What I did right

I have been doing a number of things in my leap. Some thoughts on what seems to have worked well:

- Have a pile of cash. I had saved for a few years before leaping.

- Exercise. Every day, if possible. It gets one out and interacting with people. And exercise is good for you!

- Keep a normal routine. I get up at the usual time and go to bed at the usual time. Dress as if going to work.

- Keep a normal diet. I have three meals a day, just as in the office. I avoid the temptation of M&Ms and such during the day. (Usually. But I had a stash of M&Ms at the office too.)

- Network. Meet people. I suspect that the job will not come from a job board or a recruiter, but from a contact of a contact who I happened to meet at the local grocery store.

- Keep on top of finances.

- Post on lots of job boards. Yeah, I'm expecting the opportunity to reach me through a contact. But you never know.

- Plan the day. I start with a list of tasks for the day. Some days have more than others. I usually prioritize tasks into three categories: must do, want to do, nice to do.

- Use technology to your advantage. I use e-mail and on-line folders to organize and store messages. I use an on-line calendar to schedule events.

- Use social networks. I use LinkedIn, LiveJournal, FaceBook, and MySpace. LinkedIn is the professional network. The others are for friends; I use several because friends are on different networks.

- Set up weekly routines. I have a routine for visiting job boards: some on Monday, others on Tuesday, etc. For each week I repeat. (I allow variations for holidays and other events.) The routine keeps my postings "live" and up to date. Theoretically, a newer posting should appear higher in the results list.

- Use time and resources to your advantage. I use my computers at home to learn new technologies. This month I am learning PHP and MySQL. The experience is not as intense as in the workplace and does not count as much, but I gain a degree of familiarity.

- Attend non-search events, but keep your search in mind. I play trivia with friends on Monday nights. I use it as an opportunity to talk with other people and let them know about my skills. (But only for a few minutes. People are there to have fun, not find me a job. Don't be pushy.)

Those are the things that work for me -- or at least keep me sane. I'm probably missing a few. What would you add?