By Steve Beseke, beseke1@earthlink.net
All of us probably have dozens of New Year’s resolution examples throughout our lives that were great for the moment but ultimately hard to achieve: Losing weight, spending more time with your family, finding a more fulfilling life…the list goes on. Unfortunately, the resiliency of continuing our goals after the first 60 days typically subsides, and we go back to the “routines” that make us comfortable.
Sound familiar? I found in my own life it’s not that I set unrealistic resolution goals, but sometimes my wavering self-confidence helps derail “the moment.” That is, until last year. The economy had just forced my employer to lay off1,500 employees – including me. I could have melted from the stress but decided to do something that you should think about.
I looked at myself warts and all and asked such questions like: “What do I want to do for the rest of my life and career?” “What life and career strengths do I have to offer the ‘new’ economy?” and “How can I use these strengths to my best advantage? “
It was not easy. I had been a very successful corporate communications executive for more than 25 years that the lay off put on hold. I also needed to adapt to a lifelong physical disability (Cerebral Palsy) that was making it harder for me to walk as I reached age 50. Additionally, my wife had recently graduated with an additional college degree but she was only working 32 hours a week.
I’m sure your own unique life experiences have similar threads…
I also knew the type of jobs I had relied on were being the first cut at companies with few able to hire in these very challenging times.
After poignant reflection, I knew that my writing and speaking abilities needed to be used in a new way. I needed to rely on my skills to carve a career role out for myself that may not have anything to do with working for a corporation. How could I show my strengths to the world and make a living from it? Please read on to see how I am doing it.
As you look at yourself, please don’t push your strengths into a corner and let a few demons destroy your confidence. No matter what you think of tennis great Andre Agassi, he said something that hit home. Andre said his life challenges were a direct result of losing confidence in himself leading to more bad decisions in his life.
I could definitely relate, and I was not going to let “my demons” control my future life success. That is why I looked for the right vehicles to showcase my talents, and I found them in my worldwide resiliency blog and as an international resiliency speaker.
I used my step-by-step ADD plan: I assessed, I developed a realistic action plan, I did… I also had the tremendous support of my family and friends as I also used my three Ps of resiliency to keep me from the abyss: Perseverance, persistence and patience in myself.
The third P – patience – was my most important life ingredient. For me, patience was consistently hard to find in the past. Because of resiliently sticking to my “plan,” however, my resiliency business has been a fantastic ride so far. I’ve been very humbled with more than 1.2 million blog hits in 10 months and speaking gigs from corporations and groups of all kinds.
I don’t mention this to pat myself on the back. I just want o help folks worldwide with resiliency while making a reasonable living from my talents. I do highlight my success as an example you can use in determining the next moves in your life.
I’d suggest you make the following New Year’s resolution to continue your life and/or career success: “I’m not going to underestimate my abilities to find a great career path, lose the few extra pounds or whatever my goals are in life.” Then, as the Nike commercial highlights, “Just do it!”
What other resiliency subjects would you like me to write about? Please send me an e-mail at beseke1@earthlink.net. Take care my friends!
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