Your career is a large part of your life

A true story from my personal life.  Names and other identifying details changed.

Eddie had a highly promising career in his twenties and in his thirties.  The 1990s went wonderfully well for him as did the 2000s.  But his industry was going through massive disruption.  (Newspapers).  He was on the business side of things so he knew first hand.  But he pressed on with willful blinders.  He was very high on the organizational chart.  Why should I worry?  I imagine he thought.

Eddie moved to Connecticut for a high position at one of Connecticut’s major newspapers.  My wife and his wife are friends so I got to know his story very distinctly.   He was laid off in 2010.  It was a surprise to him but perhaps it should not have been.  At this point, the newspaper industry was undergoing radical transition.  He pressed on within the industry instead of trying to shift careers.  After a period of unemployment, he found another job in media but was laid off again within a year.

Here the specifics get a bit murky.  But Eddie – not a horrible guy but quite arrogant by all accounts – pressed on thinking he knew best how to manage his career despite his wife’s encouragement to look for a career change and get career counseling help.  More unemployment, a couple more increasingly bad jobs, and a couple more layoffs.  7 years – 4 layoffs.

During this time, Eddie’s unhappiness grew.  With unhappiness, the trite temptations of booze and women caught him.  One affair.  His wife forgave him. Not an alcoholic but a drinker.  His wife forgave him and helped him cut back a bit.  Oddly enough, it was his final job that was the last straw.  Perhaps out of shame, Eddie did not tell his wife that he was laid off and pretended to go to work (he was working in a different state than Connecticut) until, of course, his income stopped coming.  Tired of his deceit, she filed for divorce.

Now, Eddie is broke, jobless, divorced, depressed, and living with his parents.  Crazy as it sounds, it is likely that none of the above would have occurred had Eddie taken control of his career.

Career happiness equals life happiness.  Unfortunately, the opposite is often equally true.  Get career guidance now.