7 tips to create your own career comeback
It’s easy to get discouraged when you’ve fallen off your career track and feel the weight of your misstep on your reputation and your resume.
Yet so many famous and successful people have been fired, screwed up their careers and otherwise needed to stage a comeback. Harvey Mackay featured dozens of amazing people – from Michael Bloomberg to Larry King to tennis great Billie Jean King in his book “We Got Fired!…. And It’s the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Us!” It came out a few years ago and I still refer to it as a powerful reminder that sudden departures can open doors.
My recent Washington Post article gave some advice oncareer comebacks.
One of the experts for the piece is John A. Sarkett, who compiled two books “Extraordinary Comebacks” and “Extraordinary Comebacks 2.” He’s an marketing and public relations firm owner in the Chicago area who blogs about comebacks.
He believes the one essential trait of the 450 people in his two books is simple: “They never gave up.”
“Some forge ahead with great family support, others don’t have that, in fact they have instead the derision of their family (restaurateur and Food Network star Paula Deen). Some of our comeback stories are genius visionaries, some are very ordinary people. But they all have desire,” Sarkett told me.
As part of our email interviews, Sarkett provided these seven smart actions for making your way back:
- PERSIST. Don’t quit. It took Sir Edmund Hillary two attempts to climb Everest, Perry eight times to reach the North Pole, and various authors scores and sometimes hundreds of tries to get their works published. “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” Sir Winston Churchill.
- WORK HARD. Great “comebackers” use every hour in the day: Food Network star Paula Deen barbecued late at night; boxer George Foreman out-trained younger fighters to win the championship. You may find your comeback in the effort you make.
- UNDERSTAND TRANSIENCE. Don’t extrapolate temporary setbacks into permanent defeat. It won’t last. Lance Armstrong was given a tiny chance to survive cancer, yet he won seven Tour de Frances. Churchill again: “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
- CHANGE DIRECTION. Sylvester Stallone was stymied as an actor, so he wrote Rocky after seeing the Wepner-Ali fight. Quincy Jones was a talented trumpeter, but after a stroke, he had to quit. He transformed into a renowned music producer.
- DEVELOP SUPPORT. Stay away from nay-sayers, even if they’re famous or going to be. Hang out with friends who won’t let you quit.
- STAY HUMBLE. Attitude is everything. When tennis master Andre Agassi fell from No. 1 to No. 141 as he abused drugs including crystal meth , he started over, back to the minor leagues, upped his training. It set the stage for greater things. Attitude – not image – is everything.
- DREAM BIG. Your effort and ideas are worth many times what you may imagine. Fred Smith wrote a college paper that got a “C,” as the story goes, then turned it into $40 billion FedEx. J.K. Rowling wrote her ideas about a fictional boy. Harry Potter sold 100 million copies, and $4 billion movie box office, and counting. You too can more than you imagine. Dream big.
These “to dos” were edited down from Sarkett’s original list and they are valuable even if all you can muster is following three of them.
Sarkett also thinks Tiger Wood’s fall from grace after an accident and disclosure of his string of affairs carries an important message for anyone who’s making it today. Woods showed up in Sarkett’s first book after rebuilding his golf swing. Now he has a bigger comeback to stage. The lesson: “No matter where you’re at, you’re not more than one day’s drive from a comedown and that life is nothing but a series of comebacks strung together.”