Companies spend a lot of time (particularly in the post 9/11 world) thinking about issues like 'Business Continuity (BC)' and "Disaster Recovery (DR)." They want to know that all things will keep on working smoothly even if the totally unexpected occurs.

On a career level, however, most people don't really do a good job of having that plan in place. The Dalai Lama, in his book, "The Art of Happiness" suggests that people should think about painful situations that may occur to them and how they would react at that time. Then, if that event hits you, you don't panic, and you have a sense of inner calm and you know what to do.

Given the age we live in and knowing, at least rationally, that any day you could walk into your office and get a pink slip, why don't each of us spend time building a BC/DR plan for our careers. Think about what you would do and what plan you would put in place. The time to think about Plan B is not when Plan A fails. Then, if that moment hits you, instead of sitting in a funk for 3 months and trying to figure out how to overcome your sense of worthlessness, you know what you need to do. You take a quick breath and you're off.

We all know that we're all expendable. We all also know that each of us has value to offer. Now is the time to think about how you would create value for another person/organization, etc. if your current revenue stream were to suddenly dry up.