Welcome to Linked And Lift, your weekly guide to thriving in your career and designing a life you love for entrepreneurs and ambitious professionals. Each week, you get research-backed insights and we break down the skills, strategies, and mindsets you need to stay ahead of the curve.
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You Haven’t Lost Everything - You’ve Just Begun Again
This week’s issue is about resilience, reframing, and rediscovering what’s already in your hands - even when life feels like it’s fallen apart.
What’s In Store:
A story of starting over (from Google to Uber to strategy)
7 powerful mindset shifts when you feel like you’ve lost everything
Action plan: How to move forward using what you still have
Linked And Lift Picks (Book, Podcast, Quote of the Week)
Weekly Poll: How do you restart when things fall apart?
✨ You Haven’t Lost Everything
I watched an interesting story the other day, and I can't stop thinking about it.
An Uber driver, who was once a data analyst at Google, but he lost the job.
Just like that, the title, the salary, the security - gone.
He could’ve told himself what so many do in that moment:
“I’ve lost everything.”
Instead, he asked:
“What do I still have?”
He tracked rides like a spreadsheet: routes, timing, income, even weather.
And guess what he found? On rainy days in certain zip codes - he made 4x more.
He wasn’t just driving anymore. He was optimizing.
He didn’t get his old title back, but he gained something better:
A roadmap forward, based on what remained.
🧠 7 Ways to Reframe “I’ve Lost Everything”
1. Ask: “Is That Really True?”
The feeling might say “I have nothing.” But pause and question it.
Truth is: if you're still breathing, still thinking, still here - you still have something.
And that something can be built upon.
2. List What You Still Have
Grab a notebook. Jot down:
Your skills
Lessons learned the hard way
Relationships that survived the storm
Strengths that got you this far
When you see it laid out, you realize: you're not starting from zero.
You’re starting from experience, knowledge and skills gathered throughout.
You’re not starting over. You’re starting wiser.
3. Set a Small, Winnable Goal
Not “fix my life.”
Start with something modest.
$500. A week of calm. One new client.
Big wins start with small targets.
Give yourself something you can actually reach - then build from there.
Micro-wins fuel macro momentum.
4. Monetize What’s In Your Hands Right Now
What skill or hobby could bring in $50, $100, or more - even temporarily?
What can you teach, fix, write, or deliver?
Don’t overthink it. Start with what’s simple and soon.
Start there. Start now. Let movement create meaning.
5. Let Someone Witness Your Journey
You don’t need someone to fix it. You need someone to witness it.
Text someone: “Can I talk something out with you?”
Sometimes healing begins with a single person saying:
“You’re not crazy. I see you.”
Shame fades when spoken aloud.
6. Choose Delusional Optimism
Kids believe in things before they happen. And often, they’re right.
The future’s uncertain - so why not imagine the best version?
If you’re going to be delusional, let it serve you.
Believe that things can turn around - even if you can’t see how yet.
7. Get Your Vision Out of Your Head
Write it. Record it. Pin it to your wall.
Give your dream a physical form. That’s how it starts becoming real.
🚀 Action Plan: From Breakdown to Breakthrough
✍️ Write down 5 things you still own (internally or externally)
📞 Call or voice-note someone - not for a solution, just for support
💡 Find one “quick win” using a skill or resource you already have
🗺 Sketch your comeback - even if it's a scribble on a sticky note
📚 Linked And Lift Picks
📘 Book: Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
🎧 Podcast: How I Built This – stories of resilience and reinvention
💬 Quote: “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
📊 What’s Your Take?
👉 Vote here and see what your fellow readers say next week!
Closing Thought
You’re not empty. You’re evolving.
Even in loss, you’ve kept the one thing that matters most: You.
You might not have the title, salary, or certainty you once had.
But you do have something just as valuable: your story, your skills, and your ability to start again - smarter this time.
If you’re ready to stop waiting for things to “go back” and start building forward with what’s in your hands, start by making yourself visible.
The LinkedIn Visibility Playbook shows you how to build an impactful presence on LinkedIn - and get seen by the people who matter.
📥 Download your free copy and begin where you are:
I Want to Hear From You!
Your resilience is powerful, and your story matters more than you know.
I’d love to hear:
💬 What’s one thing you still have that you’re building from right now?
💬 What’s one small win or act of strength you’ve had during a hard season?
Hit reply and share with me. Whether it’s a full story or just a sentence. Your words could be the encouragement someone else needs to keep going.
Also, if there’s a topic or challenge you want covered in a future issue, I’m all ears. This newsletter is here to serve you - wherever you are on your journey.
Also, if you have ideas or topics you’d love to see covered in future issues, let me know. I’m here to help you grow.
📩 Share the Lift: Know someone navigating a tough reset or starting over? Share this newsletter with them. This story might be the spark they need.
Let’s keep lifting each other up, one intentional step at a time.🌟
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Thank you for being a part of our Linked And Lift community!
See you next week! 🚀
Founder, Linked And Lift
Wisdom!
These ideas and activities work!
I have done some of them during past restarts and self-reinventions.
“What I have” can include discoveries from self-reflection (mental and especially written):
- what have I loved doing the most?
- what energized me vs sapped my energy?
- what have I been especially successful at? (Activities - components of roles or jobs)
- what have I seen myself doing a lot of, when successful?
- what do I want to do less of? (Work types or role components)
- in what kinds of activities do I lose all track of time and emerge happy 4-5 hours later?
* if you have one or more of these, you are incredibly lucky to have found and cultivated a talent+strength! Find a way to do some of that every day!
- how much people contact do I want in a new role? Why? What kind? Selling, helping, coaching, collaborating and building, etc.
- what role transitions have I done before, and how well did they work out? What can I learn from my job succession and career progression?
- who can I ask to be a “mirror” of how I show up to others (in life and at work), my unique personality attributes and things they see as exceptional about me?
It also may be worth taking temperament and strengths tests, like MBTI, DISC, Clifton Strengths Finder or the follow-on TMBC Stand Out test (free)
Good luck and enjoy your self discovery and life journey!
And above all, stay curious, keep learning, and learn to use AI tools to multiply your productivity. I especially like ChatLLM dot abacus dot AI.
Had multiple LLM access and a new AI Agent builder.