Invincible Career - Claim your power and regain your freedom

This year, I spent hundreds of hours researching and writing newsletter articles — and recording podcast episodes — to share with you. I listed the top 10 below, and I’ve also categorized most of the other articles and episodes for easier browsing.

If you found my advice and articles helpful this year and would like to support my continued writing and podcasting next year, please consider upgrading to a premium membership that also grants you access to:

* My private Invincible Career community of over 130 ambitious professionals (from entry-level to executives).

* Weekly professional development challenges and exercises delivered to your inbox.

* Exclusive office hours every Monday with the other premium subscribers and me.

Your support means a lot to me. Thank you! 😊

Welcome to my December wrap-up that summarizes and categorizes everything I published this calendar year.

When people ask for my advice on a career, work, leadership, or entrepreneurial topic, I can usually point them to a specific article that I’ve written on that very issue. You may already be a loyal subscriber, but I know that it’s easy to miss something over a year. I certainly do with the newsletters I follow.

So, enjoy this recap, and feel free to share the summary article with friends who might find some of the advice helpful!

My Top 10 Articles

I reviewed the stats for my articles, newsletters, and podcast episodes. These 10 rose to the top for the year.

* Use Your Purpose to Manage Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

* Community chat - What are your wins this week?

* Invincible Tip - Instantly Make Twitter Better

* Invincible Tip - Follow the Money

* Landing Jobs by Building Relationships in a Remote World

* Introduce Yourself!

* 5 Things You Should Do Every Night

* Doing Work You Love - Interview with Chris Cornett, Surgeon

* Create Your Own Career Ladder

* Invincible Tip - Always Be Looking

By the way, I made some big changes to the newsletter and podcast this year (and launched two new newsletters and podcasts), which I announced here.

Articles organized by category

I thought it might help to organize all of my articles and podcast episodes into categories that you would find most useful. Enjoy!

My book chapters

* My Book - Reclaiming Your Power, Freedom, and Future

* Book Chapter - Becoming Invincible

* Book Chapter - Assessing Your Current Situation

* Book Chapter - Defining Your Vision of the Future

* Book Chapter - Identifying Your Blocks and Barriers

* Book Chapter - Embracing the Best You

* Book Chapter - Identifying Your Audacious Goals

* Book Chapter - Creating Your Winning Strategies

* Book Chapter - Making Your Achievable Plans

* Note: I shifted my book chapter articles and podcast episodes to my new Invincible Life newsletter starting in June, so seven additional chapters are there.

Career planning and performance

* Doing Work You Love - Interview with Chris Cornett, Surgeon

* Create Your Own Career Ladder

* You Can Follow Your Purpose as an Employee

* Your Future is Unpredictable

* Q&A from the Community

Job search, interviews, and negotiation

* Landing Jobs by Building Relationships in a Remote World

* Invincible Tip - Follow the Money

* Invincible Tip - Always Be Looking

* How to Safely Job Hunt Today While You're Still Employed — So You Don't Get Fired Later

* Be loyal to yourself, first!

* The Job Market Has Flipped — Again

Success

* Doing Work You Love - Interview with Chris Cornett

* Create Your Own Career Ladder

* Burn Your To-Do Lists in 2022

* How to Build Good Relationships in a New Job

* Remote Work and Power Dynamics

* How to Market Yourself to Get the Attention You Want and Deserve

Living your best life

* Use Your Purpose to Manage Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

* 5 Things You Should Do Every Night

* Your Future is Unpredictable

* You Deserve Better

* Remote Work Has Saved Me $150,000

Solopreneurship and entrepreneurship

* This year, I launched a brand new newsletter just for people interested in solopreneurship and entrepreneurship: Invincible Solopreneurs. So, you can read all the articles there (subscribe to that newsletter if you’re interested).

Life lessons

* Use Your Purpose to Manage Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

* The Gift of Rejection

* Losing Your Career Ambition

* This year, I also launched a brand new newsletter for people more interested in personal development: Invincible Life. It’s all about living your best life, life planning, self-confidence, empowerment, freedom, health, and happiness. You can read all the articles there (subscribe to that newsletter if you’re interested).

Personal and professional development

* Create Your Own Career Ladder

* What Do People Say About You?

* Your Account Has Been Suspended

* 5 Ways to Build Your Executive Presence

Networking

* Landing Jobs by Building Relationships in a Remote World

* Invincible Tip - Instantly Make Twitter Better

* Introduce Yourself!

* Invincible Tip - Always Be Looking

* How to Build Good Relationships in a New Job

* Seth Rogen's Take on Networking

* How to Market Yourself to Get the Attention You Want and Deserve

Invincible Tips

* Stand Up

* Follow the Money

* Check your face

* A Career Double-Dip

* Message One Person

* Follow Your School on LinkedIn

* Instantly Make Twitter Better

* The Business of Your Career

* Know When to Bounce

* Quote Tweet Someone

* Instantly Feel More Confident

* How to Build a Lifestyle Business in 30 Days for Less Than $30

* Always Be Looking

Office hours and professional development challenges and exercises (for premium subscribers)

* What Are Your Goals This Year?

* Break Your Big Goals into Subgoals

* Create a Plan to Achieve Your Goals

* Leverage Your Calendar

* Write the Story of You

* Create Your Elevator Pitch Intro

* Document Your Strengths and Weaknesses

* Define Your Professional Brand

* Why You Need a Website

* Find a Domain for Your Website

* Design Your Website

* Publish Content on Your Website

* Share Your Website

* Post to Your Personal Blog

* Publish on Medium

* Cross-publish Your Writing

* Learn about Self-publishing

* Research Newsletter Platforms

* Choose a Newsletter Platform

* Want to try Substack? Use my referral link to check it out.

* Identify Your Writing Focus

* Build Your Audience

* Professionally Leverage Social Media

* Get More out of LinkedIn

* Join the Creator Economy

* Share Your Portfolio

* Audit Your Professional Brand

* Assess the Progress of Your Plan

* Review Your Metrics

* Learn More About Google Analytics

* Adjust Your Plan

* How to Build a Powerful Network

* Nurture and Reignite Your Network

* Connect with New People

* Find Your Communities

* Upgrade Your Public Speaking Skills

* How to Find Speaking Events

* How to Host a Workshop

* How to Sit on a Panel

* Networking to Practice Your Communication Skills

* How to Be a Guest on a Podcast

* Planning Your Own Podcast

* Comparing Podcasting Solutions

* Record a Test Podcast Episode

* Choosing a Video Platform

* Choosing a Central Theme

* Record, Edit, and Publish a Video

* How to Grow Your Video Audience

* Are You Ready for Your Final Push for 2022?

* Capture Your Achievements for the Year

* Write Your Self-review

* Reflect on the Year

Whew! That’s it for the year. I hope this summary makes it easier for you to find a useful article to read (or reread). Share this with a friend who might be interested!

Your support helps!

I’m looking forward to writing more articles, interviewing new guests, and recording new podcast episodes for you next year. If you have suggestions for topics that you’d like me to cover, please leave a comment below or send me a message.

BTW, I have no employees, interns, or even an assistant. The newsletters and podcasts are a one-person labor of love. This is my passion and how I earn a living as a solopreneur to support my family.

If you’ve found my advice helpful, and you’d like to help support my efforts to produce it, please consider subscribing to the premium weekly newsletter. Take advantage of my Holiday Special and save 50% when you join us before the year ends!

This gives you access to:

* My private career community for ongoing advice, feedback, and support.

* Weekly professional development challenges and exercises delivered to your inbox every Monday.

* Exclusive office hours every Monday with me and the other premium community members.

Thank you for being a loyal reader this year. I appreciate your support!

Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” workshops (coming soon).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Mastodon (it’s better than Twitter!).

Do you have a colleague or friend who might be interested in the advice I publish in this newsletter? Feel free to share it with them!

Did you know the average American hasn’t made a new friend in five years?

As we grow older, we make fewer friends than we did as children and young adults during school, college, etc. It’s probably not surprising that many of our friends come from our work experiences.

I used to work at eBay many years ago, and I recently attended an alumni event in the Bay Area of California. It’s a long drive to get there from where I live now, so I initially hesitated when I saw the invitation. Also, I’m an introvert and rarely enjoy social events like that. But it was a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends I haven’t seen in a very long time. So, off I went!

The wave of nostalgia and fondness I felt for these people surprised me. Even for those I had not particularly felt close to when I worked there. We’re older, wiser, and kinder now. The passage of time has sanded down the harsh edges of the memories of the intense workload, stressful projects, and confrontational arguments.

We had been through a shared experience, bringing us closer together. As one friend put it, after we hugged:

"We have a trauma bond." 

Unfortunately, there is a price to pay for forging such deep relationships with coworkers. Leaving the company feels like losing most of your friends. And it's never the same again. 

Also, every step that brings you closer to your coworkers is a step that takes you further away from your family and friends outside of work. That was simply the reality of employment for most of our lives. We spent way more time with our colleagues than with our loved ones. It was certainly true for me.

However, the last few years changed everything. People began working remotely and staying home. The pandemic lasted longer than we expected it would. When we could finally come out of our homes and back into the workplace, employers discovered that most of their employees did not want to return.

* People enjoy the flexibility of working when and where they desire.

* Many of us have found we can focus better without interruptions from coworkers.

* They are saving money by working at home (I’ve saved about $150K over the past 12 years).

* The time savings are significant when you no longer have to commute to an office (I spent 750 hours/year on the freeway).

* Some people have moved to a better location for their financial and emotional well-being.

* They have rebuilt stronger relationships with their loved ones.

* They are exercising again, eating healthy meals, and sleeping more.

This year, Buffer published its 2022 State Of Remote Work. They surveyed 2,118 people from 16 different countries to get their input on remote work and its impact on their work and personal lives.

Here are a few more highlights:

* 97% would like to work remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of their careers.

* 90% described their experience with remote work as either very positive or somewhat positive.

* But, 45% think that career growth is more difficult for remote workers to achieve.

However, even I will admit that our enhanced lifestyle from remote work has come at the cost of work relationships. Now, some leaders are desperately promoting a return to office (RTO). They claim that collaboration and innovation can only thrive when people share physical space and time. 

They're not completely right about this, but they're also not totally wrong. As much as I love remote work — and I have built friendships and working relationships with people I've never met in person — the bond isn't the same as it is with people who worked with me in the trenches. Like my friends at eBay.

* We worked side by side every day. 

* We saw each other at our best and worst. 

* We shared meals and drinks. 

* We laughed and cried. 

* We supported each other.

However, the answer must be somewhere in the middle. As with many things, the truth is in between polarized opinions. 

People must stop denying that dedicating most of our waking hours to our employers damages our personal relationships. How could it not? I have friends who regret missing out on their children’s lives. I have friends whose marriages fell apart because they were never home.

But we also can't deny that 100% remote work isn’t the best for working relationships. It doesn’t have to be a choice of always working remotely vs. always working in an office. For example, Automattic has a great remote work model, but they regularly schedule team gatherings in person (more on this in a future newsletter).

The office environment is not the best for everyone at all times. 

* Power dynamics are heightened, which makes people defer to authority too often. 

* As I know all too well, introverts can't do their best work when surrounded by noise and constant interruptions. 

* People with disabilities often struggle in the workplace, and some can’t take part at all if we forced them to travel to an office. 

* Creativity is stifled inside corporate walls. 

Sometimes work is best done outside the office. And there are many types of work that do not need to take place sitting alone in a cubicle. 

However, there are also types of work we should perform together in person. For example, collaborative riffing on a physical whiteboard can never be replaced by the poor substitute of virtual whiteboards.  

The nuance of human expressions, tone of voice, and body language get lost in laggy digital proxies like Zoom meetings, where you only see someone's talking head. Plus, people don't behave naturally on camera. We’ve been doing this for years, yet video meetings still feel clumsy and awkward compared to in-person meetings.

Where am I going with all of this?

Well, if you’re trying to find a new job or work more effectively with colleagues in your current job, you need the best of both worlds. We’ll never put the remote work genie back in the office bottle. So, you need to make the best of virtual relationships and interactions. But I’m also going to encourage you to tap back into the power of face-to-face conversations and meetups.

Connecting with people, building relationships, and bonding will always be easier in person. So, find ways to start making that happen again.

Finding a remote job in this economy

In this newsletter, I'm going to start with how you can find a job in this crazy economy and wild world of remote employment. In a future newsletter, I'll dive into part 2 of how you can work better with your colleagues once you land a job (or if you're still employed). 

