Five things to do when redundancy is making you spiral

When you're staring redundancy, layoffs, being out of working in the face, and there is a pile of bills and a LinkedIn profile you haven't updated since 2019: the instinct is to do more, faster and is almost always wrong. Panic is completely natural and understandable reaction, you cant get rid of it. But you can focus on dialling it down. Making it quieter. So you can hear yourself think. And that is your priority right now. The only way you are going to move on, and solve this disruption is to do good thinking.

Slowing down is how you find your way through. Not because taking your time is a luxury but because thinking time is what leads to the right decisions. Without it, you're just burning energy on the wrong things, running faster on a treadmill that's taking you nowhere.

Like that car stuck in mud that keeps revving. You are just sinking further.

The problem is, that's a very hard sell when your mortgage payment is due in three weeks. I've run workshops about change for the last 9 years. I know the look of resistance, the feeling of 'its all very well but...'. It's an awful, painful, messy time. But this is what I know, for sure. You'll get through. And there will be a solution. Maybe not on the timeline you'd like, or in the shape you think you'd like it - but it will come.

So, what do you do in this messy, uncomfortable moment? Obviously immediately read my books! Ive put 7 years into researching these books, and they dont pretend its easy. https://anotherdoor.co.uk/books-about-change

And in the meantime here are five practical things you can actually do, starting now.

1. Separate your needs from your wants, and get ruthlessly clear on both

There is a real difference between what you need (stability, income, safety) and what you want (the perfect role, the right salary, the ideal commute). Both matter, but in a crisis, needs come first.

Write it down. Be specific. Not "I need money" but "I need £X by [date] to cover [specific bill]." Unidentified problems are the most exhausting kind, your brain keeps circling them without ever landing. Once you name the actual problem, you can start solving it. Look for ways to reduce pressure - for example - mortgage freezes, subscription cancellations. Tough financial decisions are easier to live with when you've made peace with them consciously, rather than having them creep up on you. Let go of the resentment. It costs too much energy you don't have to spare right now.

2. Say what you need out loud

You dont have time to worry about saying what you need out loud, worrying what people will think, worrying if its the right thing to do. It's a luxury item to worry about what people think right now. You are on a mission, and you'll do what it takes to achieve it.

Active your network. Tell them you are looking for work, what type of work. There is no shame in job loss, there are millions of people going through this every year. If someone wants to judge you that's their issue, not yours.

Start by setting yourself a challenge.

For example - Message fifty people in your network. Tell them: "Hello, how are you? I'm looking for [specific type of work], in [sector/area]. If you hear of anything, I'd love you to pass it along." The more detail you give people, the more they can help you. People genuinely want to help, they just need something to work with.

Don't worry about getting no response. They might be busy, they might not read messages. They might forget to reply. Their response is not your issue, your issue is to get you in their mind.

(If it helps give an idea of response - if I send 50 messages out over a month, a usual response would be - 15 replies, 4 conversations, 2 possibility, 1 yes. It's about putting the work in, you might get lucky, but if there is slow response, keep going). The important part is to know what a good 'Yes' looks like.

So yes, this requires letting go of what people think, and quietening your internal chatter telling you everyone doesn't like you anymore. Redundancy is not a secret you should be managing. It's a situation you're navigating, letting your network know clearly what you're looking for is how you are going to move on.

3. Know what problem you solve

Instead of leading with your job title, which, let's be honest, means something different in every organisation, start asking yourself: what problems do I solve for people?

Not your tasks, not your responsibilities, not the bullet points on your CV. The real stuff.

Did you make complicated things simple? Did you stop things falling through the cracks? Did you walk into a room full of chaos and quietly make sense of it? Did you make people feel heard, or safe, or ready for what was coming?

When you start to think about how you help people, how you use your skills, you stop limiting yourself to a like-for-like job search, because suddenly you can see that the problems you solve exist in all kinds of industries, organisations and roles you might never have considered.

Also, you start to find the language to talk about yourself in a way that actually lands with people. Everyone is looking for a problem solver. Nobody is desperate for a "Senior Manager, Communications" but plenty of people urgently need someone who can translate complexity into clarity and bring a team with them through uncertainty.

That's where reinvention begins. Not in a career pivot spreadsheet, although if you are into a bit playing there is nothing wrong with creating a list of possibilities, but in understanding what you genuinely bring to the people around you.

So, what problems do you solve?

4. Watch where your energy is going

Redundancy comes with a lot of emotional weather and not all of it is yours. Be aware of the people around you. Some will project their own fears onto your situation, helpfully offering catastrophic interpretations of your circumstances. You don't have to fall out with anyone over it. But you also don't have to absorb it.

Burnout during redundancy is real, and it doesn't always come from job searching. Sometimes it comes from having the wrong conversations, scrolling the same job boards for the fifth time today, or carrying other people's anxiety about your situation.

You are allowed to be selective about where your energy goes.

This is why all good change starts by stopping, you need to understand how to build rest, recharge, recovery into your day as much as active outreach and applications...

5. Build in rest like your job search depends on it - because it does

Your number one priority right now is to stay well. Full stop.

Try dividing your day into two parts: one for active job searching, one for active exploring — new conversations, new ideas, rest, whatever recharges you. The resting, processing and exploring part isn't a luxury. It's where clarity comes from. It's where you'll get your energy from and be in peak condition when that dream job shows up.

And find good ears. Not people who want to fix everything or who fill the silence with cheerful platitudes, so tales of their neighbours daughter search for a job, but people who can create space for you to unravel, vent, and think out loud. That kind of support is not always in obvious places. Be careful who give energy to. And be the person who creates time for others. That can be the most powerful move you make in moments of feeling stuck. But just watch out you aren't then depleting yourself.

You are not alone in this. More people than you think are navigating the same stretch of road, right now, without a map. However not being alone can be good and bad. When people offer you the statement 'you are not alone', it can feel incredibly lonely - because they are almost reducing your pain to 'group'. So again, take what you need from knowing, your experience is unique, because its yours, but lots of others will be feeling the same.

If this resonates, there's more where it came from. Why Losing Your Job Could Be The Best Thing That Ever Happened To You can help you. And yes I know how that title sounds. I've lived it. Trust the process. Another Door Opens is there for you when you want to own what happens next.