How Losing My Job Helped Me Grow

The look on my manager’s face returning from a meeting said it all.

Life was throwing me a curveball.

My department level was getting cut and I was losing my job.

That’s a feeling I’d never wish upon anyone.

Things happen in life that you can’t control. The only thing that you can control is how you react to these situations.

As expected, the question “What are you going to do?” came up a lot. My answer was something like “I don’t really know, but I’ll figure it out.”

I had no set plan. What I did know was that I was going to take a break. I knew I needed a break and it was hinted that I needed one. Some may think taking a break was a bad idea. Others may agree with it. Either way, I made my decision and stuck with it.

I took a total break. I enjoyed time to myself and with friends. I traveled and just lived in the moment.

Ultimately, I had fun!

Living in the moment and being around people is a big part of who I am. I also understand responsibility and know when to be serious. But, who wants to be serious all the time though?

Well, the break was over.

Have you ever been at a crossroads in life?

I felt I was there. Now I needed to figure out what my next move would be.

How long would this process take?

How would I keep myself from going through the insanity of applying to job after job?

What would I do now in this period of transition?

Growth Spurt

It would be easy to sit around and watch Netflix all day. But, where would that get me? How would that help me? I believed that there was more I could do with my time to become better. So what did I do?

Instead of always listening to music, I started getting into podcasts. I listened about sales, personal growth, and professional growth. The new people that I was getting introduced to, I started following and connecting with them.

I made my name a domain – with this website.

Books that collected dust sitting unopened, I cracked them open.

I’m hitting my growth spurt.

Now, if you actually know me and my stature, you might be wondering what this short guy is talking about.  Even though one of my childhood dreams was to be tall, that’s not what I mean. When I say I’m hitting my growth spurt, I mean personally and professionally.

One of the books I read is Great Leaders GROW – Becoming a Leader for Life, by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. In the book, the word GROW is an acronym.

Gain knowledge

Reach out to others

Open your world

Walk in wisdom

Being a leader doesn’t require having a certain job title. Anyone can be a leader in their own right. Leadership is a living process. Living is about growth.

The Start of My Second Life

Losing my job might’ve been the best thing to happen at this point in my life.

Yes, you read that right. I’ll repeat it.

Losing my job might’ve been the best thing to happen at this point in my life.

Why?

I’ve grown more the past three to four months than I had in the past two years. The best part is my self-awareness to realize it.

Recently, I read the blog post “The Start of My Second Life” by Anthony Iannarino. He is a well-known sales leader, author, and speaker.  The post was about the 25th anniversary of the day he had a Grand Mal seizure.

He ends the post with this.

I am reminded today that the negative events in life can be a greater blessing than you can realize at the time. Negative events can also change you in the most positive ways, acting as a catalyst for growth and becoming a better version of yourself. A negative event can help you wake up to what is real and what is important.

We have a choice in how we react to situations and events in life.  What we choose is either positive or negative.

I chose to be positive and say “This is good because…” Now, when asked the question “What have you been doing?”

My answer is GROW-ing.