As a coach, I’ve talked with enough job seekers over the years to know that no one wants to hear that finding a job takes time and requires building relationships. So many people want to “spray and pray” their job applications and resumes to hundreds of companies and hope it works out.

It rarely does. Or, I should say, it rarely yields a “great job.” You may end up with an ok job. Maybe…

However, if you want to find a great job in a great company that is a great fit for you, here are some steps you can take to increase your odds of success.

* Connect 

* Communicate

* Bond

* Give help

* Receive help 

* Collaborate 

1. Connect

I’m sure you’ve been reading about the thousands and thousands of people being laid off over the past few weeks. In addition, many companies have frozen hiring. All of this means that competition is heating up for the remaining roles that are available.

If you submit your resume and job application online, you’re being dumped into the same pool as hundreds of other candidates. You might be okay if you have a top 1% resume. If not, good luck standing out.

You may be tired of hearing me beat this drum, but your network is your most valuable asset during a job search. If you already have a powerful one, you can start reaching out to people. If you don’t, it’s time to connect with more people to strengthen yours.

* Build relationships with people online.

* Connect with folks via their posts.

* Be present and make intelligent comments.

* Reach out to people in companies of interest.

* Attend online meetups.

However, I think we’ve all noticed an increase in meetups in the physical world, too. Heck, I just hosted a breakfast meetup a few weeks ago!

So, don’t overlook the opportunity to network and meet some people in the real world. Meetup.com is still a useful resource for finding local events. It is easier to connect more deeply with someone when you are face-to-face instead of staring into a laptop screen.

2. Communicate

When you’re looking for a job, and it’s taking longer than expected, it’s time to tap into your network and get a little positive energy back out of it. One of the first things I recommend to my job-seeking clients is that they download their LinkedIn connections and create a basic relationship management spreadsheet.

Make a note of the following:

* People you’d like to work with again.

* Leaders you’d like to work for again.

* People who always have their finger on the pulse of what’s going on.

* Colleagues who are connected to people and companies of interest.

Then, start reaching out to these folks to let them know that you’re starting to explore your next opportunity. Depending on the notes you made for each person, you’ll structure the conversation accordingly. You’re essentially letting your trusted connections know that you’re in play, would love to know of relevant opportunities, or might want to be introduced to someone.

Make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for (e.g., industry, type of employer, role), so you can clearly answer the first question people will ask: “So, what are you looking for?”

Of course, you can do most of this online (e.g., send a message on LinkedIn). But, when possible and for the most important contacts, try to schedule a Zoom meeting so you can see each other and talk live.

I will also encourage you to use the ol’ tried-and-true meeting over coffee or lunch when you want to talk with someone local. It’s still much easier to connect with someone and bond over shared food and drinks when you’re asking for a favor. By the way, you should pay for their coffee or meal.

3. Bond

I often have strangers contact me for help with their job search. They want to talk and get some free advice (note: I’ve written and shared tons of free advice). They want me to tell them who is hiring for the positions they’re seeking. Or they ask for an introduction to a hiring manager in a company.

Folks, I’m sorry, but you just can’t ask strangers for favors like this. You must build relationships and gain trust. You have to provide value to receive value (more on this in the next section). No one wants to introduce a stranger to people in their network, which is an amazingly valuable — yet fragile — resource.

That’s one reason I built my career community (to which my premium subscribers have access). It gives people a chance to bond and build relationships over time. That’s how you gain people’s trust and increase your odds of receiving a favor.

So, if you want to find a great job (instead of just any old job), take the time to build real relationships with the people in your broader network.

* Comment on posts (like the ones I share on Invincible Career).

* Attend meetups.

* Have coffee and lunches with people.

* Join video chats.

* Talk with people in the community.

* Share useful information.

* Let people see the real you.

* Give people a chance to see your talents, skills, personality, and how you think.

4. Give help

People want to be surrounded by what Adam Grant calls “givers” and “matchers.” We all try to avoid “takers.” I’m sure you’ve encountered them in your life and workplace. These people don’t seem to understand the concept of reciprocity.

Don’t be a taker.

Now, I can understand if you’re thinking, “If I’m out of work and looking for a job, I don’t have a lot of time for giving and helping everyone else. I’m not a charity!”

But giving doesn’t require spending endless hours of your time helping others. It can be accomplished with something as simple as what Adam Rifkin calls the “5-minute favor.”

I noticed this phenomenon when I moved to the Bay Area in California and started working in tech. One of Silicon Valley's competitive advantages is that almost everyone is willing to help others with quick little favors.

* Answering questions over email.

* Having a coffee chat at a local Starbucks.

* Introducing talented people to each other.

* Taking a phone call to give quick advice.

* Giving feedback on an issue over a Zoom call.

* Being a reference for someone during their job search.

* Sharing a few names when a manager is looking for talent.

* Forwarding job openings to people.

“My students at Wharton often describe the five-minute favor as life-changing. It challenges their assumption they have to choose between helping others and their own success, allowing them to find ways of giving to others that don’t demand enormous acts of sacrifice.” — Adam Grant

The magic of this type of favor is that it doesn’t take long for the giver, but it can change the recipient’s life. Five minutes can truly change the course of someone’s career and life. It reminds me of the short phone call my advisor made that connected me with my first job in Silicon Valley and set me on the path of my tech career. It changed my life forever.

But, if you’re a taker who never gives to this system of reciprocity, people remember. No one will go out of their way to help you. They may even try to avoid you.

Be a giver and feed positive value into your network. People will notice and remember that. So, if you’re seeking a job and people know you’re looking, they will:

* Send opportunities your way.

* Introduce you to good hiring managers and recruiters.

* Tell you about jobs that are buried deep in the hidden job market.

Again, doing some of this giving in person will strengthen your connection with the recipient. When I left my last corporate job, I had coffee and lunch meetings almost every day for the first six months. People wanted advice, help with a job search, introductions to an investor, feedback on their startup idea, etc.

5. Receive help

So, yes, it’s good to be a giver. But, sometimes, we need help, too. The problem is most folks are too busy with their own jobs and lives to dedicate a serious amount of time to help you land a new job.

That’s where a career coach like me comes in. Obviously, I can’t help everyone since my time is limited. And I’m not always the right fit for some folks, either. But, if you’re struggling to find a job, interview well, and receive job offers, please find someone who can help you with things like:

* Getting crystal clear about what you want next for your career.

* Identifying the right employers who are the best for who you are and what you do.

* Finding the right opportunities in this job market.

* Learning how to position and sell yourself well.

* Preparing your LinkedIn, website, portfolio, social media, resume, and cover letters.

* Writing and practicing your elevator pitch.

* Preparing and rehearsing your answers to the dozens of interview questions you should expect.

* Negotiating your job offers to get the best outcome possible.

Sometimes people think they should naturally be good at interviewing and negotiating offers. But we all get rusty without practice. If it’s been a few years since you’ve interviewed, work with someone to strengthen and sharpen your skills.

The time and money you invest will more than pay for itself when you land a job more quickly and get the best offer possible. Or… you could keep waiting, struggling, and not getting paid for weeks and weeks — or months and months.

6. Collaborate

“The new form of networking is not about climbing a ladder to success; it’s about collaboration, co-creation, partnerships, and long-term values-based relationships.” — Porter Gale

Finally, a great way to build and strengthen relationships is to collaborate with others. This is why you develop such strong bonds with your coworkers. Shared work towards a common goal brings people closer.

I hope you have interests outside of work. It’s important to make time for things that light you up. Many of us also dedicate ourselves to activities that help others and improve the world, in some way.

When you collaborate with other people on projects outside of work, you expand your network in new ways. I’ve talked about the power of “weak ties” before. They open up opportunities you may never discover through your traditional professional network.

Working with people gives them a chance to see how you think, your talent and skills in action, and what you are capable of doing. It builds trust in a way casual conversations never can.

You can do this virtually, like when two friends and I recorded a weekly podcast together. Lots of people collaborate on projects remotely now (e.g., the open-source software community).

However, I also encourage you to look for opportunities to collaborate in person. For example, I recently reconnected with an old friend and colleague in person. Over drinks, we discussed some business ideas, and now we’re moving forward with a plan. We’re going to meet again in person for a working session.

The funny thing is, we’ve always just been a phone call away from each other. But meeting in person sparked a renewed desire to build a new business in a way that occasional emails and texts never did.

So, reach out to someone you’d like to connect with and catch up over coffee, lunch, or drinks. See if there’s an opportunity to collaborate on something simple while looking for your next job.

You’ll probably discover that it opens all new doors for you!

Speaking of building relationships…

I hope you see why your network and relationships are essential for a successful job search. But they are also so important for your professional development and career growth, too.

So, with that, I’m going to challenge you to take advantage of a network and a relationship only a few of you have leveraged.

Hi there! I’m Larry Cornett, the author of this newsletter and a leadership and career coach. I like to think that I’m pretty approachable, and I do want to see you succeed in your work and be fulfilled in your life.

There are 4 easy ways to connect with my community of friendly, ambitious professionals and me:

* Ask a question or leave a comment on this newsletter article.

* Schedule a free coaching call with me.

* Upgrade your newsletter subscription, and I’ll invite you to my private community.

* Book a private call or coaching engagement if you’re ready to work with me on your job search, career plan, leadership development, etc.

Simple, right? 😉

Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching soon).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Mastodon.

A storm is coming…

* The economy is not in great shape, and we are probably entering a recession.

* Companies have been instituting hiring freezes since the summer.  

* Startups and larger corporations have been laying off thousands of people this year. 

The last few years have been an employee’s market. Hiring was booming, especially after the recovery from the quarantine months of the pandemic. It seemed like companies couldn’t recruit fast enough to replace the millions of workers quitting during the Great Resignation.

Working from home reached all new heights, and the time recovered from daily commutes gave people more time to reflect on work and life. People decided they wanted more. They wanted something better.

* Better jobs.

* Better working conditions.

* Better work-life balance.

* Better compensation.

* Better career development opportunities.

The growth of remote work also opened up global opportunities that never existed before. You can now work for any company in the world and not be forced to relocate. Many of my friends and clients have accepted jobs in other countries that would never have been possible before.

However, what goes up must come down, and all good things come to an end. The job market has recently flipped back to an employer's market, and the hiring frenzy has cooled. Job seekers are feeling the strain of tightening corporate budgets and wondering why they’re getting ghosted more often by recruiters and hiring managers.

* Some of my clients who are managers lost their open reqs.

* My job-seeking clients apply for an open position but are then informed that the role is suddenly closed.

* People are discovering that it’s taking much longer to find a new job.

So, welcome to the pending recession and a tighter job market! It’s time to change your strategies to adapt to this new reality. How you manage an employer's market depends on your current situation. What best describes you right now? 

* You have a stable job, and you aren’t worried. 

* You have a job, but you fear a layoff is coming. 

* You've recently been laid off. 

* You've been unemployed for a while. 

* You're the one doing the layoffs.

* You run your own business.

I’m going to touch on each of these cases below. But first, I want to share some clues that may indicate a layoff is coming to your company.

When a layoff might be brewing

I’ve had a long working career — over 30 years at this point. I spent about 20 years of that in Silicon Valley, so I experienced my fair share of layoffs as an employee and a manager. I’ve been a career coach for over 6 years now, which means I frequently work with people who are getting laid off or managing a layoff.

After you’ve been through several of these experiences, you recognize recurring patterns of behavior. You see the all-too-familiar signs that a layoff is coming. Trust your gut because your instincts are usually right.

Here are a few of the precursors I’ve witnessed or heard about from my clients. Some of these start happening months in advance, but others are a sign that a layoff will be executed within the next 24 hours.

* Are you back to working in an office? If so, you may notice the free food and drinks tapering off and disappearing, or the quality has dropped dramatically. I still remember the first time I experienced this at a startup. The snack supply slowly but surely dwindled, and they weren’t replaced despite our requests. The leadership team provided vague explanations, but the reality was the startup was failing, and we shut down shortly after that.

* Regularly scheduled long-term planning activities are suddenly postponed, often with no explanation. This behavior is typical when a significant layoff is coming, especially one that will cause a re-org and a change in the key players. It is challenging to make long-term plans that require critical decisions when the decision-makers are going to be changing seats soon.

* Hiring is frozen, and open reqs are put on hold or closed. Yikes! I know this is already true in many companies right now. This often happens a few months before a layoff. So, managers not only lose their open reqs but they won’t be allowed to backfill those positions either.

