When I was fired from my job, I felt heartbroken, embarrassed, humiliated, resentful, frustrated and angry.
I was overwhelmed with feelings. And none of them felt good. It was an awful moment in my life.
I felt lucky to have friends and family who were so kind and supportive. They told me it was my boss’s mistake, not mine. They told me that any other organization would be fortunate to have me. And they told me how sorry they felt for me.
My friend Dave, however, did something completely different.
He said something that changed my life. Forever.
When I told him I had been fired, he replied instantly, “You lucky bastard!”
I didn’t know it at the time but it was a pattern interrupt.
While everyone else was commiserating with me, Dave shook up my thinking.
I began to wonder, “What if losing my job was lucky?”
It was the moment I stopped seeing myself as a victim of circumstance, and I became a creator of circumstance.
I look back on that moment as one of the most pivotal moments of my life.
When I should have been applying for a new job, I left England for a trip to Thailand. Instead of attending a coach training school, I started coaching people on the beach of an island called Koh Phangan. Despite my fear of all my money running out, I made a crazy decision to fly from Thailand to the United States to learn from the world’s best coaches. It was there that I met a woman who I proposed to ten days later. And the rest is history.
None of this would have happened without my friend Dave challenging my thinking. I’ll be grateful to Dave forever.
In the middle of every difficulty lies an incredible opportunity.
If you were to tell my friend Dave about your biggest challenge in your life or business right now, what would he say to you?
Love. Rich