After I was let go from my previous position in May, I decided to keep track of some stuff. Just for kicks.
My First Week
Day 1 (Monday)
I came home and told Sarah. Because of my (former) company’s security policies, my phone and tablet were wiped, so I restored those to the most recent backups. We had family coming over in an hour, so we spent the night chatting, eating, and watching Liam be adorable.
The main objectives of the night: distance and perspective. My cardinal rule was to not tackle any to dos. No reviewing documents, no phone calls to break the news, and (for the love of God) no social media. A handful of concerned friends from work reached out to me when they heard through the grapevine what happened and, though it made distance and perspective more difficult, their words were comforting and cushioned the blow.
Still, for the most part, we all just hung out. Whenever something positive about this new development percolated, we’d share it with the class. Here’s what we came up with:
- Because this happened right after my company was acquired, freshly-exercised stock options make this a great time to lose my job (financially-speaking).
- Being relatively risk-averse, I likely wouldn’t have left that position anytime soon. Even though I haven’t been particularly happy at work for the past year, and have been particularly unhappy for the past month.
- It’s a great time of year to be forced to slow down and spend time together as a family. Given that the length of the average job search these days is 4-5 months, I’ll have May through September to do projects around the house, hang out in the park, go to the beach, and train for August’s Tough Mudder.
- All the movies to watch, games to play (damn you, Steam, and your irresistible sales!), articles to review in my RSS feed, and books to read!
- Getting even further ahead in school. I still probably won’t graduate before May of next year, but damned if I can’t try.
- That delicious feeling of deleting every. single. morning alarm off of my phone.
Day 2 (Tuesday)
How often do you get to wake up to the dictates of your own circadian rhythm? Apparently mine wants me up at 9am. (Don’t worry – I’m sure that will rapidly deteriorate to 1pm.)
Before this morning, my typical routine was to wake up and check my personal and work emails (because, yes, there were always work emails sent between 9pm and 7am) in bed. Well, to be completely honest, my routine was to wake up, hit the snooze alarm 2 or 3 times, then check my email. Then I’d shower and get dressed in a rush (because, you know, snooze buttons) while thinking about the day’s most important/urgent tasks. After not eating breakfast, I’d get in the car and head to the office.
None of that happened today. Instead, I got to wake Liam up and tidy up the apartment, get laundry done, and all of the other viscerally productive things that just make you feel like you have a handle on your life. All before noon!
With that done, I finally sit down at my desk and open my termination packet. The objective: come up with a checklist and (insofar as is possible) a timeline for the next days, weeks, and months.
OK, now time to go through docs and create my checklist(s). I’m looking for (1) anything that requires any action (completing, submitting, following up, tracking, due dates, etc.) and (2) any info that will come in handy later (amounts/sources/timelines of anticipated income, outplacement contact information, etc.).
I process my personal inboxes (physical and digital) and add them to the checklist. After all, there’s no point in separating Personal and Professional to dos anymore, is there? I also review a post that I started writing about 8 months ago to help out people who have recently lost their jobs. It’s basically a big “so I just got fired, what do I do now” checklist. What delicious serendipity!
Now that I have my tasks lined up, I do a quick scan for those that are time-sensitive, such as:
- Release agreements
- COBRA applications
- Expense reimbursement forms
- Unemployment applications
I give those items a due date of today, and quickly bang them out. (Again, today’s mission is not to complete the checklist. Just to have it. Anything above and beyond that is gravy.)
Feeling good. The world is still a manageable place (it’s important to keep that illusion up as long as possible, don’t you think?). That’s enough for now.
Let’s do some birthday gift and Mothers Day-related errands. And, since I’m heading out anyway, I bring along the time-sensitive docs that I’ve just completed and drop them off at the post office.
Day 3 (Wednesday)
Today’s objective: turn my checklist into a rough timeline. All it takes is assigning 3-5 tasks per day, factoring in urgency, importance, convenience, and dependencies. This week is all about laying first things – being with my family, developing perspective, and getting bread-and-butter things out of the way to minimize distractions later. I won’t even be thinking about job search-related activities until next week at the earliest.
While I’m at it, I start to brainstorm other things to work into my schedule. Things like:
- When are those yoga classes at the Y that I never had the time or energy to attend before?
- How many more hours can I now realistically dedicate to school?
- Are there any movies that are worth seeing? (Man – I haven’t been to the movies in a solid 6 months.)
- What would be some cool things to do with Liam? When are special events at the zoo? What about day trips to Boston?
Speaking of Liam, this afternoon the three of us went grocery shopping and played in the park. And then, every one of us able to participate in a rare and beautiful act – taking a nap.
In the evening, I called a couple of family members to let them know what’s going on. I’m still holding to the week-long social media blackout, but the grapevine is surprisingly pervasive, and I’d hate for certain people to find out indirectly.
Day 4 (Thursday)
I’m definitely feeling things slow down a bit – Tuesday’s burst of energy is ebbing. I spend most of the day watching Liam and indulging in a comfy chair and my RSS feed (I was only 150 articles behind!). I don’t feel too guilty about the loss of momentum. I’m sticking to my checklist/timeline, and that’s all I need to do.
Still, a part of me is already worried – is inertia already starting to kick in?
The… highlight of the day is when I go to the office around 5:15 to pick up my stuff. Between the board games, books, Xbox, and miscellany, I pack up a solid 4 bankers’ boxes worth of possessions! (And here I was, under the impression that I’m not a “nester.”)
I run into a few friends/former-colleagues on the way in, and it’s only minorly awkward. These people and I have been through a lot together, and their kind words are appreciated. Even a new hire, who started only a week ago, is enthusiastic about our working relationship. I’ll take the ego-fluffing – I feel like I should bank it for the days ahead. My former boss does his best to act as normal as possible, and I appreciate his effort. Still, I can sense how uncomfortable this is for him, and his hints become increasingly less subtle for me to hurry up and get out. So I oblige and head home to wake Liam and Sarah up from their naps.
As I pull in front of the apartment it hits me: Dammit! I forgot my earbuds on the office desk!
Day 5 (Friday)
Today’s objective is to start chipping away at the financial-type tasks. We already run pretty lean here at the Anderson-Stowell household, so not too much can be cut from the budget. However, I check the following off of the list:
- Cancelling a few frivolous subscriptions and Kickstarter pledges.
- Suspending 529 contributions, IRA contributions, and automatic savings plans.
- In fact, suspending auto-pay on bills in general – I’d like to have control of every dollar going out of the house for the next little while.
- Gathering and printing out deferment applications for our various student loans.
Not a bad first week, all things considered.