* It’s usually a sign that the company is going to specifically lay you off when senior management postpones a meeting with you they normally would have accepted. Or you stop receiving invitations to meetings for long-term planning or where confidential and strategic information will be discussed. As much as people would prefer not to telegraph your termination, they really can’t have you in critical meetings once they know you’ll be leaving the company.

* Entire teams are suddenly reassigned to new management when it doesn’t seem to make sense. I know this move all too well. Sometimes senior management will move a team to a more junior manager to pass on the unpleasant task of the layoff. Thanks, boss.

* Numerous meetings are scheduled with management and HR reps at the same time on the same day. If you’ve developed a great relationship with your HR partner (as I recommend you do), you’ll find out about this before anyone else. Otherwise, you may hear rumors about it from your colleagues. Some companies have even conducted mass layoffs over Zoom. That’s a nasty move.

* You may be on the layoff list if you’re scheduled for a surprise meeting with your manager and HR, and they won’t tell you what the agenda is. It depends on the size of your organization and its policies. At one company, my manager met with everyone, even if they were staying. When she showed up at my office door (yes, we had offices back then!), I thought I had lost my job. But instead, she told me I was not being let go.

* All management is suddenly pulled into a series of meetings across a 2-day period. Now, this occasionally happens when something massive is going down, like an acquisition or change of top leadership. But, they are probably planning a layoff when your manager finds it difficult to answer you when asked what is going on.

* People are told to attend a mandatory meeting even if they’re supposed to have the day off or be out on vacation. Managers will say that everyone needs to show up and can’t be off work that day. Thus, you've either identified a layoff day or a massive announcement (e.g., a re-org or acquisition is happening).

* Your corporate VPN suddenly stops working, thanks to IT staff that pulled the trigger too soon. I wish I were kidding about this one. But I can remember at least two different occasions when an employee called me to ask why they couldn’t VPN into the network anymore.

Layoffs are an inevitable fact of working life, but no one likes an unpleasant surprise. It’s good to recognize the signs, be prepared, and brace yourself for the moment you pop into a meeting and see the smiling faces of HR and your manager.

Ok, let’s move on to the scenarios I listed earlier. What will help you get through this next year of uncertainty?

1. Ride out the storm 

Now is not the time to be making a move. I’m guessing the Great Resignation is behind us now. I don’t know anyone who is quitting their job without having something lined up first. In this market, it’s not a good idea to quit suddenly and hope you’ll find a great job later.

So, if you already have a decent job in a decent company, sit tight. Focus on your performance, delivering value, and meeting or exceeding expectations. As much as it pains me to say this, don’t rock the boat.

Hey, you know I’m a big believer in pushing hard to get what you want and deserve from your employer. And that’s great when the market is hot, and you know you’re in demand. Unfortunately, it’s risky when companies are cutting budgets, reducing headcount, and freezing hiring.

Even if you have a stable job and think you could never lose your job, it doesn’t hurt to strengthen your position in the company. The things you can do to ensure your job security are also great for preparing for a promotion.

2. Boost your job security 

I’ve been an employee, manager, leader, and business owner during my career. I’ve been involved in all aspects of the layoff process.

* I was at IBM as a young employee when it conducted its first layoffs in the company's history (I kept my job).

* I was at Apple as a junior designer during multiple rounds of layoffs and learned why they spared me when more experienced employees were let go.

* I worked at a startup that was acquired (😁 Yay!), but then the parent company eliminated all of our jobs (😢 Boo).

* Unfortunately, I had to conduct my own layoffs when I was leading teams at Yahoo. That sucked.

So, who tends to stay off the list? How did I determine who would remain? Managers like to keep people who fit into one or more of these ten categories.

* Employees performing in the top 20%.

* Employees in critical roles working on strategic projects.

* People with the knowledge, skills, and experience for the company’s future.

* Employees who keep essential products and services running.

* Those few employees whom the boss can’t live without.

* Employees who bring in more revenue.

* Those who consistently save the company money.

* People who reliably add value to the organization.

* Those employees with a highly positive benefit-cost ratio.

* People who aren’t a pain in the ass to manage.

So, how do you put your name into one or more of these categories? This is how…

1. Be damn good at what you do

I’ve never witnessed managers put people on their layoff lists if they were high performers in the top 20% of the organization. Those employees were simply too valuable to lose.

How do you become a high performer?

* Always deliver results with high quality and on time.

* Get things done with minimal oversight.

* Understand the big picture.

* Go above and beyond.

* Ask to take on more responsibility.

* Be a great team player when required.

* Help everyone get better at their jobs.

* Engage in continuous learning and improvement.

2. Work on strategic projects

It can be fun to work on exciting and quirky projects. We all want some time for our pet projects too.

However, it is risky to be assigned to nonessential projects when your manager is creating a layoff list. During a time of economic crisis, entire projects, product lines, and businesses are often eliminated too.

If your project gets killed, your job may disappear along with it. Do everything you can to get assigned to a strategic project that is important to the company.

It is smart to work on strategic projects anyway. Successfully delivering results on a crucial project is also an excellent way to set yourself up for a promotion later.

3. Position yourself for the future

Layoffs occurred a few times while I was at Apple. During one particularly stressful layoff, the managers went door to door to talk with every employee in their offices.

Yes, believe it or not, we had private offices! Crazy, right? That was the last time I had an office during my 20+ year career.

The managers asked us various questions about our past work experience and skills. Little did I know that my familiarity with Unix (thank you, IBM) would save my job that day. It positioned me for working on the new Mac OS X, after Apple’s strategic acquisition of NeXT.

Pay attention to your company’s big plans and business strategy. Make sure that your skillset is well aligned with where the company is going so that your manager sees you as a valuable asset.

I know that sounds cold and calculating. An asset? But, these layoff decisions aren’t warm and fuzzy.

4. Keep the lights on

The company can’t afford to lose the crucial employees who keep their essential products and services up and running. If you want to stick around and can’t get assigned to one of the big strategic projects, then make sure you are working on the essential “bread and butter” projects, services, etc.

I remember one layoff discussion with the leaders of the various organizations in the company. Someone mentioned an employee’s name as a potential candidate for the layoff list.

His manager laughed and said, “He’s the only one who understands the code for XYZ. He wrote the whole thing, it’s not documented well, and no one else could keep it running. If we get rid of him, we’re screwed.”

5. Be indispensable

There are other ways to become indispensable to an organization too. Make your manager’s life easier. Be that employee that he or she can’t live without.

I remember one employee who always went above and beyond to take work off of his manager’s plate. He intentionally guided the manager to delegate things to him over the years. He made his boss’s life easier.

When that manager had to layoff 20% of the organization, do you think he selected that employee who was taking on so much of his workload? No way.

He knew that all of that work would get dumped back onto him if he lost that employee.

6. Bring in more revenue

Companies are famous for never putting anyone from the Sales organization on a layoff list. I remember a CEO answering a question about that very issue.

Someone asked, “Why didn’t the Sales org have to give up 20% of their team as we did?”

The CEO stared at her and said, “Because they bring in revenue. We lose them; we lose revenue. That’s not something we can afford right now.”

Demonstrate how you are directly responsible for bringing money into the company. If you are not directly accountable, then you have some homework to do.

Find ways to tie your work and achievements to activities that generate revenue for the business. The product managers I used to work with were very good at this. They would create models and calculate how their enhancements to the product drove improvements in key metrics and how those metrics drove increased revenue.

7. Save more money

If you are consistently finding ways to save the company money, your salary pays for itself many times over. Firing you would mean that the company loses more money than it would save by recovering your position’s compensation.

Again, you may have to get creative with your research and homework to show how your actions result in saving money for the business. Or, you may start looking for ways to cut costs (e.g., more efficient processes, cheaper software licenses, more affordable vendors, etc.).

8. Add more value to the organization

I remember some employees who were retained because they contributed to the company in qualitative ways. They weren’t directly increasing revenue or reducing costs, but everyone knew that the organization would suffer without them.

* You help keep everyone’s morale up.

* You’re the one who onboards new employees.

* You provide training that is crucial for the team.

* You do research that everyone else needs to perform their jobs.

* You are always finding ways to improve processes and make things more efficient.

* You keep everyone aware of the latest industry trends and developments.

Basically, people are glad that you are around, and they can’t imagine the office without you. Losing you would feel like a massive hit to the team’s morale. Your boss couldn’t afford to eliminate your position.

9. Maintain a highly positive benefit-cost ratio

A benefit-cost ratio is used in a cost-benefit analysis to measure the overall relationship between the relative costs and benefits of proposed investments, projects, and initiatives.

Yes, you are an investment for the company (e.g., a $200K/year fully-loaded cost for the average software engineer). They invest money and benefits into you as an employee with the hope that you yield even more value for the company.

Are you consistently delivering much more value than the cost of keeping you? Note, that cost goes beyond your total financial compensation.

We all know that some employees are more “challenging” to work with than others. However, we often put up with their behavior when they are one of the top performers in the company.

10. Don’t be a pain in the ass

Some employees are such a pain to manage that their managers dream about them leaving the company. Those people’s jobs are often hanging by a thread. The employee provides just enough value to make them worth keeping on the team.

However, when managers are required to create a layoff list, guess which names they immediately write down? Yes, the PITA employees.

This may not apply to you, but I know that someone somewhere is a challenging employee to worth with and manage. They frequently complain, make demands, and are generally high maintenance.

You don’t have to be a “Pollyanna,” but you should have a generally positive attitude. Collaborate well with your colleagues, contribute positively to meetings, provide constructive feedback, and be that person that people enjoy working with.

Surprisingly, a big corporation may not be the safe haven most people think they are. Many companies have over-hired over the past couple of years. The tight labor market may have contributed to it, as they were desperate to fill seats.

However, these companies are now shedding talent. This chart shows that layoffs have skyrocketed since May of this year. 146,102 employees across 964 companies have lost their jobs in 2022.

* Peloton has had four rounds of layoffs this year.

* Microsoft just announced layoffs across multiple divisions.

* Snap had a 20% reduction in its workforce.

* Flipboard cut 21% of its staff.

* Meta froze hiring and is planning additional cost-cutting measures.

* Tesla laid off 200 autopilot employees.

* TikTok has started laying off US workers.

* Coinbase cut over 1,000 jobs.

* Netflix has had multiple rounds of layoffs.

* Twitter cut 30% of its talent acquisition team.

Startups have long been considered a risky place to work. But a well-funded profitable startup may be the best place to be for the next couple of years. If you do get hit with a layoff, it might be time to start shopping on AngelList for your next job.

3. Find your next job

If you’ve recently been laid off, try to avoid some of the most common mistakes people make:

* Not taking time to deal with the job loss emotionally.

* Immediately jumping into a job search that day or week.

* Asking connections for help without a clear idea of what you want next for your career.

* Setting up an interview before you have your confidence back.

* Saying negative things about your past employer and manager.

* Hiding the layoff from your friends and loved ones.

* Going into isolation and avoiding your support network.

The day of a layoff is traumatizing. It doesn’t matter if you expected it, wanted it, or feel relieved. It is still an upsetting event, and you need time to let things sink in.

You may feel a sense of urgency to begin your job search, but your head isn’t in the right place. Don’t pressure yourself to be productive yet.

The day after the layoff, treat yourself well. Take some “me time” and enjoy things that you usually don’t have time to do.

Don’t feel guilty about taking a day off. You don’t need to start looking for a new job immediately. That would be a mistake, anyway. You’re not ready to bring your A-game to the process.

Then, take a day to reflect on what you want most for your career and life. You’ve probably been so focused on work and everyday routines that you haven’t taken any time for serious career planning.

What are your big goals? Where do you want to be in 5, 10, or 20 years? What does the ideal end state look like for you? Based on that, what’s the next step for you in your career?

Spend the rest of this day:

* Updating your resume the right way.

* Updating your LinkedIn profile.

* Creating a draft template for a cover letter that sells you.

* Refreshing your personal website.

* Adding work to your online portfolio if you need one (e.g., you’re a designer).

Join an alumni group to stay in touch with your past colleagues. Your professional network of previous coworkers and bosses is one of your most valuable resources for any future job search.

Every single one of my jobs during my Silicon Valley tech career was due to my network, warm introductions to hiring managers, and having an inside champion.

Get straight on what you want for your next job and how to position yourself to pursue it.

* Do you want to stay within the same domain and industry?

* Do you still want to keep doing the same work you performed for your previous employer?

