Have you ever had things go so wrong you couldn’t see straight? Did you wonder “Why me?” “What did I do to deserve this?”
As an entertaining motivational speaker I recently spoke to a group of 700 small business owners at their awards luncheon in Texas. Their theme was ‘Fearless’. It was a perfect fit for the story about the worst day of my life…
Laid off during a recession from an office job I loved 30+ years ago, I still remember how devastated and utterly terrified I felt not knowing how on earth I was going to pay rent and bills. With no college degree and no network support, opportunities were scarce. Plus – I was 1,000 miles away from home.
Although I’d had a passion for playing piano since age five I was always told you could never earn a living with music so no hope there. What to do? It seemed the world was totally against me as I knocked on doors, made cold calls and was rejected over and over again.
One day a man called desperately looking for a piano player in a hotel for two weeks and asked if I could do it. “Yes!” said I without thinking. Immediately I was consumed with fear. What if I wasn’t good enough? What if I made a fool of myself in front of people? After all, I’d never played in public before and I only knew 50 songs – mostly Beatles. Eeeeks!
Use the fear of failure to propel you forward and take risks rather than paralyze you into a rut. Remember most people FAIL their way to success because mistakes are opportunities to learn and you don’t learn anything sitting in your comfort zone.
Long story short: I ended up becoming a professional piano entertainer who not only toured the world but got to perform at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. Who would have thunk it?
The worst day of my life became the best thing that ever happened.
Fear and passion are great motivators. Find things you love about your work and let the fear of unemployment motivate you to do a GREAT job vs just a good one.
People are influenced by people with passion.
Passion gets you noticed by customers and bosses.
Cha ching!
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