Jon Gordon’s Blog | Developing Positive Leaders, Organizations and Teams

To Be Your Best

If you are concerned about the future and anxious about your situation I know how you feel. I lost my job in 2001 during the dot.com bust. The company was losing money faster than we could raise it and eventually the company crumbled. I was given only two weeks’ severance and this left me on the verge of bankruptcy. I had my wife, two young children, a mortgage, no health insurance and only two months of savings. I was a paycheck away from losing it all. I remember telling my wife that if things get any worse I may have to run east and jump into the ocean. It was that bad. But then I asked a question that changed everything. While I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve learned that the question I asked is a question that anyone who wants to be their best must ask themselves. It is this:

What do I truly want?

Having studied and interviewed the best of the best for my upcoming book Training Camp I found that they all had a moment where they decided what they truly wanted. The best all had a moment where they decided… This is what I want to strive for and I will pay the price to make it happen.

Knowing what you truly want is so important because there will be times when it seems that everything in life conspires to sabotage your goals and dreams. There will be weeks or even months when you feel like you are hitting a dead end. If you don’t know what you want then you won’t keep working towards it. But if you know what you truly want, you will be willing to pay the price to make it happen and keep striving towards the vision planted in your mind and heart.

If things are good for you right now, use this time to become really clear about what you want. What do you want for your life? What do you want for your family? What do you want for your business?

If things are not so good for you right now then there is no better time to press the pause button of life and think about how you want your future to be better than your past. There is a myth that says that most people embark on a quest to find their destiny. Rather, more often than not, through adversity and challenges our destiny finds us. It is during these times where we ask the most important questions and gain clarity of vision, mission and purpose.

It was during an economic crisis and the most challenging time in my life when I had nowhere to look but inside and above, when I asked… Why am I so miserable? What do I truly want? Why am I here? What was I born to do?

I encourage you to do the same. These challenging times require you to be your best. And to be your best you must decide what you truly want. Once you decide what you want, you are ready to take on the Training Camp of life and all the struggles and triumphs it has to offer.

In this spirit I’d like to invite you to register for a free Training Camp tele-seminar where I’ll share additional strategies to bring out the best in yourself and your team. Click here to register.

Stay Positive!
Jon

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Tags: anxious, be your best, future, jon gordon, tele-seminar, training camp, uncertain