* Are you seeking a lateral move, or are you ready to push for the next level?

* This “job hop” may end up being a great way to get promoted.

Start capturing ideas for where you’d like to work, who you’d like to work for and with, and the kind of role you want next in your career. You may need to work on acquiring additional skills and knowledge to land the job that you want most.

Some other housekeeping tasks to consider:

* You may want to file for unemployment. Many states are making it easier to do so right now.

* Look into your options for health insurance (e.g., COBRA in the U.S.).

* Review your finances to determine changes you might need to make to your budget while you are searching for your next job.

Do not let a layoff define you. When a massive economic event like this happens, layoffs are an unfortunate consequence. You did nothing wrong, and there is no stigma attached to losing a job right now.

Own your story. Be confident. Go into your job search with feelings of hope, pride, and ambition.

Write your elevator pitch and the story of how you want to describe and sell yourself. Update your social media bios to align with your professional positioning.

Be prepared for that inevitable question, “So, tell me about yourself.”

If you are struggling to find a new role that meets your expectations, then I encourage you to cast a wider net. For example, some people write off the opportunity to work for a startup because they never have before. Don’t reject something if you haven’t at least had a conversation with the hiring manager first.

Be open to remote roles. I know some people prefer to work in an office and be around coworkers. But you’ll find more opportunities if you’re working for a company in another city, state, or even a different country. As I mentioned, I have some friends and clients who took jobs with international companies, and it’s worked out quite well for them.

If you have a big enough financial cushion, you have some time to shop around. Hopefully, you have enough emergency funds to cover six months (best case, a year). If not, you may need to take more drastic measures to get income flowing in quickly.

4. Execute your backup plan

Hey, if you've been looking for a job for a long time, your strategy might not be working. Are you ready to try something new? Are you willing to do something more radical? 

Do you need help with finding great jobs, practicing your job interview skills, and selling yourself? That’s where a career coach like me can help. You can schedule a free coaching call and talk with me about what your needs are right now.

Getting income flowing back in is your top priority. So, it might be time to take a job that you normally wouldn’t consider. It doesn’t have to be something you’d want to put on your LinkedIn profile later.

One quick tip: Add a new current position to your LinkedIn profile as a placeholder for your “consulting business.” This will prevent a gap in your employment and cover the time you may have to work at a job you’d rather not list there (e.g., working at the local hardware store).

I often recommend that people have an ongoing consulting business position on their LinkedIn, anyway. You’re always vulnerable if you only have one source of income from a single employer. A side hustle consulting business helps, especially in situations like this.

5. Take care of your people and yourself 

Unless you're one of the heartless corporate drone managers, laying people off is going to impact your mental and emotional health. It's painful to let people go, especially this close to the holidays, and when you know the market is cold. 

Screw what your company policy says. Find a way to take care of your team — the people who are staying and the people you let go. Help them connect with recruiters and hiring managers. Just don’t use your corporate email or laptop to do so. Work behind the scenes to help people.

Layoffs are hard on the employees who stay, too. It’s sad to lose coworkers and friends. It creates so much anxiety when you fear that your job might be next.

Talk with your team, address their concerns, and answer their questions. Don’t make false promises, though. You can never guarantee that someone’s job is 100% secure.

Take care of yourself, too. It's been over a decade since I had to lay people off when I was a corporate leader. I still think about it. I still picture those days and can see the expressions on their faces when I shared the bad news. 

It will bother me forever. 

The company won't pay for your therapy years later when you're no longer its employee. But you still have to live with you. So, do what you need to make peace with what you have to do. 

Obviously, be careful! Don't blatantly violate your company policies or employment agreement — unless you're ready to leave and work somewhere better. Or maybe you now know it’s time to leave this chaos and start your own business. Speaking of…

6. Evaluate your business resilience 

This last scenario only applies to you business owners out there. How is your business performing during this economic dip? Is your business good even when the economy is "bad"? 

This is a good time to evaluate your resilience. What can you do to make your business more robust under conditions like this? Are there ways to tweak your model or offer new services or goods that will thrive now?

Starting and operating a successful business is never easy. But it sure is a lot easier in a good economy vs. a bad one! Times like this are when you find out how solid your business plan is.

It’s an opportunity to learn about the power of diversification. I just wrote about this for my solopreneur newsletter. If you’re interested, check it out:

We will get through this

You’ll get through this. It won’t be fun, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Markets always go through up and down cycles. We faced it in the Dot Com Crash of 2000. We ran into it during the Great Recession between 2007-2009.

You’re not alone. Many of us are worried, and some people are already struggling. Don’t isolate yourself. Talk with your friends and advisors.

Check in with your network and see how other people are doing, too. Keeping your network fresh and active is always a good idea. But it’s even more important now.

Times like these are one of the reasons I created my Invincible Career community. When you join, you will connect with an experienced career coach and ambitious peers who want more out of work and life! Get the advice, feedback, and support you need to get ahead in your career!

By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:

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I've been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out. https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Do this today

Take a moment and assess the balance of how much you are giving to your job vs. how much it is giving back to you in return. Is it equitable? Are you receiving more than you are giving? Or is your job taking more than it is investing back in you?

I can’t stand it when bad things happen to good people.

I’m sure you’ve experienced some pretty bad things in your professional life. You might be going through this right now in your job. If so, read on to learn more about how you can address that.

Conversely, it really bugs me when good things happen for bad people. Yet, if you work in the corporate world long enough, you will witness both things happening. A lot.

Sometimes, you will be in a position where you can do something about that. You can reward the good people and punish the bad. You can help talented, generous, and hardworking people get ahead in their careers.

You can also try to help others change their ways before it is too late. Because, one day, it will indeed be too late. People don't forget those who mistreat others to claw their way to the top.

Eventually, karma comes calling.

A long time ago, I had a conversation with a colleague. Our corporate culture and the negative politics frustrated me. After years of trying to change things and make it work, I was feeling burned out from frequent re-orgs, leadership changes, and strategy shifts. I mentioned I was starting to look for new opportunities, but I was worried that joining another company might end up being more of the same.

I felt like I deserved better. But how could I ensure I would find better?

He looked surprised and said, "Why look for another job? You should start your own thing. If you build your own company, you get to define the culture from the start."

It was an excellent point. You can either find something better or create something better.

Long story short, I did. I left the corporate world over 12 years ago, created my own businesses, and never went back. I consulted for a while, founded a tech startup, but eventually found my way to coaching. The practice of coaching captures the essence of what I loved the most about leading teams.

* Listening, advising, guiding, giving feedback, and being a sounding board for decisions.

* Being the person someone can turn to when nothing else is working.

* Helping people solve problems.

* Helping people “find better.”

Yes, we do a lot of that as managers and leaders. Or we should be! But there is always some tension between the needs of the individual and the needs of the team. You're always walking that tightrope and balancing your empathy and compassion with what you need to do for the good of the company.

However, as a coach, I have incredible clarity, focus, and purpose. I am in your corner. I don't work for a company. I work for you. I am 100% focused on helping you succeed, thrive, be happy, and find fulfillment.

I finally get to help good people when bad things happen (with no conflict of interest). I get to help set things right. I believe in people, coach them, and encourage them until they regain their confidence and believe in themselves again.

As a coach, I help people navigate the three phases of leaving a bad situation and demanding something better for their professional lives.

* Recognizing when you deserve better.

* Understanding why it is so essential to find something better.

* Working through how you actually find something better.

How to recognize when you deserve better

No one expects a job to be 100% sunshine, unicorns, and puppies. But, I think we all recognize when a job isn’t fulfilling us, our boss is always treating us poorly, or we finish work every day feeling down. We know we deserve better.

Maybe all you have is a nagging feeling that something isn’t right at work. Or, you assume every job must be like this. You think the grass may not be greener anywhere else, either. It is what it is. So, you put up with it and keep showing up.

However, I’m here to tell you that you deserve better if one or more of the following 13 issues continue to be true for your job day after day and week after week:

* Your boss makes you feel like “less.”

* You feel less confident than you did before you took this job.

* You’re no longer growing or being challenged.

* Your value isn’t recognized or appreciated.

* Your input is always dismissed or ignored.

* Your manager criticizes or humiliates you in front of other employees.

* You’re underpaid, and your manager keeps promising to make things right but never does.

* Your manager doesn’t respect your work-life balance boundaries.

* The energy you put into the system isn’t returned (note: a great system returns even more value for your contribution).

* Your coworkers are dragging you down.

* You feel drained at the end of every workday.

* You feel hopeless, and you’re dreading the next day at work.

* You feel like your career is at a dead end.

Of course, no job is perfect. There will be good days and bad days. You will experience some normal ups and downs during your career. But, if most of your days are bad and you spend most of your time feeling down, you must make a change.

When you work in a negative environment around negative people, it can have a lasting impact on you and your career.

Why you need to find better

The longer you stay in a negative situation, the more damage it does to you. You start to internalize what you are hearing and experiencing.

* You stop believing in yourself.

* You lose confidence in your abilities.

* Your ambition fades.

* You stop striving (i.e., “quiet quitting”).

* You won’t reach your full potential.

* You won’t get promoted.

* You’ll earn less in your lifetime.

* The longer you stay, the harder it gets harder to land a better job.

* Ultimately, you’ll achieve less in your lifetime.

Also, terrible managers can do a lot of damage to your future career. Yet, if they get results, companies tolerate their behavior. The ends justify the means. And the problem is, the working world is still full of so many bad managers.

* They cause burnout with unreasonable expectations and demands.

* They destroy your confidence, which takes months or years to recover.

* They can tarnish your reputation.

* They can blackball you during reference checks.

Life is too short to tolerate this kind of toxic environment. Spending every day around a toxic boss and/or coworkers is no way to live.

You’re a good human being who deserves to be treated better. We all do.

So, what are you going to do about it? How will you ensure you don’t end up in another unpleasant situation working for another bad boss?

How to find something better

We’ve all experienced bad personal relationships. And I think we’ve all learned to take some time before the next relationship to understand what went wrong, learn more about who we are, and be more careful about who we get involved with next time. Right?

Well, the same thing can be said about work relationships. You don’t want to leap into your next job until you understand what went wrong in your previous job. You don’t want to end up in yet another terrible working relationship with someone.

So, slow down, reflect on things, do your homework, make a plan, and find a healthy professional environment for your next move. You want to end up with a good boss and a great job that will help you recover your career potential and optimize your future success.

1. What went wrong?

First, take time to understand what went wrong and why. Was the situation objectively bad, or was it just wrong for you?

* What wasn’t working for you?

* When did you first notice that something was wrong?

* Was something off with your role, responsibilities, expectations, etc.?

* What did you learn from the relationship with your boss?

* What did you learn about the company culture?

* What did you learn about your relationship with your coworkers?

* How can you spot the red flags ahead of time when you explore your next opportunities?

2. Define better

Next, define what “better” means for you. If you don’t figure out what you want and what’s right for you, you may end up in the wrong company, working in the wrong role, or working for the wrong type of person again. Your definition of better could include:

* A better job that plays to your strengths.

* A better company with a healthier corporate culture.

* A better and more supportive boss.

* A better manager who mentors you and helps you grow.

* Better projects that help you advance your skills.

* Better coworkers who partner and collaborate with you.

* Better support for accommodations you require.

3. Do your homework

Someone recently asked me how they could ask enough questions during a job interview to really understand what the manager is like, get the truth about the company culture, and know what they were getting into.

My answer was, “You can’t.”

Those few minutes you get to ask questions during a job interview will never be enough time to learn everything you need to know. You must do your research ahead of time. Dig, dig, dig. Leverage your network to learn more about the company and the management team.

If things go well and you receive an offer, do even more research before you commit. Talk to current employees. Talk to past employees, too. Find people who will tell you the truth about the company and your potential new boss.

Don’t be dazzled by the superficial flash and external veneer. A big name and big money aren’t worth it if you end up being damaged for months or years by a bad work experience.

4. Find your support system

Your network is one of your most valuable professional assets. They can help you find new opportunities that are a good fit for you, your personality, your skills, and your talent. They will also do the right thing and connect you with healthy companies and good managers.

All of my corporate jobs were because of my network and thanks to my “inside champions.” I knew what I was getting into before I even started interviewing.

So, find or create the support system that will help you succeed. Connect with people who want to help you find “better.”

* Create your inner circle of peers who support you but also challenge you. They’ll remind you when you’re settling for less and should seek better.

