With things a bit rocky, time is right to shine searchlight on your career and make sure that you are on right course for who you are today—not for who you have been in past. See this time as one of possibility, an opportunity for personal and professional transformation. George Sand, female French writer and novelist, said, "One changes from day to day . . . every few years one becomes a new being." In today’s world, this is more true than ever.

Making a major life change does not happen in an afternoon. Even if you have just been handed a pink slip, do not jump into first career boat that comes by. Take a little time to assess what you want to do and where you want to be.

Career shifts are a major life transition and should be treated as such. To ease this transition and gain clarity and confidence when deciding which direction to pursue, do following:

Zap Time Zappers You have to make your career transition top priority in your life. You may have to say "no" to volunteer activities, some family responsibilities and other things that take up time you need to focus on you.

Get on Your Side Stop beating yourself up for what happened yesterday. Instead, get into action and begin to figure out where you want to go. Start taking steps to get there.

Be Strategic When choosing your next career move, ask what industry you want to work in, what kind of culture you want to work in, what benefits you are looking for and what kind of record a potential company has in promoting women. Interview any company that interviews you.

Start with Simple There are things that are easy to do, such as reading a book on your ideal career, doing some research on industry you are considering, having informal conversations with a few of your contacts. Start with these activities to get used to idea of change; then begin more challenging activities—redoing your resume, going on informational interviews, participating in job shadowing.

Journal Ask yourself important questions. What have you learned from your recent work experience? What do you really want? What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Would a move to a different place bring other opportunities? What is best thing you can do for yourself?

In coaching and training entrepreneurs and executives, I’ve noticed that how you react to what’s done to you is as important as what you do. We can make detailed strategic plans, begin daily activities to move us forward, put structures in place that support us in creating what we want—but world will always throw us unexpected changes and unanticipated events. Betty Talmadge, an American meat broker and cookbook author, is one who first said, "Life is what happens to you when you’re making other plans." We cannot control anything or anyone else, and we create a lot of disappointment and frustration (as well as waste a lot of our life energy) when we try.

Life happens. You might be passed over for a promotion, or you might be laid off. The bid you’ve worked on for three weeks might go to another firm; your great assistant could move to Tahiti. Your computer and its contents could be consumed by a virus; your building could be flooded or your car stolen. At some point in everyone’s life, setback occurs.

How you respond to what happens is what will make greatest difference for you, both personally and professionally. Your resilience is what gives you ability to get back up after you have been knocked down—even after second and third rounds of having your plans pummeled.

If you think your bounce-back ability can use a strength-training program, follow these principles to soar through setbacks and keep your resilience revved up.

Use Your Power of Choice Begin to look at how resilient you are in everyday occurrences. Do you let traffic, a rude comment, a delayed plane, a spilled cup of coffee, or a disappointing phone call ruin your whole day, or do you consciously choose to bounce right back? We do not always have a choice in what happens to us—but we always have a choice about how we react to it.