What if…you had a second chance to live your life - on your terms?
What if…you had a second chance to live your life - on your terms?
What would you do differently?
That’s exactly what happened to me…
I was commuting two hours each way to work and not having any time to spend with my daughter and my wife. But I couldn’t just stop working so I didn’t know what to do - but I knew I had to stop “losing days”.
Then one day, I decided to make a small change in my life. I decided that the next morning, instead of rushing to the early train as per my morning ritual, I would take the train after that one so I could have breakfast with my wife and daughter. Instead of being at my desk by 8:45a.m., I would get there a little after 9. Not a big change, but a start.
So, I commuted in on the later train that next morning and I was still in the subway at 8:45 a.m. instead of being in my office on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center. The morning I had breakfast with my family just happened to be 9/11.
That was my wake-up call!
Now I have completely changed my life’s path to serve as a Human Wake-Up Call™ for others. I help to shake them out of their complacency and get them past their fears and limiting beliefs so they can wake up to the possibility of their lives and start living authentically and on their terms!!
So let me ask you again: What if you had a second chance to live your life…on your terms? What would you do differently?
What are you waiting for…?
June 6th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Now that woke me up. Got chills just reading that little blurb.. and it’s nothing I haven’t heard already a bunch of times.
Powerful!
June 12th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
I just read your story 3 times and each time I got the chills. That is truly incredible.
What’s more, I had a wake up call 3 years ago. I was commuting over 3 hours/day and completely missed the first 8 months of my daughter’s life. So, with a new daughter and a new house and less than 2 months of living expenses in the bank, I quit my job and started my own business. It was completely insane, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Thanks for sharing your story.
June 12th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Noah - congratulations on making the jump. It is both exhilirating and terrifying at the same time. Sounds like you felt a strong calling to start your own business.
While I wouldn’t necessarily coach someone to quit their job with only two months cash in the bank, I do strongly encourage them to start creating and exploring a vision of the life they really want. It is most important to have a clear vision of ‘what’ you want and then we can figure out ‘how’ to get there, usually one step at a time (and there are unlimited possibilities on how to get there in a way that will work for your life).
Thanks for sharing.
June 14th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Mike, your story is amazing, and your courage to change direction at a delicate situation is commendable, and inspiring.
It took me 60 years to wake up, re design my life, and tap into my childhood memories of Italy to write my book called Rainbows in the Fountain.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a mentor like you to guide me along the way, if I had, my search would have ended years earlier.
Thanks, you’re an inspiration!!
Nicholas
July 2nd, 2006 at 8:06 am
very moving is what readily comes to mind after reading your post. like you felt shortly before 9/11, I’m also beginning to feel stuck in a rut. reading your comments has been very instructive.
September 14th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Thanks for the link to your story. Aside from the obvious 9/11 context, I found it a very powerful story because you describe what I’ve been going through the last couple of years. I’m still looking for the right change to make, sometimes I feel like the answer is on the tip of my tongue but, frustratingly, I just can’t quite figure it out!
Life in these days seems to be about being a mere “drone”, it’s really not fulfilling (unless, I guess, you’re very career-motivated and you measure your self-worth by the professional position you hold - not me at all). I keep thinking of “ideas” of what else I could do, most of them simply evaporate as unrealistic pipe dreams (I’d love to go back to college and study to be an architect, but it takes 7 years and in 7 years time I’d be an unemployable 44!).
Believe it or not, yesterday I even hit on the idea of opening a daycare centre for kids whilst their parents were at work! We were walking through town and saw a new place that was about to open and I commented how fulfilling that must be, to work with kids and help them develop. I thought it would be great to be opening a place like that.
Carol then told me something that she hadn’t told me before (for some reason!) that one of her friends calls me “the children’s entertainer” because I’m good with her kid, and her family’s kids (which I’ve had before from pretty much all my friends with kids, and my own family). It all seems to make sense at the moment - the biggest problem is it’s an industry I have absolutely ZERO understanding of!
Maybe that first small change you talk about is to dig into it a bit deeper and see if it really is something that would interest me?
Anyway…thanks for the link. If it makes me think seriously about this, then it has at least worked on some level
September 14th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Hi Anonymous. Thanks for the post.
You know, I hear a lot of assumptions but also a lot of possibility. The first assumption is that at 44 you are unemployable. That is crap. I’m not saying it isn’t difficult to get a job in a new industry at 44, but it’s just not true that you are unemployable. Let’s assume you are a skilled architect and you come out of school in 7 years ready to go…first question, what have you been doing for the past 7 years to prepare you for that day? Who have you connected with? What industry experience have you gained? Answer this: What makes it beneficial for someone to hire a 44 year old architect versus someone a lot younger? Come up with 25 reasons (yes 25 - and if you dont stop whinjing, I’ll make it 50) why they should hire you. You can do it. Once you think of one, it will flow. What other experience have you had in which industries that you can take leverage?
As for possibility, Children’s Entertainer is loaded with it. Wow - so many things you can do there. And you are absolutely right - start digging deeper. Do a lot of research and start taking note of the elements of what you like, dont like, can see yourself doing, etc. Overlay that with what you love - do you love to tell stories? Do magic? Physical activity? ENtertain like on TV or video? What about an online kids entertainment show? Do you like to write? Help kids put on plays or shows? Explore, explore, explore and write down everything! Once you have done that for a few weeks, something will start to germinate for you.
Also, share this idea with other friends and family. You already have an essence out there - Carol has a nickname for you that you werent even aware of! That’s how I started coaching. My wife’s friend told me out of the blue that she thought I would make a great coach. I didnt even know what that was at the time. But I did a lot of research and new worlds opened up to me that I didnt know existed.
Get your map, compass and water and go and explore…there are worlds out there that await you.
Meanwhile, sign up for the free Audio Course on my site. I think it will give you structure and direction to get started (and it’s free :) )