* Join a community that will lift you up and encourage you to pursue what’s best for you.

* Find a coach who will believe in you until you believe in yourself. Someone who will be just as upset as you are when someone isn’t treating you well. Someone who will say, “Ok, that’s enough of that. You deserve better! Now, let’s help you find it.”

As a coach, that's my purpose. That's why I created my coaching business. It’s why I do what I do.

I'm here for the good people who deserve better. I'm here for the talented people who should be getting ahead. I'm here for the people who are tired of suffering at work under poor leaders.

5. Never settle for less again

You should never settle for less. Life is short, and your prime career years are even shorter. When you settle, you deny yourself what you could have achieved and who you could have become.

I know the working world can sometimes be a frustrating, cold, dark place. But no one should feel hopeless, and no one should feel alone. I'm doing my best to bring a little more humanity, light, and warmth into the professional world. I hope the articles I share help with that!

There are good companies out there. There are good bosses out there, too. The challenge is finding them.

Work is a significant part of your life. You can find a job (or build a business) that is meaningful and fulfilling.

You deserve that! Never settle for less.

Thank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you’re interested in checking out the latest chapter from my book, I published it here.

By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Try this tip today

Spend more time responding to people and commenting on their social media posts vs. posting your own content. Pay attention to how this affects your engagement metrics (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc.).

Do you wish that more people would follow you, enjoy your social media posts, and send you interesting professional opportunities?

Well, last Friday, I hosted a live event with my Invincible Career community, and we discussed that desire. It’s one of many topics we’ve been brainstorming and voting on recently.

For example, here are some of the upcoming ones:

Marketing yourself and showcasing your work.

Strategies for getting promoted.

Handling conflict at work.

Building and maintaining a powerful network.

How to boost or rebuild your confidence.

Dealing with impostor syndrome.

How to avoid or recover from burnout.

How to manage a challenging boss.

Maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health.

Setting and achieving professional goals.

What it takes to succeed at work.

How to deal with challenging coworkers.

Getting better at saying No.

Best ways to find a great new job.

Remote work strategies, tips, and tricks.

Becoming better at public speaking.

Job interview strategies, tips, and tricks.

By the way, if you’re a premium subscriber to this newsletter, you can access my private community and my live events. You can also participate in our Monday office hours every week.

Notice the topic that bubbled to the top: Marketing yourself and showcasing your work.

Obviously, today’s newsletter can’t cover all the details we discussed for over an hour in that Zoom session. But, I want to share a few key points and highlights from the section about marketing yourself so that you can become a magnet for opportunities.

It’s a rich topic that I’ll be offering in a longer 2-hour workshop on “Building the Business of Your Invincible Career” to help you:

Achieve greater success, get ahead, and make more money.

Experience less frustration at work and in future job searches.

Be happier and more fulfilled in your long-term career and life.

If you said, “Yes,” sign up to be notified when I schedule the workshop. Thanks!

Overview

I won’t be able to cover everything that will be part of the 2-hour workshop, but here is a rough outline of what we discussed last week.

Goals 

Audience 

Brand 

Value prop

Pitch 

Bio

Your intro 

Online presence 

Channels 

Your message 

Schedule 

Tools 

Success

Let me touch on these and some questions you should ask yourself as you prepare your strategy to get noticed by the right people.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

“You know, I could fire you.”

I stood up, put my hands on the conference table, and leaned closer to my seated boss. 

"Oh, really? You're gonna fire me after all I've done for this company? The sacrifices I've made?"

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm not going to fire you. I'm just upset that you're quitting."

I guess my resignation came as a surprise, but I'd done nothing wrong. I had used a couple of vacation days to take time off from work and used that time to interview for a new job.

The interviews had gone well, and I had two job offers to consider. I hadn't decided which one to accept yet. But, a re-org pushed me to accelerate my timing, so I gave my two-weeks notice early. 

However, my experience highlights that you do have to be careful when you look for a new job while you're still employed.

Here are my five Do’s and Don’ts to help you be strategic and safe with your job hunt.

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Do this

* Define your ideal job

* Identify your ideal employer

* Activate your network

* Be intelligently visible

* Be selective

Let’s dive into each of these items in a little more detail. By the way, I’ll expand on these points a lot more in the audio version of this newsletter article. If you’d like to hear that, scroll up to listen! 🎧

1. Define your ideal job

You don’t have a lot of free time on your hands when you’re already employed in a full-time job. So, you can’t afford to waste your time — or anyone else’s time — with a vague conversation about what you’re looking for with your next opportunity.

Before you dive into a job search, start talking with people in your network, and applying for open positions, spend some time capturing what you want most for your next career move.

Create a clear answer to the question:

“What kind of job are you looking for?”

2. Identify your ideal employer

Expand on your previous answer by doing research into your ideal next employer. I want to help you minimize the time you spend in the next phases of the job search (e.g., talking with your network, contacting potential employers, applying for jobs, interviewing). The shorter those phases are, the sooner you can receive job offers and reduce your exposure.

* Do you want to stay in the same industry (e.g., finance, e-commerce, gaming)?

* Do you want to work for a similar type of employer (e.g., quitting eBay to work for Amazon)?

* Do you want to work for a startup, a small company, a larger corporation, etc.?

* Does the employer need to be based where you live?

* Would you be willing to relocate?

* Are you open to a remote role?

Create a clear definition of your ideal employer — almost like building a “persona” that describes the ideal company for you. Start building a list of potential employers that come close to what you are seeking.

3. Activate your network

Ok, now that you know what your next ideal role should be and the type of employer you are seeking, you’re ready to engage with your network. When you tell people you’re looking for your next job, they’re going to ask what you want.

However, you have to be careful with giving your trust. I’m not saying your friends and connections might betray you. It’s more like some people have a hard time keeping a secret!

My last job search — which ended in great competing offers from both Yahoo and Google — was accelerated because I reached out to a select few people in my network. I intentionally talked with those who were in positions of influence (e.g., they could directly hire me or share my info with the right hiring managers) or great connectors (e.g., they knew about opportunities, were connected to hiring managers, and could ping their networks for me).

I knew I could trust them to be professional, check around, and not reveal my job search status to the wrong people. I didn’t want that information to get back to my manager too soon.

4. Be intelligently visible

With my “Invincible Career” strategy, you should always be visible online and in your industry. People should know who you are, what you do, what you’re capable of achieving, and how amazing you are.

Write articles, publish and post on LinkedIn, be a guest on podcasts, post smart insights on social media, etc. When you do this regularly, it doesn’t seem out of place.

However, if you are rarely professionally active online, someone will notice the sudden increase in the velocity of your engagement. “Gee, why is Bob suddenly posting on LinkedIn multiple times a day? Is he looking for a new job?”

5. Be selective

I am not a fan of blasting your resume to hundreds of companies. I also don’t believe in applying for hundreds of open positions, hoping that one will just love your resume.

If you use the “spray and pray” approach for your job hunt, way too many people will know that you’re unhappy with your job and looking for your next move. Most industries are surprisingly small, and you’d be amazed by how quickly news travels. Someone at your company will find out. Are you ready for that?

Instead, focus your efforts on a few ideal employers. Leverage your network to get warm introductions. Do this well, and your interview process will be smooth, fast, and efficient. Again, the longer you’re in job search and interview mode, the more likely your employer will find out.

Don’t do this

Some of this advice should be obvious, but the mistakes people make when job hunting has surprised me.

* Don’t use company resources

* Don’t broadcast

* Don’t be “open to work”

* Don’t be interviewing when you should be working

* Don’t count your chickens

Ok, let’s dive into each one of these mistakes.

1. Don’t use company resources

This advice should be obvious, but people break this rule all the time. Never look for your next job or interview using your corporate laptop, phone, or network. Use your own devices on your own internet on your own time.

Speaking of company property, don’t share your employer’s intellectual property during a job interview. You probably signed a confidentiality agreement as part of your employment agreement. That means you can’t share any information that isn’t publicly available, unless your employer gives you explicit approval to do so (which you won’t ask for anyway, if you’re keeping your job search under wraps).

I know this makes it harder to share your portfolio of work or talk about your latest projects during an interview presentation. But it’s not worth the risk. You should find ways to discuss your most recent work without violating your employment agreement.

2. Don’t broadcast

Now, I’m fine with the modern practice of sharing that you’ve been part of a large layoff. That’s not your fault, and I don’t think it looks bad to admit it. One of the quickest ways to get a job lately has been to announce on social media that you were laid off.

However, broadcasting that you’re seeking a new job while you’re still employed is not a good idea. The more you do it, the more likely your manager will find out and there could be unpleasant repercussions.

Also, desperation never looks good. I’ve witnessed people begging for a job online, which makes you wonder why they aren’t in demand? How weak is someone’s network if they have to broadcast to strangers that they are desperately hunting for their next role?

3. Don’t be “open to work”

Linkedin has an “Open to Work” feature that lets recruiters know you’re looking for a new job. Your profile will show up with priority in searches, and your profile photo has a green circle around it.

I think you can guess that this is a bad idea if you’re currently employed. You don’t want your boss or coworkers to see that you’re “Open to Work.”

You can choose to restrict the setting, so only recruiters see your status, instead of all LinkedIn members. That way, your profile doesn’t get that snazzy green circle. But this can work against you. Again, I think it looks a bit desperate.

As Robert Hellmann explained in his article about the feature:

* The “open to work” indicator turns off some employers and recruiters because they prefer passive candidates.

* You may receive more attention than you want from recruiters and employers that aren’t a fit for what you want, which wastes your time.

4. Don’t interview when you should be working

When I used to work in a corporate office, I would often hear people being interviewed for a job in our “phone booths” and conference rooms. The walls were thin, and some people were loud. Not smart.

The smart folks took a break and walked outside during their job search conversations. We still suspected what was going on, but at least no one could hear the conversation to confirm those suspicions.

Now, the boundaries between work and life are incredibly blurred since so many of us are working from home. But, you probably know when you should be working for your employer and when you are on your own time. Schedule work breaks for your job search activities and make sure you’re still giving your employer the time you should be.

When you’re scheduled for a full day of job interviews, don’t use a “sick day” to take time off from work. It sure won’t look good if you’re supposed to be sick at home, but someone runs into you in the grocery store after your job interview.

If you have a flexible work schedule, you can arrange your meetings and work time around a job interview. If not, you can use personal days or vacation days to take the day off and interview.

It’s ok to say, “I’m taking a day off for personal business.” You don’t need to come up with some wild and crazy fabricated excuse (e.g., “I’m attending a funeral for my cousin’s iguana.”). If some presses for details, just say, “It’s personal.”). That’s why it’s called “personal business.”

5. Don’t count your chickens

Finally, don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched. Way too many employers are rescinding offers now. The economic downturn has made the whole job hunt process more unpredictable than ever before.

Don’t pull the trigger on your resignation until you know for sure you have that new job locked in. That moment used to be when you had signed the written offer and returned it to the recruiter, manager, or HR rep. That’s no longer the case.

When an employer makes a job offer of at-will employment, they can rescind that offer for any reason at any time — including the period after you accept the offer but before you begin work — without legal consequence.

So, I suggest that you don’t resign and give your notice until you have a start date. But, I also recommend waiting until it is exactly two weeks before that date. There are no guarantees, but this should hopefully reduce the chance of your offer being rescinded after you’ve quit your job.

Always be looking

You should always be looking for your next opportunity and be ready if something amazing comes along. But you want to be strategic about your approach to the hunt, so you don’t risk your job when you’re currently employed.

In a perfect world, your boss would understand that you’re looking out for yourself when you keep your eye on the job market to see what the next step is for your career (i.e., stay where you are and advance your career internally or look outside for something better). Heck, a great boss would help you assess job opportunities and review offers to make sure you’re making a wise decision.

But, we don’t live in a perfect world, and sometimes we don’t work for the best bosses. So, take care of yourself! Be smart about your job search, stay in contact with the right people in your network, and explore opportunities in a way that won’t jeopardize your future.

Thank you for reading Invincible Career®. This post is public so feel free to share it.

By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a Personal Coach who can help you optimize your career, life, and business. If you’re interested in starting a business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Strike 1!

“Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure.”

— Brian Acton

Strike 2!

“Got denied by Twitter HQ. That's ok. Would have been a long commute.”

— Brian Acton

Most people would experience back-to-back job interview rejections like that and feel pretty discouraged. Who knows? Maybe Brian felt pretty down on those days.

