No one knows for sure where their choices and decisions will lead.
To a degree everyone is afraid to make mistakes. For some the idea of a misstep can even be paralyzing.
But one thing is for sure you have to choose and decide things everyday, there is no getting around it and you will screw up from time to time.
So, one of the most valuable skills you can learn and hone is to recognize unforeseen bad consequences for the advantage they offer.
A great learning opportunity for me came when I joined a growing company and embarked on a rewarding upwardly mobile career. I had it made. My professional status, my career growth and my life were the best. It was like enjoying a long relaxed sunny day at the beach and I thoroughly expected and anticipated the great weather to continue.
Then, suddenly it started to rain.
We know that it sometimes rains unexpectedly on sunny days and you can’t stop it even though you don’t like it. I didn’t like it but, I was powerless to stop the downpour and in a few short months my life changed abruptly.
As the company was losing business I faced a choice, accept a cut in salary and the derailment of my perfect seaside forecast, or move on to something new. At the time the job market was full of recently laid off executives, the economy was in recession and panic was the prevalent daily emotion for many. I had no answers and realized I was unprepared for this storm in my life that had come so quickly, seemingly without warning. In spite of the cloudy and dim outlook in the employment market I listened to a strong whisper from deep in my soul and decided to leave the company.
What followed was a series of unfulfilling jobs, several attempts at finding a franchise business to own and run, periods of unemployment sandwiched in between and an unrelenting thought that possibly I had made a huge mistake and the sun may not shine brightly again.
However, what seemed at the time the worst possible situation anyone could find himself in actually initiated the series of life changing events and personal growth that I would not trade, even if given the chance.
If you are one of those people that hates to make a mistake listen up. Every purposeful choice and action you take will produce consequences and some of these will be challenging. When you learn and believe unwaveringly that the “BEST” decision is the one you make then rebounding from the things that may go wrong is quick and sometimes effortless. I no longer fear life’s unforeseen rains. You can too. Trust me, it’s a great feeling.
