Thankful for Second Chances (And the People Who Give Them)

As enlightened as I pretend to be, the truth is that most mornings, my version of gratitude looks more like passive-aggressive axe grinding—some muttered internal diatribes about exes long gone, forgotten birthdays, random things that annoyed me yesterday or just plain bitching about the state of the world. It’s petty noise, really, and it doesn’t do a damn thing to set my day up for success.

Lately, though, I’ve been trying something different. Less mental hoarding of old grievances, more intentionality in how I start my day. Because, weirdly, so many of us actively subscribe to old news, bad messages, and self-trash talk that just aren’t serving us anymore.

So today, I’m grateful for something real: the people in my life who have given me second chances. The ones who saw something in me beyond my messiest moments. The ones who, when I wasn’t showing up as my best self, gave me the grace (and sometimes the nudge) to try again.

Recently, I got a reminder of just how much that matters.

There’s a guy in our industry—someone I’ve long respected. He’s got wisdom, poise, and that rare kind of gravitas that comes from truly knowing who you are. We’ve orbited the same circles for a decade, overlapping at trade shows and events. I admired him from afar, occasionally throwing an overenthusiastic finger gun his way.

A few years back, he gave a keynote on Ikigai that landed like a thunderclap for me—one of those talks that sticks, that becomes part of the personal blueprint you build for yourself.

Fast forward to today: I’m building Inc Tank GTM, bringing together the best of the best to create something truly special. Naturally, I reached out to this person as part of that vision, and at a holiday event in NYC, we reconnected. He was even helping to get a valued client of ours into an exclusive industry event. Solid, right?

Then came a Zoom call.

I greeted him with my usual Tigger-on-caffeine energy: “Merry Christmas, my guy!” His response? Let’s just say it wasn’t quite the same energy level. That’s all it took for my brain to switch from collaboration mode to paranoia mode.

See, ADHD comes with a fun little feature called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria—where the slightest perceived slight can feel like an emotional gut punch. It’s like having an antenna permanently tuned to “Do they secretly hate me?” FM.

So, instead of focusing on the conversation—the actual, productive, business-building discussion—we were having, I got caught up in a narrative that wasn’t even real. I left the call feeling dismissed. Insulted, even. And, like a textbook trauma response, my immediate instinct was to disconnect.

But here’s the incredible thing.

This person—who has absolutely no obligation to me—noticed. And instead of letting that moment linger in misinterpretation, he did something rare: he reached out.

He took time out of his busy life to schedule a call, to ask what was up, to make space for a real conversation. And not in a performative, “let’s clear the air” way, but in a way that was deeply human.

This man, who has seen me in my more boozy Tasmanian Devil networking days, who had every reason to keep our relationship strictly professional, instead chose patience, grace, and friendship. He saw past all of it and extended a hand.

And then he said something that leveled me:

“Michael, for some reason, you think you’re not worthy of someone taking the time to connect and make things right. The better question is—why wouldn’t I do this for you?”

That hit deep.

Because he was right. And because this was bigger than one conversation. It was about all the baggage we carry, all the narratives we cling to, all the ways we assume we’re too much for people to care enough to reach back.

But second chances aren’t just about what we do next. They’re about the people who give them, again and again, when we don’t always think we deserve them.

So today, I’m grateful for all the second (and third, and fourth) chances I’ve been given. From the mentors turned peers, from the people who have seen the worst and still believed in the best, from those who have chosen to invest in me—not out of obligation, but out of genuine connection.

And specifically, today, I’m grateful for Mr. Fred LeFranc .

Fred LeFranc , what you did meant the world to me. What you said spoke even louder. And I won’t forget it.

We leveled up you and I!

With deep gratitude, your friend,

Michael Beck

This is also a letter to so many other people who have granted me the grace and opportunities to have the 2nd or 3rd chances I needed...

Jeremy Julian , Art Julian , Anthony Presley , Savneet Singh , Drew Peloubet , Andrew Morlidge , Chad Horn , Shawn P. Walchef , Ami Austin (Kabay) , Michael Davis , Malcolm Burlow , Brian Wheeler , Todd Vahlsing , Kendall Ware, CFE , ?? Christopher Sebes , Bob Thomas , Brock Weeks , Kyler Close , Mike Repetti , Mitesh Gala , Eric Beck , Michael Johnson , Allie H. , Chad Waite , my mom, my grandma, my kids and above all to my wife Pam Beck .

#Gratitude #SecondChances #ThankfulThursday #ADHD #Growth