Whenever you’re in a situation where you feel you need something, the more power you cede to the people around you that provide it. In this case, it was my boss.

Simply put, the worse your financial situation is, particularly in a poor economy, the more power you hand over to your boss. That person is often aware how much you financially need your job and they’re also aware of how difficult you might find it to find a new job.

Start by building an emergency fund that consists of at least a month’s worth of living expenses. After that, get rid of all of your debt. All of it. If you accomplish these things, you’ll have already accomplished another big skill you’ll need, which is spending less than you earn. Keep building your emergency fund.

Build your skill set, especially skills that transfer Few things assure your independence from your employer like a strong skill set, particularly a skill set that other employers will find desirable.

“X has been updated recently.” Especially when working with anything the least bit technical, I’ve found that clients lock on to concepts that may have been possible with past technology but aren’t handled the same way now. A good turn of phrase is to point to a recent update, rather than trying to tell a client he’s wrong.
“Can I suggest an alternative?” By talking about the right way as another option — one with better odds of working — you don’t have to tell a client he’s wrong, while still getting the right way to do things on the table.
“Look at this piece of evidence.” In many cases, if you present your evidence correctly, a smart client can come to the conclusion that he was incorrect, without you needing to explicitly state it.
“Why do you want to do things this way?” Most clients don’t actually make decisions out of the blue, no matter how much it might feel that way. If you can dig deeper and understand the logic behind the situation, you can explain things in a way that addresses their concerns.
“X did it this way.” Pick some big names that your client will know and break down how those individuals or organizations tackled the problem (preferably in line with your suggestions). If you personally worked with those organizations and have first person knowledge, dive in as deep as you can go.
“You’re paying me for my expertise.” Sometimes a client just doesn’t want to listen. You may have no option but to sit her down and explain that the reason you charge as much as you do is because you’re an expert in your field and you have the experience to make judgment calls.
“You’re wrong.” I admit: there’s no grace at all in this option, but it’s still worth trying. There’s a lot of ways that this option can go wrong, but if you’re comfortable with your client, just saying it straight out can save so much time. Be civil, of course, but be honest. You can jump in, get things fixed and move on.

Of course, you can always let a client go on in the wrong direction. If they’re asking you to do something that you can handle just as easily as doing things the right way, it’s tempting to just go along with things and get paid. In some cases, just walking away from the project as a whole may feel even better.

You think trying that same thing for a 40th time will fix the problem. It won’t.
You’ve begun giggling at the thought of world-ending asteroids. Or am I the only one who does this? I just said too much, didn’t I…
You find yourself staring off into space, thinking of nothing. That’s your brain telling you to take a break. So take it.
You’re obsessing about the trivial: Did you just spend 30 minutes trying to get every last fingerprint off your monitor? Yeah. Again, that’s your brain telling you to cut it out. Listen to your brain! It’s got all your marbles.
The problem is no longer the problem. Say you’re trying to figure out the best way to make an Excel spreadsheet to calculate total sales for 2003. You’ve worked on it for hours. Somewhere around hour 2, though, you started looking for the ideal font. That’s now sucked up all your brain power. Time to reboot—walk away, refocus on the core problem (the math) and deal with the formatting later.
You’re getting cranky. Joke all you want, but I’m not a naturally cranky person. I’m a little gruff, maybe sarcastic. If I start sounding whiny, it’s definitely time to push back from the keyboard.
You’re driving over the mountain instead of around it. Look at what you’re doing. No, really look. Are you doing this the hard way? Is there an easier alternative? Unless there’s a benefit to the tougher solution, you’re wasting energy. take a breather.

What a world of difference the people around you make.
Of course, the same is true for you. To other people, you’re somewhere on that spectrum of positivity and negativity between the two people above. The more negative you are, the more others are going to react to you like you did to the negative person. The more positive you are, the more others are going to react to you like you did to the positive person.
To put it simply, the more positive you are, the greater the positive impact you have on your professional and personal life. Here are five areas where it comes through loud and clear.

1. Come up with a positive response to every situation you meet. Yes, sometimes our first response is negative. I’m never happy when my daughter uses too much toilet paper and proceeds to flood the bathroom, for example. Simply stepping back for a moment and looking for a positive response to the situation, though, can make all the difference. The spilled water can be a close experience with my daughter, as I gather up some towels to mop up the water and allow her to help me as we sing songs while doing it, then I plunk her in the tub as I Lysol the floor, and then we have a fun bath time.
2. Look for the good in other people. Rather than seeking to identify the negative traits in the people around you that you interact with, look for the positive ones. Person A might not be the most skilled person, but he does put forth a lot of effort and ask a lot of good questions. Person B might have a caustic personality, but she does show tremendous efficiency in handling some incredibly complicated projects.
3. Act happy, even if it’s a painted dayglow smile. You don’t have to be happy – often, that’s an impossibly tall order. Instead, just act happy. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes. Even more interesting, the more you do it, the more it becomes a part of you – you actually do feel happier.
4. Drop the sarcasm. Sarcasm can be a lot of fun, but in the end, it’s just negativity wrapped up and packaged as a joke. Drop the sarcasm – you don’t need to ridicule things you don’t like. Just expend your energy elsewhere; don’t even think of the ridicule-worthy things at all.
5. Get plenty of rest and eat a good diet. This (along with exercise) is one sure way to naturally elevate your mood. It’ll increase your energy and focus, decrease your stress, and make it easier to interact with the world.

It’s important to realize, though, that quitting your job isn’t something that you can just do on a whim. You need to be ready to take that step. Here is a checklist that can help you as you get ready to move on to a new stage of your career:

1. Get Your Finances in Order
2. Diversify Your Income
3. Create a Plan
4. Have Something Else Lined Up
5. Refresh Your Network

Sure, hiring is an opportunity to improve our organization, bring in new skills and new energy, and generally elevate our offering. On the other hand, it's also a big risk. Every time we bring in someone new, there's the potential we're going to mess with our culture, our work, and the happiness of many people, making a mistake that takes months to correct.

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5. The Transcendent Manager