If my financial situation won’t be enough, I like to think that things would be so bad that not even keeping a job would have helped.
For instance, an anemic stock like Ford will yield the quarterly dividend amount each month if you sell options. If you sell puts you can also keep the cover cash in a 4% money market account. Cash just pours in.
Take a look at the option chain on VZ and PFE right now. Brokerages (Fidelity in my experience) have great free courses and tools. YouTube is loaded with good info.
Another things that’s easy to over look is being forced to sell your stock when the covered call you sold ends up in the money means you may have to pay taxes on the gains, which also eat into potential upside.