Most of my friends have taken an interest in my writings. Some have also asked questions about how I am handling my current situation and what issues I am facing. As a result, I have decided to devote this week to answering the four questions I have been asked most often. Those questions are as follows:

1): When you write your pieces, how come you tend to create analogies to TV shows?

2): Can you summarize your views on how job loss affects people, and how it has affected you?

3): How do you keep a positive attitude?

4): What do you do to keep yourself busy while you are in between jobs?

Here are my answers:

1): When you write your pieces, how come you tend to create analogies to TV shows?

Actually, I avoid watching TV during what used to be my normal working hours. I have little interest in daytime programming. I am usually the first one in the household to wake up. I brew coffee, and catch the first 90 minutes of Good Morning America. After that the TV goes off. I have never been a big fan of soap operas. When my wife is home on holiday or vacation, she is a big fan of Maury Povich, Steve Wilkos and the court TV shows. I understand why she is interested in them. As for me, I get too emotionally involved in these shows and they distract me from my job search. I would much rather avoid them. In several cases, the worst part of these shows are the commercials. Too many of them are for attorneys who are injury specialists. I often think to myself, “if my feelings were hurt, instead of a body part, would they have an attorney who would help me with that?” I would think not! The only TV viewing transgression I allow myself is on Friday afternoon. I DVR’d last season’s episodes of 24. I have not started watching them until now (so please do not tell me how last season ended!)

I have lived with television for most of my life. When my parents were married in 1951, they received a 21” black and white TV set as a present. To put this in perspective the minimum wage at that time was $0.75 an hour and the median income was $4,200. per year. Televisions cost between $250 for a 14 inch black and white TV set to $1,000.00 for a brand new “state of the art” console color television. Suffice to say it was a rather expensive gift. As I child, I took an instant liking to the Saturday morning cartoons. As I grew older, I took a greater interest in prime time shows. The one thing I still like about prime time TV is that, in most cases, no matter how large the problem is, no matter how insurmountable the obstacles are, you can count on the fact that they will be solved within the hour that the TV show occupies. In the rare cases when a problem cannot be solved in that time frame, the writers will create a two part episode. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we can solve both recession and unemployment issues within that context?

2): Can you summarize your views on how job loss affects people, and how it has affected you?

Unemployment is a major thief of self-confidence. You may feel that your job loss is a result of a bad decision you made. The first thing you need to do is to stop blaming yourself. I prefer to think of myself as being in between job assignments. I look at my employment history, and I sometimes think of Tarzan, swinging from vine to vine. If the vines represent jobs, I had the ability to find another vine before the one that I was on broke; so I swung happily through the jungle that we call employment. I have been doing that for over 20 years. So why am I between jobs now? Let’s just say I am at half time in my career. Or better yet, let’s take my Tarzan analogy. I have been up there swinging on vines for so long that I forgot what it feels like to fall from a vine. Maybe I wanted to get that sensation again, so that when I get up from my fall, I can heal my bruises, find another vine, and start swinging again. My mother had once told me that in order to really enjoy pleasure, you have to experience pain first. Maybe that is my way of satisfying that legacy.

3): How do you keep a positive attitude?

I will be the first to admit that being in between jobs is harder than I thought it would be. One of my network contacts, already out of work for three months at the time I lost my job, told me that my expectations were far too high. He told me I should gear myself toward celebrating the small victories. “You are going to make yourself crazy if you expect to go on several interviews per week”, he said. If I were you, I’d treat each interview you get as a small victory. Treat it as a larger victory if you feel you did well, but save the big party for when you accept the formal employment offer.”

I am fortunate to have a great support system. My wife is at the center of that system. She is my greatest supporter and she keeps me on track, especially when I have a bad week. In addition, I have a lot of company. When my previous employer shut down their New York facility, around 150 people lost their jobs in a relatively short period of time. We still remain a close knit team and we support each others’ efforts. Many of us keep in touch via e-mail and LinkedIn. In addition, many of us try to get together at least once a month. So, even on those days when my phone is quiet, and I have exhausted my leads for that day, I know I am not alone.

4): What do you do to keep yourself busy while you are in between jobs?

One of the things that keeps me busy is exercise. Like many of my friends and readers of this publication, exercise is the best medicine. In addition, I keep my skills up to date by running the household as if it were a business. In between chasing down leads for a new position, I take many of the skills I have learned in business and apply them to running the house. I have found some interesting ways to take Microsoft Office programs and apply them to domestic situations. The household budget analysis takes the place of the monthly business status reports I used to do for my company. Also, I try to make time to do things I really like to do, such as writing. I would really like to publish a book sometime in the future. So while I am not on the phone with a prospective employer, I keep a journal of all my ideas. Some of them mature into editorials, some become stories, and some gather dust. I share the best ideas with my network.

-Bonus Question: How did you come up with your signature statement?

My signature statement “Good Hunting” is my brand statement that makes my written material unique. For more details, please see my previous writing titled “My Life on Mars Experience”.

With that said, I wish you all “Good Hunting.”

-By Howard K. Young, Contributing Writer & Member of The 405 Club.

View all of Howard’s posts here.