There are three things you’re doing right now in life:

1. You’re kicking and screaming and barely getting your head above water.
2. You’re drowning, why kick and scream when it is easier to do nothing?
3. You’re working on getting better and initiated your flotation device.

Which one are you? How are you facing the deep waters of a recessionary period? Unless you’re lucky enough to be in an airplane above water right now (which won’t happen forever, corporations are starting to cut the private jets, sorry) then you need a plan.

Gravy on the Side: In Marshall Goldsmith’s book Succession, one of the saddest things for a CEO to let go in his corporate life is the corporate jet. Think of how much pain they go through!

When I say a plan, I don’t mean a “I have a plan and I’ll get around to it” I mean “I have a plan and it is getting executed right now.”

First off, slow down and take some time to personally reflect.

Think about what you do every week. Work, sleep, play, all combined. In a recession, which of the three should you focus on? I hope you answered that correctly!

Note: By the way, going on Facebook every few hours is not defined as work unless that’s your primary income (you know because chances are you’re checking up on it AT work).

Second, where do you see yourself six months from now. Yes, six months because things can change that quickly. Do you want to continue to be a banker? A salesperson? A clerk? A consultant? A business owner? An entrepreneur? Stay at home parent? Stay where you are? Really step back and zoom out, look at all your possibilities and write them down.

Third, looking at the list of possible career opportunities, start looking at where your strengths are. Applying efforts to a task or profession that is a strength of yours makes it a lot easier to come up on top, don’t start looking at professions that you are “ok” at or do not see yourself performing well in, as it will be harder to reach the level of “mediocre” or “excellent”.

Personal Example: I love the stock market, nothing thrills me more than looking at where a stock is going and why it is moving in that direction. Analyzing a company’s fundamentals and running technical analysis on stock charts is what I do on my spare time to invest in the future. However. I am not the best at it, and am working to get better every day, this would be an example of a profession (securities analyst) that I would not be viewing as a career move yet.

Now, choose one direction you want to go in that suits you best along with what you primarily do. Don’t neglect your current job if you wish to move into something else. Do your best where you are and use your spare time to build where you could be.

Research, Research, Research!

How are you going to reach your new role in six months? What resources and tools do you have available?

If you wish to be stronger in your current job, that’s easy, just use the resources at your company’s disposal.

If it is something different, start reading books on the industry, current event articles, start studying on how you can be effective if you need to make the move. Build contacts in that industry, find out how they became successful.

Start with this program. It will work better than watching Friends and Seinfeld re-runs. Begin to inflate that Recession Flotation Device in case you need it (or already do).