How To Turn Your Career Around After A Setback

Have you suffered a career setback?  Perhaps you made a big mistake, or error in judgement, which led to your dismissal?

Maybe you bet big on a new business, or left a secure job to join a start-up, only to have the venture fail, and now you are stuck wondering what to do next, having consumed some humble pie?  Perhaps you gave your best effort in a new position, but you had a “creative difference” with the people who control the purse strings, and as a result you now find yourself without a renewed contract, not to mention a bit of a stigma that you’ve now got to explain away in your resume?

Regardless of the setback, and as painful as it may be in the moment, at some point you’ve got to bounce back.  You’ve really got no other choice.  So how do you do it?  Where do you start.

A great “turn-around” strategy is outlined by famed coach, and Basketball Hall Of Fame Inductee, Rick Pitino in his book The One Day Contract. In the book, Pitino describes the process that he used to bounce back from significant personal and professional failure (in his case an extramarital affair that went public because of an extortion attempt).

Shortly after the incident he was sitting with his brother-in-law, and several Wall Street traders, and they were talking about a particular basketball player who had just entered into a long term lucrative contract, and how it seemed like he played with lest intensity than he did before signing the deal.  One of the traders scoffed at the idea of a long term contract and said that in his business “we are only as good as our last trade.”

This comment got Pitino thinking about how this mentality could be integrated into his life, especially in light of his recent setback.  He resolved that he would play out the rest of his coaching career in a series of one-day contracts that he would set with himself.

Here is how he described the idea 

Ask yourself this question: whatever your job is, whatever you’re working at right now, how would life be different if you were on a one-day contract?  How might your approach change if this afternoon after you finished your work, a supervisor would make the call on whether to retain you for another day or let you go?

The application of this idea started to completely transform his coaching style, the nature of his preparation, his focus on the moment, and his intensity and commitment.  While living this principle he was able to effectively block out distractions and time wasters.  Slowly, over time, he started to see dramatic results, culminating in his Louisville Cardinals winning the 2013 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship.

Coach Pitino gives five tips on how to utilize the “one-day contract” idea to turn-around your career after a setback:

1. Since you can’t afford procrastination (remember you are on a one-day contract) you must immediately lay out a specific plan to achieve your goals, and begin at once to take action, regardless of the outcome.
2. The work day for someone on a one-day contract really begins the night before.  You should lay out a detailed schedule of what you are going to accomplish.  Maximize every moment of the day like everything depended on the day.
3. A one-day contract will often require you to be bold, to take risks, to play outside of your comfort zone.  If things don’t always work out, well at least you are learning, and you are living with no regrets.
4. If you have a bad day, or a false start, you don’t need to get hung up on it.  Remember – your new contract starts tomorrow.  Tomorrow you can show your absolute best.
5. Write it down.  Get a new journal and start a new contract each day.  The act of writing out your commitment can have a powerful effect on your mind.  It will, at a minimum, cause you to be honest with yourself in terms of your effort.

Give it a try.  What do you have to lose? If you’ve experienced a set-back then you should be open to new ideas, and it is very likely that the compounded effect of you giving your absolute best every day, will pay out in your favour over time.