Being laid off and retrenched sucks.
Working at a failing company equally sucks.

I have experienced both in my professional career.

Amid the recent layoff trend, I'm sharing my lessons learned how I went through these tough times.
I hope this may help some of you who are currently going through this challenging moment in your career.

1/ Decouple the failures from our identity.
The most important thing is to understand that these failures do not define us as a person.
They do not make us a permanent failure.
It is just a phase of life that sometimes we can’t control.

2/ Acknowledge our negative emotions
When I was going through this moment, I felt really negative and utterly disappointed.
I felt like a loser, and sometimes with a feeling of no way out.
Acknowledge these emotions before they lead us spiraling down further.

3/ Find support
Share our feelings and emotions within our trusted close circles.
Either family and friends whom we can be vulnerable and authentic about our actual situation.

4/ Take a pause and reflect
Though challenging, this moment provides a proper time to reflect and retrospect.
Learn from past mistakes.

Celebrate past accomplishments.

Note down our likes and dislikes.
They will serve as valuable inputs to decide for our next career.

5/ Bring back our enthusiasm and joy
Learn new things.
Try out new experiences.
Connect with new people.
Embrace new opportunities and possibilities.

6/ Understand it's just business, nothing personal
No employee is bigger than the company.
No matter how hard we worked, how many things we achieved, we are merely numbers on the company's balance sheet.
If we're at the wrong side of the equation, it could happen to any of us, even high-performers.

7/ Diversify going forward
Reduce our future risk by diversifying ourselves.
Build a personal brand.
Help communities.
Get connected with more people.

8/ Save for a rainy day
Always have a rainy day fund in our liquid savings.
Aim to have at least 2-3x of our core monthly expenses.
Build a proper financial plan to avoid financial distress.

9/ Have an abundant mindset
When one chapter ends, find the next opportunities that excite us.
The world is full of possibilities.
Look forward to embracing them with a positive attitude.


Nobody likes to experience failures in life and career.
However, failure is a natural process towards progress.

To be successful, we need to be able to go from failure to failure without losing our enthusiasm (Winston Churchill).

Have a belief that this tough time shall also pass, eventually.