Message of the Day - Second Chance On A Successful Life

Good Morning,

 

I am still reading the Leadership Lessons of Ulysses S. Grant and came across a section which truly hit home with me. Talking about the low point in Grant’s life, there is a line that says:

 

“Scraping for a living, Grant wept on a street in Galena [Illinois] when no one bought a load of firewood he was peddling.”

 

At that point in his life Grant was a drunken washout who left the military to live nearly a decade with one business failure after another.

 

I remember sitting in my apartment in Maryland in November 2003 just after being fired from the only job I could find after being downsized from a software company in March of that year. Most of that year I had been unemployed and my ability to pay my bills was running out, fast. I could pay December’s rent, but with unemployment ending, I would not be able to pay January’s. With my options shrinking and the reality of homelessness and poverty looming, I could sense what Grant felt that day, sitting in the streets.

 

History shows us that Ulysses S. Grant did turn his life around.

 

Like Grant, I also took that time to reinvent myself. Something that ANYONE can do, by the way.

 

College is an option, sure student loans are frightening, but not having a degree is even more frightening.

 

Anyone can read a book, and if they can’t anyone can learn how.

 

Grant, the drunken washout who left the military to only live nearly a decade with one failure after another turned his life around. He rejoined the military and ended up leading the Union in the Civil War to their ultimate victory and then went on to be President of the United States.

 

Through dedication to reading, learning and growing, I too have made great strides in improving my life and becoming a success, while looking forward to even greater accomplishments ahead. My in-laws were over for my birthday, yesterday, and in a candid conversation I was told how proud they were of me, having seen me roll into town in 2003 with nothing but a pile of stuff and no job to where I am today.

 

Looking back to those desperate days in Maryland, not knowing where I would live or what I would do, I, too realize how far I have come.

 

The best part of this turnaround story is that it can be yours too.

 

You can turn your life around. Seriously!

 

So long as you are breathing, you can make a difference in your life.

 

It will take hard work and dedication, but it can be done.

 

If you are sitting in your room or on the street wondering where your next meal will come from, please realize that you too can turn it around.

 

There are second chances for a successful life. In reality there are many more chances after that, but you have to roll up your sleeves and truly want it.

 

Are you ready to take the first step?

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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