In addition to tips on staying employed for life, Mike Zimmerman’s article Income for Life — Guaranteed! in the October 2009 issue of  Men’s Health also covers what to do if you find yourself downsized.

Strategy 1:  Reassess what “important” means to you.
“Your time, energy, and money always go to what's important to you, no matter what you say is important,” says Larry Winget, author of It's Called Work For A Reason. “Part of your preparation is to know what's really important.” In your plan, ask yourself: “Do I want it, or do I need it? Can I live without it?”

Winget says, “You have to know in advance what you can't live without. I once had an unemployed guy tell me, ‘I can't disconnect my cable -- the final episode of The Sopranos is in 2 weeks.’ I said, ‘You're an idiot.’” Knowing now what you truly can’t live without will make all your choices easier on the day you actually have to enter that mode.

Strategy 2:  Invest in media training.
Companies of all sizes need to find as many marketing avenues as possible. How much more valuable would you be to your employer (current or prospective) if you had the skills for public speaking or media interviews? There are organizations out there constantly looking for speakers, radio talk shows constantly looking for guests. If you can share this with your boss and assure him, “I can represent this company really well. I'd love a chance to do that,” you'll do many things at once: you’ll raise your brand value within the organization; you'll network with media people and the organizations you speak to — and you’ll face people who might hook you up with your next job. Many local community colleges and public-relations firms give media-training classes these days, so what are you waiting for?

Strategy 3:  Give away your talents.
Feeling unknown and unloved professionally? Offer your time and talents to a local nonprofit organization. You’ll be helping your community while revealing your skill set to new eyes. Winget says, “The more people who know you for what you do — and the more people who see you act in charitable ways — the more willing they’ll be to say, ‘This is a good person who's looking to rise up. I know someone who can help him.’” Joe Calloway, author of Work Like You're Showing Off, knows this from experience: “When I started my business 28 years ago, I volunteered to run a popcorn booth at a fund-raiser for the National Symphony Orchestra. The guy next to me was running the beer booth. As fate would have it, he was an extremely successful restauranteur I’d always wanted to meet.” The conversations they had during the two-day fair eventually resulted in the restauranteur hiring Calloway to do consulting work. “If I hadn't been involved in that fund-raiser,” Calloway says, “I wouldn't have met him.”

Strategy 4: Lose your ego, too.
People act like they are what they do, especially men, says Alain de Botton, author of The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. "The first question we tend to ask new acquaintances is not where they come from… but what they do — presuming thereby to discover the core of their identity.” But the fact is, you’re just someone who has a certain skill set. So if or when your job changes, you must change with it.

Your attitude at that moment will determine your future. “No one cares what you used to do,” adds Winget. “I was recently in a cab in Washington, DC, and the driver was moaning about his situation. ‘I’m an engineer! I made $250,000 last year. I’m better than this.’ So I said, ‘Actually, you’re not. Today you’re a cab driver, so start being a better cab driver and maybe you'll get a bigger tip.’” Don’t let your ego get in your way, and don't get hung up on replacing what you have with what you used to have. What if, Winget asks, that cabbie used his current job as a networking tool, chatting up fares instead of complaining to them? “You never know who you might be talking to.”