
The Grand Canyon. Photo courtesy U.S. National Park Service.
When bad things happen, we tend to forget to look for the bright side. One technique for finding new perspectives is reframing. In reframing bad news, you try to find alternate ways to view what has happened so as to bring out the good.
Take being laid off. We often see only the dark side, especially during the holidays. Not minimizing the dark side, here are some reasons to be thankful when you get a layoff notice.
- Don't have to worry about being laid off anymore
- Looking for a new job is a full-time job — it's easier to find time for it now
- Every day is casual day — not just business casual — really casual.
- Collect unemployment without guilt
- Run errands when there's no traffic on the roads
- No longer have to deal with your old boss
- No time sheets
- One good thing about
being laid off: you no longer
have to worry about
being laid offSave 35 cents on Tabasco sauce by clipping coupons - Home at a decent hour all the time every time
- Don't have to listen to traffic reports
- Traffic reports now seem hysterically funny
- Gives you the insight you need to support friends in the same spot in the future
- Lower income taxes
- All your books are now in the same place
- No more email from Security about new parking restrictions
- Eating much less takeout
- Cooking real food, then eating it sitting down
- Afternoon movies
- New job bound to be better than old job
- More time with the kids
- Reading for fun
- Sitting down to dinner as a family much more often
- Dry cleaning bills zeroed out
- Got accrued vacation in cash
- Dating
- No longer have to deal with survivor guilt
- Don't have to wear a badge any more
- Can use the health club in mid-afternoon when there are no lines
- Can actually use the health club
- Get to the produce department before the produce gets picked over
- No more cellular leash
- Read more things like this
- Finally see the Grand Canyon
- No more bags of liquefied lettuce in fridge because of unanticipated three-week trips to the Far East
- Vacation whenever
- Network for yourself instead of your employer
- Can always use the same bathroom
- No traveling to exotic places and seeing nothing but the hotel
- Catch up with friends
- Browse in bookstores
- Biking, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, climbing
- No more working dinners at 9pm
- Save big bucks on day care
- No worries about what to do with the kids on snow days
- Less wear and tear on expensive clothes
- Low-mileage discount on car insurance
- Jacqueline Suzanne and PDQ Bach
- While sending out resumes, get interrupted by your four-year-old with urgent drawing of moon
- Rediscover your spouse
- Two words: the package
If you face layoff soon, or if it's already happened, see what you can do to extend this list. Top
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The health effects of a positive outlook have been suspected for some time, and research in the area is expanding the evidence. Two examples available on the Web are:
- Toshihiko Maruta, MD; Robert C. Colligan, PhD; Michael Malinchoc, MS; and Kenneth P. Offord, MS. "Optimists vs Pessimists: Survival Rate Among Medical Patients Over a 30-Year Period." Mayo Clinic Proc. 2000;75:140-143. More
- Laura D. Kubzansky, David Sparrow, Pantel Vokonas, and Ichiro Kawachi. "Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? A Prospective Study of Optimism and Coronary Heart Disease in the Normative Aging Study." Psychosom. Med. 2001 63: 910-916. More (search for Kubzansky)
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Related articles
More articles on Emotions at Work:
Are You Taking on the Full Load?
- Taking on the full load is what we do when we feel fully responsible for either the success or the failure
of some organizational activity. Instead of asking for help, we take extreme measures to execute responsibilities
that might not even be ours.
Begging the Question
- Begging the question is a common, usually undetected, rhetorical fallacy. It leads to unsupported conclusions
and painful places we just can't live with. What can we do when it happens?
Hurtful Clichés: I
- Much of our day-to-day conversation consists of harmless clichés: "How goes it?" or
"Nice to meet you." Some other clichés aren't harmless, but they're so common that
we use them without thinking. Maybe it's time for some thought.
Peace's Pieces
- Just as important as keeping the peace with your colleagues is making peace again when it has been broken
by strife. Nations have peace treaties. People make up. Here are some tips for making up.
Solving the Problem of Solving Problems
- Problem solving is sometimes difficult when our biases interfere with generating candidate solutions,
or with evaluating candidates we already have. Here are some suggestions for dealing with these biases.
See also Emotions at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming December 13: Contrary Indicators of Psychological Safety: I
- To take the risks that learning and practicing new ways require, we all need a sense that trial-and-error approaches are safe. Organizations seeking to improve processes would do well to begin by assessing their level of psychological safety. Available here and by RSS on December 13.
And on December 20: Contrary Indicators of Psychological Safety: II
- When we begin using new tools or processes, we make mistakes. Practice is the cure, but practice can be scary if the grace period for early mistakes is too short. For teams adopting new methods, psychological safety is a fundamental component of success. Available here and by RSS on December 20.
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