Is The Recession Hurting You?

As we progress into the thickets of the Great Recession, I realize that I’ve come across two types of people—those who are depressed by the current economic situation, and those who are motivated by it.

One person complains about applying for myriad jobs without a single interview, while the other revises his cover letter to make himself more competitive. One person stops searching for a job because, “What’s the point? I don’t have the qualifications for most of these jobs.” The other person realizes a gap in his skill set and decides to learn a new computer program. (Heck, an even more ambitious person starts to learn Spanish because an increasing number of positions either prefer or require that candidates are bilingual!)

One woman looks for jobs solely in the legal field because she’s a trained paralegal and that’s all she’s every done; A different woman expands her search to include administrative work. One young woman without a college degree realizes that the job market is fierce, and is finding it difficult to obtain a temp job. She brainstorms what additional marketable skills she has, and starts buying clothes from thrift stores, redesigning them, and selling them, so that she can drum up any sort of income. Last week, I even had a woman come up to me and ask me if I wanted to support her by buying a chocolate chip cookie for one dollar. “Support you for what?” I inquired. “I’m broke, and I need money!” she replied. She sold several cookies that night.

In the midst of this economic crisis, yes, some people’s dreams are being crushed, while others’ dreams are slowly dying. However, other people are choosing to reinvent themselves and are dreaming anew.

Which person are you? The quitter or the persistent one? The pessimist or the dreamer?

Now’s the time to be enterprising. If not now, then when?