The single most clarifying moment in my entire career, perhaps in my entire lifetime, was when I discovered that those things to which our minds connect are often not within our control. Our strongest memories are seldom of our own choosing. For certainly if I could make the mental connections necessary to remember in vivid detail the most wonderful times of my life and wipe the dark ones away like snow off the back of my car, then life would truly be wonderful. But then, if we all possessed that wonderful ability, there would be no need for Kodak.
 
The difficult truth is we don’t normally choose the vivid memories which remain with us like so many shadows for the rest of our lives. Often they are created for us by the actions and events we find ourselves walking through each day. As a recovering Human Resources professional, I make sure that the companies, managers, supervisors, and employers realize the biggest truth in deciding how to tell someone they no longer have a job. I say:
 
            “Most of the people you are terminating can’t recall what made last Christmas different from the one before, nor will they remember with any specificity how they spent their birthday…..but they will remember, in horrific detail, every moment of being fired for the rest of their lives. So what kind of memory are you going to create?”
 
For many people in America, at the time of this writing – a few days before Christmas, the last strong memory they have is that of losing their job. In my last article, I challenged each of us who have a job to reach out to the one in ten of us who does not and lend a helping hand. But now, with the job market in a deep freeze until at least January, the best we can do is make a memory.
 
A memory is created within us when it is unexpected, a surprise, and a moment in time unlike anything experienced before. Like the memory of our first kiss, it burns itself into our synapse never to be removed and we hold it within us for all eternity. It is a snippet of a little piece of time, a cerebral Kodak moment which we hold within ourselves. So for us who have the momentary blessing of knowing that another payday is before us, how shall we reach out to those who do not share our current security? For this, I have no sage words of wisdom other than “Do something…”  Make a memory for someone this holiday. Capture a moment of their life and make it a positive trigger for better things to follow. I could sight all the standard catch phrases –
 
“Pay it forward”
“Kick start your karma”
 
But, I sense that a moments thought about the plight of our unemployed will give you all the inspiration you need. Commit today to make a memory. Become the story told in Christmas futures of darkness turned to light from the simple act of kindness. Remember, there are nine of us with jobs for every one without. Imagine if every unemployed American faced 2010 with nine new wonderful memories. Imagine….

Copyright © 2009 Mike Baumgartner | HR | Consulting | Coach |  Human Resources | Search - CEO, Worklife Survival Center LLC