Positive Ways to Thrive During Change
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Positive Ways to Thrive During Change

If you are facing a challenge and anxious about your situation, I know how you feel. I lost my job in 2001 during the dot.com bust. The company was losing money faster than we could raise it and eventually the company sank faster than the Titanic.

I thought it was the worst event of my life. I was two months away from being bankrupt. I had a wife, two young children, a mortgage, no health insurance, and very little savings. I was a paycheck away from losing it all.

It  sounds  bad. It  felt  bad. At the time it was bad. But one day I decided that I wasn't going to let this challenge take me down. And that's when I knew I had to change what I was thinking and doing.

I read a few books including  Who Moved My Cheese  and  Rich Dad, Poor Dad  which helped me make some important decisions through the change. Eventually these decisions would lead to the work I do now as a writer, consultant, and speaker.

My layoff led to my life's mission and purpose. What I thought was the worst event in my life actually lead to the best. I'm not alone. Gallup did a study and asked people to identify the worst and best event of their life. They found that there was an 80% correlation between the two events.

There was also a British study of 500 "charmed" people. They seemed to have it all; wealth, success, great relationships, etc. The researchers were surprised to discover that every one of these "charmed" people had bad things happen to them. They all experienced challenges and adversity, however, each one of them turned the bad into good and their misfortune into fortune.

The truth is that challenges and change are a part of life. The waves of change are always coming our way. But when the wave hits we have a choice. We can embrace it and ride it to a successful future or resist it and get crushed by the wave.

Embracing our waves of challenge and change is all about how we perceive and respond to the events we face. In  The Shark and the Goldfish  I share the positive success formula.

E + P = O
We can’t always control the (E)vents in our life but we can control our (P)ositive response to these events and this often determines the (O)utcome.

When the change hits, instead of focusing on the challenge we can choose to look for the opportunity. We can ask what this event is teaching us and identify how we can grow stronger and wiser from it. We can live in fear or move forward with faith and take positive action.

We can decide to be a Shark instead of a Goldfish! Goldfish become paralyzed by fear. They stay in their comfort zone and wait for someone to feed them. On the other hand Sharks (nice sharks) move forward with faith and take action. They trust that their best days are ahead of them, not behind them. Instead of waiting to be fed they venture out in the ocean of possibility in search of food. Their beliefs and actions create a self-fulfilling prophecy; because they expect to find food and take action to find it, they do.

Shark or a Goldfish? Which will you choose to be?

Stephanie Hamilton

Dynamic & Results Driven Strategic Transformation Leader: CSSBB, Agile CSM, PMP, ITIL,RCSA

4 年

E+P=O. Most brilliant and true equation that help change my life! be the Shark- YOLO! I met Jon in 2009 on a plane as I was going through a major life event! #Blessed Shark- Stephane

Dr. Andy Garrett

On a mission to eliminate workplace disengagement by tackling the root causes (transforming the organizations we work with into highly engaged, high performing, and resilient companies that thrive in any environment!).

4 年

Awesome article - and such a helpful perspective to recognize that we all experience challenges and struggles on our journey to living the good life. However - if we can change how we interpret these challenges - and intentionally create a story about how we rise above challenges - growing in strength, resolve, grit, etc., and use these challenges to become a more robust version of ourselves in the process - who can then serve others in a more powerful way - then our struggles become fuel for Authentic growth and purpose!

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Gratien Mukeshimana

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4 年

This is interesting Jon Gordon

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Brad Johnson, MBA

People-Driven Leader | Expert in Business and Culture Development | Proven Track Record in Driving Revenue & Operational Excellence

4 年

Great way to start a Monday. I've always your goldfish and shark analogy and dealing with change. I've chosen to be a shark and try to thrive in change and not just survive. Thanks again for the encouraging and sharing.

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Gretchen Etchison

Administrative Assistant at CHI

4 年

Great Monday morning pep talk!

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