However, those rejections were an incredible gift. Brian left his engineering job at Yahoo earlier in 2009 and interviewed with Twitter and Facebook, but both companies rejected him. So, he decided to partner with Jan Koum to start WhatsApp.

Five years later, Facebook agreed to acquire WhatsApp for $16B. Yes, $16 billion with a B. The deal left Brian worth over $3B. Not bad for someone who failed his job interview at Facebook five years earlier, huh?

So, Brian had missed the opportunity to join Facebook as an engineer and make a few million dollars. Heck, the stock may have made him worth tens of millions later. Ok, let’s be even more generous. Hundreds of millions.

However, the gift of their rejection was worth so much more. Billions more. I’m guessing that Brian looks back on that job interview and thanks his lucky stars that it didn’t work out.

There are so many more stories like this about the silver lining of rejection. For example:

* Whitney Wolfe Herd was a co-founder of Tinder, but faced sexual harassment in the company and filed a lawsuit. She left Tinder in 2014, founded Bumble, and took the company public in 2021. She’s currently worth $740M.

* Ten years ago, Simu Liu got laid off as an accountant by the consulting firm Deloitte. However, it was one of the best things that happened to him because it forced him to invest in his acting career. Now, you probably know him as the star of the Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. 

As painful as rejection and failure might feel in the moment, sometimes that becomes a positive turning point. Being forced out of a comfortable situation and knocked off a predictable path may very well challenge you to pursue something even better for your life and career.

Bad stuff happens

“If at first you don’t succeed, you're in luck. Effortless excellence is a lousy teacher and a fickle friend.” — Adam Grant

Some really bad stuff is happening right now. 

* Companies are freezing hiring.

* Job offers are being rescinded.

* Thousands of people are being laid off and fired. 

* Crypto is imploding. 

* Investment portfolios are losing value.

You may be experiencing some of this. Or, you’ve had some of these bad experiences in the past. We all also know that we will experience some sort of failure or rejection in the future. It’s an inevitable side effect of being human.

I've taken a few hard knocks myself over the years. At the time, they felt like the end of the world. 

* I knew that a leadership and organizational change had essentially ended my internal career at one company. 

* I was once laid off shortly after a startup acquisition. 

* A massive change in strategy and leadership at another company meant that my future there was pretty much over. 

Hey, sh*t happens. In the corporate world, it happens often. You have to get used to it and roll with the punches. 

When your professional future is disrupted, don't wallow in despair and feel sad about what you lost. Instead, see it as an opportunity to challenge your assumptions about who you are and what you want for your life. 

When you feel you have nothing to lose, you can take a risk and fail forward. Reach for something bigger and more audacious. 

Hell, if it helps, use your anger to fuel your comeback and prove people wrong. Nothing will upset your "haters" more than your success and happiness. 

A weak Yes is the kiss of death

“Most humans, in varying degrees, are already dead. In one way or another they have lost their dreams, their ambitions, their desire for a better life. They have surrendered their fight for self-esteem and they have compromised their great potential. They have settled for a life of mediocrity, days of despair and nights of tears.”

— Og Mandino

I would rather hear a firm Yes or No than a Maybe. I hate maybes.

* Maybe next time

* Maybe next year

* Maybe if you ask me again later 

* Maybe if things change 

A weak Yes isn’t much better. It feels like a consolation prize.

* “You weren’t our first choice. But the other candidate turned our offer down, so now we’d like to make you an offer!”

* “You’re meeting expectations. Keep up the great work!”

* “No one else is available, so we’re putting you on the project.”

Working in a job where you’re not appreciated or challenged is a weak Yes. You can continue in that cruise control mode for years. Some people spend their entire career in a company like that. I guess that’s ok if a job is just a job for someone. But, if you’re ambitious and want more for your career, you have to move up or on.

However, change is hard and the unknown can be a bit scary. It’s not easy to willingly quit a solid job and give up a steady paycheck. Sometimes people need a push out of the warm nest. That “push” may come in the form of a layoff, for example. But, if and when it happens, it’s time to seize the moment to do something greater with your career and life.

How to turn rejection into an opportunity

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford

Every failure is a learning opportunity. Every rejection is your chance to challenge yourself to reach for something even greater. Don’t let it push you into a position of fear and doubt. Don’t be tempted to play safer and smaller.

Perhaps I have a strange reaction to failure and rejection, but I think it has served me well. When it happens, I get a feeling of, “What have I got to lose? If I’m going to fail, I’d rather fail while trying to do something even bigger and more audacious.”

Here are a few steps I recommend when you experience rejection. This process can help you transform failure into a launchpad for your next success.

1. Recover

Take some time to grieve the loss, recover, and process what happened. We aren’t machines. Rejection hurts. Failure isn’t fun.

However, you can also work on your mindset and how you view failure. The only people who never experience the pain of rejection and failure are those who never try. They play it safe, but they don’t achieve great things in their lives.

Chasing what you want requires risk. If you want to accomplish amazing things, you have to take a swing — multiple swings — and accept that failure is part of the process. Use it to get better and learn how to improve your strategy and execution.

2. Learn

What can you learn from what happened? Every failure and setback is an opportunity to reevaluate your strategy. Was your approach sound or not? Do you need to make some changes?

Sometimes your strategy was solid, but your execution was flawed. If so, understand what went wrong and what needs to change next time.

We all fail, but not everyone learns from their failures. Make sure you do so you can improve your odds of success later.

3. Retarget

What’s your new target? After a failure or rejection, you may need to identify a new goal. What you wanted may never work out. Or, you may have another shot later, but you still need a win now.

Of course, this depends on what you were trying to accomplish and the nature of your failure or rejection. Your original goal may still be valid, but you need to adjust your plan to reach it.

4. Plan

Take what you learned in step 2 and use it to tune your strategy. It might be time to try a different approach. Update your plan to execute that strategy and move forward.

Sometimes, we fail because we failed to plan in the first place. If that was the case, now is the time to create a plan to reach your goal vs. shooting from the hip again. If it’s important to you, it’s worth taking the time to prepare well.

5. Prepare

Failure taught you a lesson, so now you can better prepare for the next opportunity. When we see talented people succeed, they sometimes make it all seem so effortless. We think, “It must be nice!”

However, almost every successful person you see worked harder, failed more often, and kept pushing forward more than you’ll ever know. Remember, you’re seeing people’s public lives, not their private struggles.

Strong preparation increases your odds of success. But it also serves a secondary purpose. When you know you gave something your all, you will feel proud of yourself no matter what the outcome is vs. feeling bad and blaming yourself for not trying hard enough.

6. Rebuild

Believe me, I know how much rejection and failure can do a number on your confidence. After one of my worst failures, I doubted myself for months and it killed any chance I had of securing a new win.

It took me a long time to get my mojo back and recover my full confidence. But I finally did, and it made all the difference in the world.

So, do whatever it takes to rebuild and boost your confidence. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. Invest in your health and wellness. Take a vacation, clear your head, and come back stronger.

So much of what we achieve in life is due to having the confidence to pursue it.

7. Conquer

It will happen eventually. You will conquer that next challenge.

Grit and determination matter more than people think. Persistence pays off.

Here is what I think you’ll discover: There’s a silver lining to failure and rejection. Losing something or not getting what you thought you wanted can often be a blessing in disguise. Something better is waiting for you!

Turn failure into fuel

“Success is your ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

Every time I failed in life, something better came along. Every time someone rejected me, I ended up in a better place.

Ok, here’s a question. Did I actually end up in a better place after rejection and failure or do I only perceive that things turned out for the better?

The answer is that it doesn’t matter. Perception is reality. What I think and how I feel is all that matters. And, I feel damn good about how my career and life have turned out.

Maybe all I did was turn lemons into lemonade. But I know that I’m happier, healthier, and more fulfilled than I was before. So, I’ll drink that lemonade every day and smile.

I can tell you I’ve witnessed the same with many of my clients. They sometimes end up in an unpleasant situation at work, things go south, and they feel like it’s the end of the world. Maybe they’re still going to work every day, but they’re miserable. Or maybe they eventually get caught up in a layoff, get fired, or quit and walk away.

But we find a way out of that terrible situation and transform the darkness into light. They fail forward and end up in a much better place. One client recently experienced that and landed an amazing job that almost doubled his compensation. I’d say that’s a pretty nice outcome after feeling burned by a temporary rejection!

So, the next time you’re facing failure or stinging from rejection, I want you to take a moment and remember these stories. Not only is there a light at the end of the tunnel, but your future may also be even brighter because of that failure and rejection!

Sometimes we need to be forced out of our comfort zone and reminded of what we really want most for our lives. It can ignite your bravery and passion to pursue what you’ve always dreamed of doing.

Use failure to fuel your drive forward into something greater!

By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

For a while now, I've felt pulled in different directions as I wrote the Invincible Career newsletter. The primary focus has been on professional development to help you get ahead in your career, get promoted, explore leadership, find a new job, manage workplace issues, etc.

However, I also know how important personal development is and how much it affects your working life, not just your personal life. Life and work get better when you become more confident, communicate well, improve relationships, build on your strengths, manage your weaknesses, and improve yourself.

You've probably also noticed that I'm a big fan of entrepreneurship and building your own business at some point in your life. I do think it enables the ultimate freedom and flexibility to live every day on your own terms.

However, I've seen that this creates some tension in my readers. Some of you have asked me to focus more on helping employees be more successful in their careers. They don't want to read about entrepreneurship (or personal development stuff). On the flip side, other people have asked me to write even more about entrepreneurship and how to grow and scale a business.

Therefore, I've decided to separate my writing topics (and passions) into 3 separate newsletters:

* ​Invincible Career will continue to focus on professional development and be more of what you want as someone navigating a career in the world of corporate employment.

* ​Invincible Life is new and focused on personal development and helping you live your best life. It will also be where I share the remaining draft chapters of my book this year, Building the Invincible You.

* ​Invincible Solopreneurs is also new and focused on entrepreneurship. It's a companion to the Invincible Solopreneur courses and community I've been building this year. So, if you dream of escaping the 9-5 world to build your own business someday, check it out.

Each newsletter will have a public edition (and podcast episode) that is released once a month. So, don't worry about getting 3x the email if you decide to subscribe to all of them!

I will still publish the premium version of the Invincible Career newsletter every Monday with the themed challenges and exercises. No change there.

So, this will be the last book chapter I share with the Invincible Career newsletter. If you're interested in reading more draft chapters this year, subscribe to the Invincible Life newsletter.

Thanks!

By the way, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money on a premium subscription:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

A few days ago, I tweeted a quote from Seth Rogen using something he said on the podcast “Dead Eyes.” It’s produced and hosted by Connor Ratliff and explores the time Tom Hanks fired him from the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers. It’s pretty good. You should check it out.

I heard Seth talking about auditions and it made me think of the frustration people feel after dozens of failed job interviews. Here’s my tweet. Note the part where he said, “or knew the person who wrote it.”

I’m a fan of Seth’s work as a director, producer, and actor. I’ve enjoyed many of his movies, and his laugh always makes me laugh whenever I hear it. So, I was surprised and delighted when he actually took the time to respond.

Now, I didn’t actually say that he used “networking” to land his roles, but I guess it was implied. It became quite the polarizing discussion on Twitter! Some people supported me and my comment about networking in their follow-up tweets.

* “I’d call that luck… 🤷🏽‍♂️💯 And networking… You forged relationships with dear friends who happen to all be famous af. That’s not reality for anyone. That’s pretty blessed and lucky imo.”

* “That's networking Seth, you created the network”

* “Hey Seth that’s networking”

* “I’m pretty sure you just described networking.”

* “F*%$ man, who am I to say but I think that might be networking”

* “AKA “Networking”. Your awesome Dude, love all your work.”

* “Social networking. No crime in it. Everyone succeeds.”

* “So, networking…”

* “I feel like that’s definitely networking, lol.”

* “Soooooo… Networking 😂 🤣”

* “Yep, that’s what he said….Networking 😂”

* “Just btw Seth, creating relationships with other people in your industry is literally called networking 😂” (to which Seth replied, “I don’t think so.”)

Other people were more than happy to tell me how stupid I am. You have to grow a thick skin if you want engagement on Twitter. 🤣

* “Yeah, LARRY”

* “Seth said, ‘dont career-speak me into your shiz dude. you dont know me.’ King.”

* "‘networking’ just feels so shallow. I get it, but I like your way better, Seth.”

