On Desperation and Ways to Fight It

Today’s economy is creating a glut of misery and uncertainty. It’s also rife with desperation.

Desperation–when you’re at the end of your rope–is bad for a lot of reasons. Perhaps the most insidious is that it often robs you of the ability to know you are reeking of desperation, which makes things worse. Check out this excerpt from an excellent post by Mitch Joel:

When you’re desperate it’s hard to win business, get that job, market a product or do anything (like find a mate).

The trouble is that most people who are desperate, can’t even muster up the levity to see, feel and hear it in themselves. When you’re desperate, your confidence drops, so whether you’re looking to meet someone, get a job or close a piece of business, nobody wants to connect with someone who reeks of desperation – and therefore lacks confidence in whatever it is that they’re doing.

If you can’t find a job, there are plenty of things that you can do.

What most people fail to realize is that while they are looking for work, their full-time job is actually making themselves as knowable as possible (Hugh McGuire over at the The Book Oven and one of the co-hosts of Media Hacks once brilliantly stated, “don’t Blog to be know. Blog to be knowable”). Our work/world has changed. If you are looking for work, pay attention to this…

Read more for “Four Ways Not to Reek of Desperation” on the Six Pixels of Separation blog.