Photo by billypalooza

It’s not just the contestants on “The Apprentice” who dread hearing those words, “You’re fired.”

Picture this—you’re sitting in your office, slaving away at the stack of work in front of you, and you get the dreaded summons, calling you to the boss’ office where you’re told to close the door. Without warning, you’re out of a job. It doesn’t matter too much whether you were fired, laid off, down-sized, had your job eliminated, had the contract cancelled or been the victim of a company takeover. You have abruptly joined the ranks of the unemployed. With the daily reports of gloom and doom economic news, losing your job suddenly doesn’t sound all that unlikely. Over the next few days, I’m going to offer some strategies to help recession-proof your job. Please feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts, tips, stories, and winning moments.

Keep Your Resume Current

Sure, you think you’re secure in your job, and maybe you are. Still, if you haven’t looked at your resume in over a year, it’s time to get it out, dust it off, and update it. Make sure it includes your latest work accomplishments (remember that big sales project you put together last fall?) and it accurately represents who you really are. Whether or not you’re looking for a new job, you should update your resume every time you get an award, finish a big project, take on new duties, get certified in another area, or get a promotion.

Remove outdated or irrelevant information. As a general rule, take out items that are more than 15 years old, unless they are related to special or extraordinary skills or accomplishments that you want to emphasize

Your resume should never be more than six months old. Update it now, before you need it.

For help and more resume tips, I highly recommend Beth Colley at Chesapeake Resume Writing Service.

Next time, I’ll take a look at staying up to date in your field.

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, here comes the adventures of “Danny Bonaduce: Life Coach”, featuring a chain-smoking, wise-cracking animated version of the former child star dispensing “coaching” wisdom to various celebs and others.

As you can imagine, it’s not for the faint of heart, or the easily offended.

As an added note, if you’d like some real coaching advice from a real coach, drop me a line!

Did you enjoy your New Year’s celebration? We had a quiet, fun time with another couple, talking, laughing and toasting with champagne at midnight.

I passed on the resolutions this year, preferring to start living my life at a much cooler level each and every day.

How about you? What do you want for yourself in 2008? Where do you want to go with your life?

To get you started, I’ve come up with some tips for making this an extraordinary year. Follow these and I guarantee you’l find yourself living a happier, healthier and much cooler life.

1. Get up and move around. Take a 15-minute walk each day. Use the time for peace and reflection. Look around you. Notice the changes in your environment as the days progress.

2. Steal 10 minutes each day all for yourself. Sit quietly and clear your mind. Learn the value of silence and repose.

3. Get more sleep. With the writer’s strike still going on, it’s the perfect time to turn the TV off early and grab some extra sleep. Your body and your mind will thank you.

4. When you wake up in the morning, complete the following sentence before you get out of bed:  “Today, I desire blank .” Then focus your attention on that desire as you go about your day.

5. Each night before you go to sleep, complete the following sentences: “I am thankful for blank” “Today I was successful at blank” “Today I was not successful at blank and I freely and fully let it go.”

6. Eat less processed food. If it comes in a box, try passing it by for something in a more natural state.

7. De-clutter your life. Start with your purse or briefcase, then your car, your desk, your pantry and your home. When you simplify and clear out the old stuff, you make room for the flow of good energy into your life.

8. Discover your public library. They let you take books home and read them for free. Make it a point to occasionally pick up a book in an unfamiliar genre or on an unfamiliar topic. Stretch your mind.

9. Get rid of the negatives in your life. Don’t waste your precious time and energy on gossip, toxic people, negative thoughts or things you have no control over. Keep yourself calm, centered, positive and in the moment.

10. Have a good belly laugh. Learn to laugh at yourself and look for the absurdities in everyday life. Don’t take things so seriously.

11. Act with kindness. Do a favor for a friend (or a stranger). Let someone cut in front of you in traffic. Smile and make eye contact with people you pass on the street. Expect to be treated with kindness and respect and overlook real or imagined slights.

12. Recognize that this life is all you have right now. Make the most of it. Do something you’ve always wanted to do. Take a chance. Remember all those people on the Titanic who didn’t eat dessert you never know what’s coming around the bend, so grab life and start living.

Lake Superior State University recently released its annual banished words list for 2007.

Started in 1976, the official title is the “List of Words Banished from the Queens English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness”.

Some of the banished words for 2007 include “Perfect Storm”, “Webinar”, “Post 9/11”, “Sweet” and “Authored”.

LSSU is already accepting nominations for the 2008 list.

I’ve nominated “Take this off-line”, a phrase that annoys me silly every time I hear it. Why not just say, “Let’s talk after the meeting?” Grrr…

What are your nominations for words or phrases that should be banned from the English language? Drop me a note and let me know!