What Color Is Your Parachute?

How to fly	Superman	Tahiti
How to write music	Mozart	Vienna

Make a complete list of anything that comes to mind—the wilder the better. Then go back and see if any subject popped up that you would seriously like to learn more about.

You have a rich library on the Internet of free videos on almost any subject you can think of. Here is a sampler:

www.brightstorm.com: math and science, free videos

www.freesciencelectures.com: astronomy, biology, chemistry, technology, you name it, free videos

http://openculture.com/freeonlinecourses: 350 from top universities, free

www.learnerstv.com: thousands of free downloadable video lectures

Incidentally, go to YouTube, type in the name of your favorite college or university (like: Stanford), and see if they have a channel on YouTube. Try the same thing with iTunesU (like: UC Berkeley), though some of those courses may cost ya. Try the same thing with Google. Type in the name of your favorite college or university plus the words “free video lectures” and see what turns up.

There are also a tremendous number of online courses, from online universities like Capella, where you can even get a degree, if you wish. Of course, they charge for this. Anyway, those can be found at http://oedb.org.

3. “These months have meaning because I am making this a Time for Repairing.”

“Repairing” can be taken in several ways. The most obvious ones are, of course, fixin’ up stuff that has needed fixin’ for ages, but you just never got around to it. Walls, appliances, cars, furniture, you name it. You probably have a long list in your head, that you filed under Procrastination. Now is a great time to tackle that list.

But “repairing” can also mean relationships. The family or friends who you neglected because you were just too busy. The ones who just need a thoughtful letter, or phone call, a visit, or a hug. Maybe a sitdown, where you let them talk about themselves, rather than it being all about You.

Even Facebook hasn’t abolished the need for old-fashioned ways of getting in touch. As John Naisbitt famously warned us ages ago, “High tech needs to be complemented by high touch.”

4. “These months have meaning because I am making this time a Time for Growing.”

The old model of our lives was that personal growth was essentially a matter for the young. That model has now been turned on its head, by life—as many think tanks, including the American Association for Retired Persons, have increasingly come to emphasize. The AARP, for one, now highlights how important growth is throughout our life, as shown by its increasing emphasis on life/work planning, illustrated dramatically in this fashion:

Traditional View of Life

New View of Life

^{These graphs are courtesy of Emilio Pardo, Executive Vice-President and Chief Brand Officer, AARP. Copyright © 2011, Emilio Pardo.}

Long periods of unemployment occur even as our personal growth is still climbing higher and higher. These difficult times give us more time to grow in courage, to develop stronger character, to increase our empathy for others who are suffering through difficult times, too. It is our chance to join a job support group, to make new friends, and to learn the value of community.

“Personal growth” eventually stumbles across the subject of competition. Competition is a part of life. Competition to get a job often mirrors how much competition we often run into, after we get the job.

But personal growth demands a different attitude toward competition. It stresses that our primary competition shouldn’t be between ourselves and others, but rather between the man or woman I am today, versus the man or woman I used to be. That’s what growth is all about. A period of unemployment can be an excellent time to work on that.

And, finally:

5. “These months have meaning because I am making this a Time for Helping.”

There may be someone right in your building, or someone right on your street, who needs some kind of help. The elderly, the infirm or handicapped, the people whose luck has run out. Open your eyes and look around.

Also think of what kinds of volunteer work you might be doing with your spare time, while you’re waiting for the job-market to turn upward in your field and specialty. There’s no telling how much good you can do with this downtime that life has given you, here.

SUMMARY

As these times in which we live become more challenging, as we realize job-hunting has turned into a survival skill, it is not merely necessary for us to go and learn more advanced job-hunting and job-creation techniques. We must learn, and teach, how important attitudes are, also, if we are to survive. In job-hunting, as in life, when it comes right down to it, attitude is everything.

Discussion

Job-hunter: I’ve always wanted a chance to study famous painters a little more. Do you think that’s a good thing for me to be doing with my time, when I’m out of work for quite a spell?

Career-counselor: Well, why wouldn’t it be?

Job-hunter: I was just thinking that if a prospective employer found out this is how I’m spending my time, they’d think I was a little frivolous, and not serious about my job-hunt.

Career-counselor: Well, this should be a supplement to one serious job-hunt on your part, not a replacement for that job-hunt.

Job-hunter: Oh, a supplement!

Career-counselor: Yes, your time should have two goals: job-hunting and learning, not just one. Never slack up on devoting a lot of time, each week, to your job-hunt or career-change. Learning about art is what you do, after it’s time for you to rest from your job-hunting labors: namely, evenings or weekends.