Rule No. 2 - Do Something New. Every Day.

The second rule for unemployment is critical to maintaining your sanity.

Once you're on a "Break" you find that days can dissolve into marathon John and Kate Plus Eight (best.show.ever.) or West Wing sessions. Or, maybe, you just can't put down that Graham Greene novel that you were supposed to read two years ago.

For me, I like creating a few small hurdles to overcome in a day. Keeps me focused on something (other than staring at Monster, setting up phone screens, or constantly tweaking the resume). Seriously. Have you ever tried to make International Tax Consulting sound interesting? My success rate there rivals my marathon completion rate - zero.

Anyway, Rule No. Two creates small, but meaningful challenges - which have a marketable result. The rule is simple: do something new every day.

Disarmingly simple, the rule gives you two benefits: 1) it likely gets you out of the house - which, as mentioned yesterday, is a good thing. Myopia gets you nowhere - in fact, I'd argue it makes you more likely to feel desperate and willing to jump at the first (not necessarily best) job offer. Second, doing something new gives you something to talk about with family, friends, networking contacts - relieving conversational pressure (for them and you).

Yesterday, I did something I've not done before: visited the Conrad Sulzer Regional Library in Chicago. It's in Lincoln Square, it's huge, and yes, the first floor on the North end smells like feet. Or people who don't necessarily follow Rule #1 (showering before noon). On the other hand, there are many, many more books there than at the branch on my block; parking is plentiful; and there is an amazing video and audio collection. I checked out four new books, and ordered up two for delivery to my local library, all in all, not a bad day.

Today, the new thing was not so much fun. I hit up the unemployment office on Lawrence Ave. for my dole money. Turns out, I'm not the only one there. The rumpled man who lead 6 of us through our session told us that he's seen 400 claims a day for the past few months. Of the people in the room with me, only one was told they didn't have a legitimate claim. I wonder what they did that was new today.

Looks like there is a growing market for the rules.