* “you tell em 👏”

* “tear that a$$ up boo”

* and a few more that I don’t think I should share… 🤣

Note: if you want to increase your engagement on Twitter, tweet a polarizing point of view. Bonus points if you can get a celebrity to respond.

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There’s nothing wrong with smart networking

Networking isn't a dirty word. If you think it is, you're doing it the wrong way. People obviously have very different definitions of networking. They're envisioning very different things. 

Unfortunately, many people have a negative view of networking. They picture the typical cocktail parties and industry events. They also have nasty things to say about people who network. 

“When most people think of networking, they automatically have a vision in their head of cocktail parties and conventions. My approach to networking is based on a transformation process and not a transactional game.”— Porter Gale, author of Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age (my affiliate link)

Other people accept networking as part of their professional life. They know that it’s a useful way to meet new people in your industry, build new relationships, and find people you may enjoy working with later.

While I never had much luck with traditional networking events (e.g., industry mixers), I have met some wonderful people through more strategic networking activities. I have more success when I give a talk at an event, meet people for 1-on-1 conversations (e.g., Zoom coffee chats), or get introduced by a mutual friend.

Better approaches than shallow networking events include:

* Creating your own network (what Seth has done). 

* Building relationships and inviting people into your network. 

* Tapping into your network for advice. 

* Leveraging your network for finding opportunities. 

* Feeding opportunities back into your network. 

* Forging new connections between people in your network (i.e., you know them, but they don't know each other). 

Our networks increasingly overlap

I think we've all experienced a shift in our personal and professional lives over the past few years. Our attempt to maintain work-life separation and work-life balance has evolved into a work-life blend. 

Perhaps I notice this more as a solopreneur, but my social circle and professional circle are overlapping more lately. I know that some of this is because of the pandemic and how much my social life and working life involve a lot of online chats and Zoom meetings.

Sure, we do still have purely social friendships and purely professional relationships. But there is an overlapping area with a hybrid network that lives in both worlds.

* We refer friends for jobs.

* We introduce professional friends and acquaintances who we think would benefit from meeting each other.

* We connect people who can help each other.

* We sometimes form working partnerships with old friends and talented people from previous jobs.

Networking doesn’t just happen at those massive industry events or professional cocktail parties. That’s a very limiting view of the activity.

Networking occurs whenever a friend tells you they’re hiring for a new role in their company and you say, “Hey, I know someone who might be a good fit.” It occurs whenever you’re talking with a friend who is struggling with an issue and you say, “You should meet my friend. She has a service that addresses that problem.”

Seth gets value out of his network

I also think what Seth was trying to say is that his personal network was a side effect of great working relationships and friendships with talented people. He wasn't intentionally trying to "network" first (i.e., the verb), and perhaps he does hate the act of “networking.”

Where I went wrong with my tweet — which resulted in such a negative visceral reaction from many — is my use of the word “networking” instead of talking about social and professional “networks.” I doubt that so many people would have disagreed with my tweet had I worded it this way:

“Sooo… a successful actor like Seth Rogen hardly ever landed a role from auditioning, yet people expect to land a great job without tapping into their network.”

I would hope Seth wouldn’t deny that the power of his network did indeed help him during the earlier years of his career. Later, in the same podcast episode, Adam McKay (director of “Anchorman”) shared a story about Judd Apatow:

"Judd had done Freaks and Geeks with Seth and came to me and was like, ‘Hey, do you mind if we give this guy a line? Uh, he's really funny. I think he's really talented.’ And that was it. We put him in, and... He had like, the tiniest moment, but he did that really funny countdown, with the pinky move. So even in that tiny little moment, he made it work. But yeah, that was it. It was Judd. Judd was like, ‘Please cast this guy.’ And it was like, ‘Okay!’ And he was great.”

Investopedia has this definition of networking:

”Networking is the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest, usually in an informal social setting. Networking often begins with a single point of common ground. Professionals use networking to expand their circles of acquaintances, find out about job opportunities in their fields, and increase their awareness of news and trends in their fields or the greater world.”

Well, Judd telling Adam that Seth was really funny and talented and that they should cast him was definitely an exchange of useful information.

Call me crazy, but it’s an example of powerful networking. Seth wasn’t the producer or director of “Anchorman.” He didn’t create that role for himself. Judd was connected to both Seth and Adam (you might say they were networked together 😉) and he’s the one that made it happen.

Networking the right way

I found this response amusing. Apparently, Emily doesn’t want to work with you if you use the word “networking.”

What would you prefer to call those events when you socialize with other professionals? I don't know about you, but I can find better uses for my time than attending some professional event and trying to think of it as pure fun or socializing. It is indeed a hybrid event.

I guess I have more enjoyable ways to have real fun. You know, like hanging out with friends and family. I don't refer to my time socializing with friends and family as "networking." But, if I am forced to attend some professional event (e.g., a conference after-party), yes, that's "networking." 

Perhaps it isn't the smarmy, shallow, schmoozing networking that this person is used to experiencing. But, for me, it is the lighter, more enjoyable, and more authentic professional networking that I can find somewhat enjoyable. 

It's still not my first choice for connecting with people. I'd prefer a more intimate dinner with a few people from an event. But, I can make it more tolerable with the tips I've provided before in this article. 

I'm also going to call BS on the suggestion that going to professional social events should be all about fun and friendships. Are you trying to tell me that every person you have a positive working relationship with is also a dear friend that you invite to your inner circle of friends, Thanksgiving dinners, and your most intimate gatherings? I don’t buy it. 

Mature adults realize and accept that we have different levels of intimacy, relationships, and friendships. We can respect and admire people without being "friends." We can be friendly with people in a professional relationship without assuming that we're best buddies. 

Of course, real personal friendships can and do occur with work colleagues. No one denies that. Some working relationships transform into personal friendships. But not all work relationships are equivalent to friendships. 

The process of building and maintaining professional relationships is different from nurturing personal friendships. They are not the same. It's foolish to get on your high horse and proclaim that they should be the same.

Whether people like it or not, a powerful network will help you get ahead in your career. Very few people are born into families that immediately give them access to a network that will help them succeed in life (e.g., Kennedy, Windsor, House of Saud, Rockefeller, Ambani, Rothschild).

Most of us will need to build and nurture our own networks and, yes, the actions we take to do so will fall under the umbrella of networking.

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Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Most people never reach this step of making an actual plan.

They dream, and they might even brainstorm strategies, but they don’t take the next step. They never create a concrete plan to achieve their most important personal goals.

If you remember the study I mentioned in chapter 7, creating a plan for how you will accomplish your goal improves your probability of success. Your odds rise to 50%.

That may not seem inspiring. But, 50/50 odds are much better than no chance of success at all. Plus, as you continue to work through the remaining chapters in this book, your odds of success will continue to improve.

So, how do you feel about planning? Which one of these quotes resonates best with how you think about it?

* “Remember, if you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.” — Reverend H. K. Williams

* “Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” — Thomas Edison

* “Just because you made a good plan, doesn’t mean that’s what’s gonna happen.” — Taylor Swift

* “The reason that everybody likes planning is that nobody has to do anything.” — Jerry Brown

As you may have guessed, I’m a planner. For as long as I can remember, I’ve created plans for what I want to achieve. I know that everything I want won’t simply fall into my lap.

However, I know many people who are not like me. They’ve told me that, until this point, their life has just “happened.” Of course, they’ve moved forward in life. But they didn’t plan very far ahead, or they followed along with someone else’s plan.

At some point, this approach fails. Life won’t always give you what you want or need. Also, someone else’s plan may not have your best interests in mind. One day, you may find yourself dissatisfied or unhappy, but you won’t know what to do about it because it all just “happened.”

I’ve worked with many clients who end up in this situation. So, we create plans together. They execute the plans and they see results. For the first time, they are choosing their path in life and they’re amazed by how much better that is than just being tossed around by the winds of fate.

Life is better when you’re in control of your destiny.

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Plan for uncertainty

I’m going to propose a different approach than traditional planning. What I like to do with my clients is a mix of planning techniques that are inspired by:

* Research on “reverse planning.”

* A flexible strategy of milestone hops. 

* Decades of my life spent in business planning meetings.

Reverse planning

If you are clear about your big goal and set your intention, you can start planning backward with the steps that make it achievable. Researchers studied this “reverse planning strategy” and found that, for more complex goals and tasks, it is more effective and enjoyable than traditional chronological planning.

“True retrospection is used to review events that have already happened, but using one’s imagination to think of future events as if they were in the past facilitates visualization of both the end goal and the steps required to get there. This ‘future retrospection’ tends to increase the anticipation of pleasure from achieving the goal and helps bring about goal-directed behaviors.”

Planning forward can feel overwhelming when your goal is ambitious. It is too hard to imagine all the tasks you must accomplish between now and then. I found this to be true in my own life.

Planning backward helped me see it all as achievable. I started with the assumption that I had accomplished my goal (e.g., I’m living in my home in the mountains).

Then I defined the logical step that must have taken place right before that. I asked and answered a series of questions to determine each move.

* Why am I able to live there?

* How could someone there make a living?

* How could someone like me do that for a living?

* What did I have to do to make that possible?

* How did I prepare for that?

And so on… continuing to plan backward until I reached what I thought would be my next logical step right now. You can use the same process. Start with your long-term goal and start planning backward year by year — at a high level, of course — to get a sense of what you may need to do to get there.

Milestone hops

We don’t know what we don’t know. We can’t predict the future, either. But, you defined your most audacious goals in chapter 7, which should have given you a vision of an outcome you desire for your life.

Reverse planning can help you envision a series of high-level steps to make that vision come true, but it probably left you with a few burning questions:

What do you I do now?

What is my next step?

I know it can feel like a paradox of choice. There are almost infinite possibilities, moves, and tactics you could choose to employ right now at this current point in time. There are so many paths you could take to navigate that competitive landscape to reach any number of goals.

You already defined a strategy for navigating that landscape and overcoming barriers and obstacles. It sure would be nice if your path was a straight and narrow one, as illustrated below. Choose a goal, choose a starting point, plan your path, and just get going. Right?

In a simpler world — and life — goals wouldn’t change and we would never have to deviate from our planned path to get there. But life is chaotic and we know nothing is ever as simple and easy as we think it will be. Without a plan, you may end up being lost in the twists and turns of reality.

However, there is a more effective strategy and flexible approach:

* Start somewhere (it doesn’t have to be perfect).

* Choose a path.

* Identify your first milestone.

* Make the “hop” to get there (e.g., complete projects and tasks).

* Gather data, assess, and reevaluate.

* Course-correct and adapt your strategy if necessary.

* Identify your next milestone and continue.

* Your vision will be on the far horizon.

* Your goals are what you need to achieve that vision.

* Your strategic plans help you accomplish those goals.

* The tasks are what you need to do to execute those plans.

Business planning

No plan survives first contact with reality. Yes, you need a plan. But accept that you will always need to re-plan.

“Peace-time plans are of no particular value, but peace-time planning is indispensable.”— Dwight Eisenhower

In the corporate world, we had rough one-year plans, more realistic six-month plans, detailed quarterly roadmap plans, and very specific project plans. More often than not, our longer-term fuzzier plans either changed radically, or we abandoned them entirely. 

The world and the competitive landscape are not under your control — they change frequently, and chaos often alters them. A plan is an attempt to predict the future, but you can’t predict the future. 

Perhaps one way to visualize this reality is to picture life as a large, rushing river full of twists and turns, obstacles, and rapids. Your long-term goal is your destination somewhere along the course of this river. But, rather than a precise destination (e.g., I want to bring my boat ashore at that exact rock at those precise geo-coordinates), your goal should describe a desirable outcome that could be possible at multiple destinations. 

The farther away your goal is, the fuzzier your view of it will be and the more vague your long-term plans will be. They exist at the far end of a broad cone of possibilities. Your strategy is how you plan to navigate the course of the chaotic river to get there. As you get closer, you will narrow in on the place you want to come ashore. 

But the waters you are traversing with your boat right now require a crisp and detailed plan. You need to know precisely how you will paddle around the rock in the river in front of you. You need to aim your boat to navigate the rapids that are just ahead. 

So, it’s ok to have fuzzier, placeholder plans for the far future. Don’t even bother with creating detailed plans for that timeline because everything might change — and probably will. 

However, you do need precise plans for what you are doing today, tomorrow, next week, and in the months ahead. Some plans will have activities you must set in motion now. They will be captured in the projects you define.

Define projects

A project is composed of the tasks you need to complete over time to achieve a goal. You'll notice that each project is a mini version of how you're thinking about what it will take to achieve your most important long-term life goals. 

