Life change comes in one of two forms; inspiration…or desperation.
Or at least that’s what my mentor, Jim Rohn, said.
The sad part of life is that most people turn on automatic pilot on Monday morning then come Friday evening and turn it off.
Very few people live the lives they set out to live.
Somewhere along the line they set aside their hopes and dreams and resigned themselves to the fact that maybe their present situation is all they are capable of.
Maybe it was a passing comment from a friend, a harmless quip from a person they respect or maybe even from someone in their own family.
And that’s that.
I suppose that was me.
For most of my adult life, I didn’t really have any idea of what life had in store for me.
I was an English teacher, and that was that.
After all, I was good at it.
One skill, rather limited…but I had a comfortable life, loved sharing my knowledge with students and led pretty much stress-free life (once I got my school going).
And then, in the blink of an eye everything changed.
For me, it came in the form of a tsunami of all things.
Crazy as it sounds not a day has gone by that I don’t think back to that fateful moment when I was given a second chance at life.
It happened…that is a fact, but how I chose to use it was up to me.
Viktor Frankl, the famous author of Man’s Search For Meaning, lived through some of the most nightmarish events in human history having survived the concentration camps in Nazi Germany.
He said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
And my choice was to do more with the time I had.
Since that time I have had numerous setbacks come my way and each time they have made me stronger, but only because I chose to let them affect me in that manner.
- A failed business venture – inspired me to get serious about my business education
- A mentor told me I was wasting my time in trying to write a book – inspired me to write my book and create this website
- My father lost close to a quarter of a million dollars and almost wiped him out – inspired me to learn finance and create the Financial Future Seminar
My mentor was right; inspiration and desperation.
Quitting is the easy way out. I’m not a quitter…I’m a fighter.
Today I’m not the man I was 8 years ago. I’ve studied, I’ve listened, I’ve taken chances and I’ve grown.
No longer just a teacher, today I have added multiple skills to my resume:
- Success principles
- Writing
- Time Management
- Finance
- Magic (I still am pretty good)
An English teacher (who was one of the laziest people in high school) self-taught himself magic, business, finance and success principles.
If I can do it, I’m telling you, I know you can do it.
Over these past 8 years I’ve learned a lot about life and about myself.
I’ve learned that life happens; good and bad.
The question isn’t how can we prevent the bad from happening…the bad comes in one form or another. The question is – what are we going to do about what comes our way?
Just like the ant prepares for winter in the warm weather, we too must use the good times to prepare for the bad.
And when winter comes, we must remember that it won’t last forever. Spring will come soon enough and with it new opportunities. We must use the dark times to prepare ourselves to take advantage of what awaits us when the light appears.
Inspiration comes in many forms…sometimes in the form of an opportunity, sometimes disguised as a problem.
The rest is up to us.
Me, I’m going to take what life gives me and run with it.
I hope you do the same.
Adrian Shepherd