A few weeks ago I watched "The Ultimate Gift" with my family. I remembered
on scene where 'Red', played by James Garner, was telling Jason that
starting over could be a good thing, that he in fact had started over two or
three times before he became a success.
In thinking about that line and looking at my life, I realized that I had,
in fact, started over two times in my life. The first time was in the June
of 1990 when I was living on ramen noodles, crackers and jelly, sleeping on
pile of blankets with my clothes in boxes. I was in Buffalo, New York at the
time. The second time was in 2003, in Maryland, where after being downsized
and out of work for over 6 months I made that fateful move to Louisville,
KY.
Each time I was given an opportunity to start over. Each time I started
over, I grew to be a better person that I was before. My skills and
knowledge changed. The difference between the first time I started over and
the second time was that I did not invest into myself. I did get better jobs
and learned some new skills, but I did not take personal improvement as
something I needed to do. By serendipitously learning new skills I became
marginally better than I was prior. Unfortunately, it was not good enough to
survive a second crash and burn (you can read more about that in my book).
Now I have spent the last four years actively improving me with college,
reading daily, going to seminars and surrounding myself with people who do
what I want to do and who help me improve myself. That is another key factor
in my life after the second rebuild. I have changed my focus from doing what
I wanted and enjoying my life to helping others.
I am not where I would consider myself to be a success (although some tell
me I am successful). I keep looking for ways to help improve me to help
others and I am a lot happier in life. I am happy with how I have improved,
but I am not satisfied with it. I have a long ways to go.
This happiness and this improvement in my life would not have happened if I
had not had to start all over again...twice.
While I do not look forward to crashing and burning a third time, I do know
that if it does happen, that I will learn from it and be better off from it
moving forward.
Starting over is a great opportunity if you use it as such.
Enjoy!
Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net
http://learnandgrowdaily.com ←-Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"
http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg <---- NEW
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