Deconstruct your strategic statement and ask questions for each component. For example, if your strategy is to be "uniquely valuable," what can you do to be unique? 

The details will be crisp and well-defined for your near-term projects. You may even be able to plan the daily tasks you’ll need to make progress and accomplish them.

However, things get a bit fuzzier as you consider the projects you need to execute your strategy a year from now. Your plans will become more general as you forecast even further into the future, two to five years from now (e.g., “Write my second book”). And, things will become fuzzier still as you consider the projects that will support your long-term vision you don’t expect to reach for 10-20+ years.

A project definition will include:

* Overall goal

* What do you want to accomplish? 

* Success measures

* What does success look like?

* How will you know when you've successfully completed the project?

* Requirements

* What are the expectations?

* It's helpful to think in terms of must-have requirements and nice-to-have requirements.

* For example, resist the urge to build the Taj Mahal when a cozy cabin will meet your needs (i.e., the requirements). 

* Resources

* What will you need to complete the project successfully?

* This could include other people, certain skills, materials, money, etc. 

* Dependencies

* Does this project depend on any external factors (e.g., something or someone must be available before you can begin)?

* Does it depend on a previous project to be completed first (e.g., the output from an earlier project is an input into this project)?

* Scope

* How long do you estimate this project will take?

* Is it time bound (i.e., the project must be finished by a specific date)?

* Or, is it based on a milestone (e.g., the first version can be completed and launched, then improved later)?

* As you may have already experienced, almost every project may take twice as long and costs three times as much as you think it will. 

* Dates

* When do you want this project to begin?

* How long will it last, based on the scope of the previous step?

* When do you expect you will finish the project?

Let's use an example. If you wanted to build and launch a simple website to promote yourself, here is one way you might define that project. 

Overall goal

* Launch a website that will attract potential hiring managers and recruiters.

Success measures 

* You get five friends to review the site and provide positive feedback that it’s ready to launch.

* The website is functional and available.

* Google Search can crawl and index the site.

Requirements 

* You're satisfied with how the website looks in the most commonly used desktop web browsers on MacOS and Windows. 

* You're satisfied with how the website looks in the most commonly used mobile web browsers on iOS and Android. 

* The site loads quickly enough to not be annoying, all pages on the site load as expected, and the website doesn't generate any errors. 

* People can navigate and browse your site, learn about you and what you do, access links to your other online profiles, and successfully send you a message to contact you. 

Resources 

* You'll design and customize the site yourself using WordPress. 

* You'll use free images from Unsplash. 

* You need a domain. 

* You need a hosting provider. 

* You'll need some money to pay for initially registering the domain and the monthly website hosting fee. 

Dependencies 

* You'll need a hosting provider that can host a WordPress site. 

* You'll need to think about the name you want for your website. 

* You'll need a unique name that is available for your domain. 

Scope 

* You can only work on the website for about 6 hours every weekend. 

* You estimate you can complete the total project in 4 weeks. 

Dates 

* You can begin working on the project next weekend. 

* Given the scope, you estimate a completion date on Saturday during the last weekend of next month. 

* You'll announce and share the website on your socials on the following Monday morning. 

Given the amount of detail and work that goes into defining a project like this, you should only create detailed projects that must be completed to achieve your near-term goals for the next few months. Don’t even bother with detailed plans or project definitions beyond a year. Life is too unpredictable. I think we’ve all realized how much our lives can be completely disrupted beyond anything we might have imagined.

That’s why, decades ago, my plans and projects for my distant future were quite vague. I knew what my long-term vision was for my life. I had some long-term goals. But, the big projects to support them were high level:

* Start my own business.

* Move somewhere into the mountains.

* Write a book.

You can pencil in high-level project ideas for your longer-term goals, of course. But, don't overload yourself and become overwhelmed with defining and committing to too many projects at once. 

What high-level projects are you planning this year to accomplish your biggest goals for the year?

*

*

*

*

*

What is the more detailed list of projects that you will focus on for the next few weeks and months?

*

*

*

*

*

As a next step, use the project definition framework that I described above for each of the projects you want to work on soon. As you begin and learn more, you can flesh out more details and make adjustments to your project plan as necessary. However, let’s take a moment and make sure the projects are aligned with your strategy.

Ensure strategic alignment

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds when you start defining projects and working on them. So, now is the time to ensure alignment with your strategy. You want to make sure you’re using your time and energy wisely.

You can ask a few questions to double-check that you’re working on the right things:

* How will the successful outcome of these projects support my strategy?

* Will these projects “move the needle” to get me closer to my goals?

* Are the investments of time, energy, and money worth the result they should yield?

* Do the projects complement each other or not?

* Am I sequencing these projects correctly?

That last question is where your roadmap comes into play.

Create your roadmap

A roadmap is an overview of your projects mapped into a calendar view. One of your roadmaps could be a “vision roadmap” that reflects your long-term life vision and goals. There will be no specific project details, but it does provide a sense of sequencing and timing over years. For example:

In the example above, note the high-level goals, tasks, and aspirational outcomes. I included a task of “Plan move” instead of something too specific, such as:

* Move to the Rocky Mountains.

* Move to Aspen, Colorado.

* Move to a four-bedroom, two-bath blue house 5.7 miles west of the Aspen County Airport in Aspen, Colorado.

The items on the long-term roadmap do not include specific details. If you’ve created your long-term vision and goals correctly, you won’t need to change them frequently as things change in your life and the world around you. At this level, a detailed plan or roadmap that is too specific won't survive the chaos of reality. So, don't bother.

However, you should also create a more specific one-year roadmap that lays out the projects you want to focus on to accomplish your most important goals for this year. Now, this will include more detailed projects than a vision roadmap. But, it is still not a detailed breakdown of any single project.

What are the timing, timeline, and effort required for each project? What can you work on in parallel (given your available time and resources)? Which projects must you complete before other projects can begin?

Finally, create a detailed roadmap view for each project you want to work on now. Identify the tasks and activities you will focus on each week for the duration of the project. What tasks can you complete in parallel? What tasks must you sequence?

Note: The companion website for this book has resources, which include downloadable spreadsheets and templates to help you build your own roadmaps.

Establish milestones

Your milestones will be the smaller goals you want to reach on the journey to your larger long-term goals. They mark the completion of major project tasks and the ends of various phases. You’ll find that milestones will probably map to the subgoals you identified in chapter 7.

For example, you might have a long-term goal to have one of your books on The New York Times Best Seller list. But, it is exceedingly rare for an author to have their very first book achieve such recognition. So, you would probably want to set milestones for publishing your first few books along the way.

You captured your most audacious goals in chapter 7. Now, it’s time to identify some key milestones for those goals that will help you assess your progress. Review your subgoals, since they will inform your milestones.

A good way to think about this exercise is to visualize a journey. If you were currently in Los Angeles and your long-term goal was to reach New York City, what cities would be milestones on your route to get there? Your travel strategy determined your mode of transportation and informed the route you will take. Knowing this, you now can plan the cities you must pass through to get where you are going.

Similarly, your milestones are what you must achieve to get where you are going and reach your long-term goal. You can check them off as you make progress. This will give you more confidence and assurance that you’re on track.

What are some key milestones for your highest-priority long-term goal?

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

What are some key milestones for the biggest goals you want to achieve over the next two to five years?

*

What are some key milestones for the goals you want to achieve this year?

*

If you’re struggling to identify milestones, it might help to bounce some ideas off a good friend. Or, you can talk with me and the members of my community. Many of us have spent years of our careers in project planning meetings and exercises.

Leverage checkpoints

Checkpoints help you measure progress. Milestones are also certainly major checkpoints, but you will need additional smaller checkpoints to identify tasks you must complete on the path to a milestone. The more frequent checkpoints you define will be quite useful to assess progress, but they aren’t the same as your key milestones.

In the book example above, publishing a book is a key milestone, but you would require dozens of checkpoints to stay on track and publish that book. Writing and editing a book is a long and complex process.

A few simple examples of checkpoints:

* A weekly review of total pages written.

* Finish the first draft of your book.

* Proofread and edit the book.

* Have an editor review the book.

* Get feedback from beta readers.

* Come up with the right title.

* Format the book for publication.

* Hire someone to design the cover.

* Get your book website ready.

* Create a book launch plan.

You can create a list of checkpoints and work through them yourself. You can even establish a schedule and process to review your checkpoints by yourself.

However, as I’ve mentioned before, accountability partners improve your odds of success. You could schedule regular checkpoints to review progress with an accountability buddy, coach, or community.

What are some checkpoints you will need to assess progress toward the key milestones you identified for this year?

*

You will definitely have way more checkpoints for all the tasks you’ll need to accomplish your goals for the year. But, this should give a small taste of what it’s like to define them.

Create backup plans

I’m not sure why some people proudly proclaim that they don’t have a backup plan. They say that the idea of having backup plans in life is silly. You have to go all-in on what you do. Win big or fail spectacularly!

The problem is that you are never entirely in control of the variables that influence outcomes. Even if you are entirely in control of that big long-term goal you’ve defined, you don’t control the world around you. It’s safer to assume that something will go wrong because life is unpredictable.

It’s only smart to have a backup plan, just in case things do go sideways. It’s actually not a bad idea to have a series of backup plans; Plans A-D.

Plan A 

Plan A is your current plan, which is what you’ve been defining above (e.g., the roadmap, milestones, and checkpoints). This is how you plan to execute your primary strategy to achieve your goals. Of course, it should be where you are focusing most of your time and energy.

Given your best planning and thought, this path is the one that you think will yield the outcome that you want. However, your plan could go sideways if an unanticipated wrench gets thrown into the works.

Plan B 

Plan B should be your strategy for a course correction if Plan A goes wrong at some point. What do I mean by things going wrong? Some examples:

* A re-org removes the potential promotion path you were counting on.

* The country goes into a significant recession.

* A pandemic changes the world around you.

Sometimes your Plan B works out even better than your Plan A would have if you had tried to stay the course.

What is your Plan B?

➡️

Plan C 

Plan C is a complete change of strategy. What you were trying to do to reach your goal will no longer work at all.

I activated my Plan C when I left the Silicon Valley tech world and launched my career coaching business. What I do is somewhat related to my old career, but it is very different from my previous roles, and it has required significant planning and experimentation.

What is your Plan C?

➡️

Plan D 

Plan D is your emergency plan when everything goes wrong. It is what you fall back on when something extremely disruptive occurs. For example, the economy collapses, you lose your job, and you’re on the brink of bankruptcy.

It is a rare occurrence, and it’s nice to think that this will never happen to you. However, there are no guarantees in life. Recessions, depressions, and pandemics don’t care about your plans.

When everything fails, and you need to go into survival mode for a while, Plan D will keep you going. For example, I have my eye on a job at my favorite local hardware store (I love tools). Worst-case scenario, I could move in with a family member until I got back on my feet.

What is your Plan D?

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You may think, “What’s the point of making these backup plans now? I’ll just figure things out later if something goes wrong.”

First, it is almost impossible to think clearly and plan well when you are in the middle of an emergency (e.g., you were just fired). Sometimes people end up making a decision too quickly and regret it later. They didn’t take the time to plan and research, so they end up getting into an even worse situation.

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” — John F. Kennedy

Second, successfully planning your next move takes time, especially if it’s a significant change of plan. Some people have the luxury of a large financial cushion and can take several months or even years to figure out their alternative path. Many people do not and cannot.

Third, even when you have a backup plan, getting back on track always takes longer than you think. If you need even more time to figure out your next move, it will create a significant delay.

Commit to your plans

I don’t expect this chapter to teach you everything you need to know about planning, creating projects, and executing your roadmap. My goal here is to persuade you to invest in yourself and commit to making a plan to get what you want out of life.

Building the invincible version of you means you dedicate at least some of your precious time to pursuing your most important personal goals. How will you achieve what you want in your life if you never make time to work on it?

It’s great to have goals. It’s wonderful to have strategies for how you will pursue those goals. But without a plan, most people struggle to make serious progress. They shoot from the hip, and they eventually fail.

A plan gives you a fighting chance!

How to ensure progress

One of the best ways to ensure steady progress is to identify the daily and weekly tasks you need for your project work. For example, writing a book is a massive project. But blocking an hour each morning to write will ensure you conquer that project page by page every day. Establishing habits will ensure project tasks get completed. Let's tackle that topic in the next chapter.

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Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and confidential support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.