We spend so much time and energy trying to figure out what went wrong when people screw us over. Or when we lose a job, or an opportunity doesn’t go as planned.
Some people will always let us down, whether we like it or not. Companies will go out of business whether we like it or not. Even the best plans do not pan out and sometimes it’s just timing.
If we try to over-analyse what went wrong and then we sit in fear and resentment, we are unable to see the opportunities that await us.
I remember losing a job I hated because my friend, Brian butt-dialed Alex, a boss that I thought was screwing up the company.
I wasn’t saying much during the whole conversation but Brian went into meltdown describing how this particular VP was such an idiot loser.
We were driving and my friend had accidentally pocket dialed Alex, the VP.
The irony was that Alex never usually answered his phone but for some cosmic reason decided to on that day.
Once Brian stopped talking, he looked to me for a response.
I looked at him and had to agree. What came next was me slandering the VP for his lack of competence, accountability, leadership skills, vision and just about everything else.
Nothing I said was untrue it was honestly what I felt. I was tired of working with him and his insanity.
As we pulled into the office parking lot, I dreaded going back to a job I hated but something wasn’t right with my friend. He looked like he had seen a ghost.
I was confused. We had just had a great lunch and a great bitch session, he should have been feeling better.
It was then he told me had accidentally dialed the boss and the ramifications of all that had been said started to sink in.
He was in a complete panic, I was totally calm. I hated the job and I could now see a way out.
Brian and I went back to our desks. A few seconds later my friend was called into the VP’s office. I wasn’t worried for me because I hated my position anyway.
I wasn’t sure how much of the conversation the VP heard but I wasn’t about to back down from what I had said or what I felt. My friend came back to his desk in a panic.
He had been put on suspension and the VP wanted to see me next.
I have never been one to back down if I believe I’m right. Alex, the VP was in shock. “Did you really mean everything you said on the call?”
“What did you hear?” I said.
He then repeated every word of what I had said. I confirmed I had said it.
He was in shock.
He then asked me if Brian felt the same way I did? It was at that point I realized he had only picked up my part of the conversation.
I had a chance to save Brian’s job and I did. I took the blame, said I was venting and I wanted out of the job.
I told him Brian was a good guy and that he should keep him on board.
I walked out, got in my car and felt a massive sigh of relief and a sense of freedom.
I was only five minutes down the road when my phone rang. It was another company in Vegas proving just how fast news travels in the restaurant/ bar industry in that city.
They heard I had left and offered me a job. I took it.
Thinking back, I could have saved myself but the reality was I wanted out and a new opportunity.
When a door closes another door is opening. Nature abhors a vacuum but we have to have faith to see the next opportunity. If I had tried to convince Alex to keep me, word wouldn’t have got out that I had quit and the new offer would not have happened.
Stay true to yourself and ask yourself the following questions:
- Did I do everything in my power to be honest and accountable?
- Have I shown up and done the right thing? Knowing I can’t change people or certain situations in life.
- Am I happy in my current situation whether it is a job, a marriage or a partnership?
If the answer is No to any of these questions. Then this is the perfect opportunity for you to make a change that you know deep down you should.
