means that you must always strive to be the best you can be. And, it requires that you not only pay attention to your current employer but to the industry sector. Learn and understand its business cycles and how you can use this to your advantage.

Take a personal break -- While it may seem contrary, especially if you have recently been laid off, my advice is to take a break. Take time for yourself, get away from it all. Go on a vacation or simply do something different. This could be as simple as a weekend visiting your adult children and grandchildren, checking out a museum exhibit that you have long wanted to see or taking a long and leisurely drive into the country. You not only deserve it, the change will help you to refresh your life perspective.

Keep a patient perspective -- Our economy, our jobs and our life are undergoing change and change typically takes time to work through. Be patient with yourself. Give yourself more time to get to appointments, do your important tasks first instead of waiting until the last minute, and hold back on some actions until you rethink what it is you want to do. While patience is a virtue, it's also a habit that can be learned.

I agree, we are facing challenging and unsettling times. But I strongly believe that the only security each of us has is our attitude, our skills and our approach to life.

If all three are integrated into positive self-worth, then we create a personal strength that will carry us through to success.

Barbara J. Bowes, FCHRP, CMC, is president of Legacy Bowes Group and vice-president of legacy Executive Search Manitoba. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it