Just a few weeks back was Veterans Day and it reminded me of a gentleman I met several years back when my son and I had the opportunity to take him and his son to a hockey game. His name is Brian Mast. He was a former army ranger that unfortunately in 2010, stepped on an IED, and lost both his legs above the knees and part of his hand. Now, as my son and I had a chance to get to know Brian and talk to him, once I felt comfortable, I simply asked him the question, could you tell me a little bit about the mental and physical rehabilitation you had to go through as I couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like.
He simply shared that when he heard the bomb go off, the first thing he thought of, was which one of my guys got hit. And then, he heard the chatter on the radio, and the next thing he remembered was waking up in Walter Reed Hospital and realizing his life has changed forever. He told the nurses and the doctors, “I need to get back to my men.” And they simply told him, “Sorry, son, that’s not going to happen.” He shared that he started going into a dark place, obviously looking for answers. What’s his next move? He told his dad, “All I know how to do, is to serve.” And his father said, “You could still serve, son. Think about it.” So, he realized that moment, he could run for Congress and push his initiatives for veterans and wounded warriors like himself.
When I was listening to that story, I was stunned because as a coach, I helped my clients get clear on their vision and their plan. And here’s a gentleman in a hospital bed. Life has changed forever, and after speaking to his dad was able to make a decision like that.
Well, once a quarter, I get my clients together to work on a business plan for an entire day, to get out of the business to work on their business. I thought, wow, how awesome would it be to have a gentleman like this share his story, so every single business owner sitting there would realize whatever problems they have going on is nothing? I asked Brian, and Brian agreed. Unfortunately, about two weeks before the event, his scheduler called me and mentioned he couldn’t make it. Now, I get it. He’s running for Congress, there’s a lot going on, he’s going through a lot of shifts, a big change from the military. All of a sudden, I realized, I have to prepare for this event in two weeks.
As I started thinking, I stopped and thought, am I being selfish? I heard Brian’s story. It was inspiring, and I wanted to hear it again. And it made me think, are we consistently going outside ourselves to find inspiration to get motivated to move forward? Do we go to a seminar, or a speaking event, read a book, or watch a movie, all to get inspired to take that inspiration, get motivated to push us forward? It got me looking deeper into that situation and perspective. I then realized; I went back to something I wrote down a long time ago. In 1990, I did the Tony Robbins Personal Power program. It’s a 30-day program that you go through every Monday through Friday and go through these different perspectives.
One of the chapters was about how to create unstoppable self-confidence. It talked about going back in your own inventory of your life, of all the challenges you’ve gone through, and how you’ve come out the other side stronger than before. There are a lot of times when we hit adversity in life. The older we get, sometimes more. If you’re younger, maybe you haven’t hit them yet. However, there have been times, I guarantee you, each and every one of you reading this today has hit a spot where you were stuck, that you didn’t think you were able to get through. But then, you did a gut check, you doubled down, you did whatever you needed to do to get to the other side, and you came out smelling like a rose. As you look back, it was one of the turning points and one of those lessons of achievements in your life.
When I moved to Florida in 2000 as a 20-year-old with nothing but my car and a little bit of money, the first year I was scared. I cried. But I said, “I will never go back. I’m going to stick it out, make it here.” And my life has changed. I met a wonderful woman, have two beautiful children, been living here for 43 years now. I love South Florida. There have been times when things were difficult, but I was able to get through. I have all these events recorded in a composition book, as I started reading this before that event, all these challenges that I went through in my life and came out the other side so much stronger. When I was done reading it, I thought, “Damn, that’s badass.” And the best thing I realized was, it was me.
All of you reading this today have the same events right inside you. So, the next time you go out looking for a movie, a book, a seminar, a workshop, or a video to get inspired, go back in your own life or maybe someone close to you, that had gone through an event that they had to do the gut check to get to the other side, to come out stronger. Record that. Get conscious of that and realize that’s part of you. Whenever you need what you need to get to the next level, you got it right inside you. Personally, I have the privilege, honor, and pleasure of working with executives, business owners, leaders, and team members to find that same inspiration in them, to get them to see it, so I can guide them to the next level.
Remember, anytime you’re struggling, you already have what you need right inside you. Get present with that, pull that out, get comfortable with it, and realize everything you had to get through in your life, you got through because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this today. If your life is worth living, it’s worth recording, so you can go back and use that as leverage to move you forward stronger today than you were yesterday.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com