Lately my professional life has been: UNCERTAIN. I got fired from my brief sales job because, to put it frankly, I was not good at cold calling. I am sure I hate it as much as the next person but I just am not the kind of person to push back/keep asking questions about someones month end close process when they CLEARLY do not want to talk to me. No matter how nice I was to them, I was constantly getting shut down. I know, that is the nature of cold calling, it's a numbers game, but only if you can actually convince someone the product is suitable for their organization. I had to go after small companies who are so small to not even necessitate a month end close software! (I also like to say I'm TOO authentic and honest with people, so it was hard to sell something I didn't seem to be totally convinced on anyway...) I was set up for failure from the beginning...
So this lead me to face one of my biggest fears: failure. FAILURE! That's what I saw myself as, a complete failure. That I, myself, was less because of this experience, not that this experience itself was a failure. I questioned a lot about myself. My worth, my intelligence. It made me lose a lot of confidence and a bit of motivation. Since then I have had so many conversations with family, friends and colleagues about being fired.
Failure is not all bad. That word seems to typically have a negative connotation, but this pushed me into the direction of thinking: failure means moving forward. It means one step closer to success, it means I now know more than I did before. It is an experience that I am able to reflect on and build from the parts that went poorly and even the ones that went well. So many people have failed, but failure was no means to an end. As Howie Day said in his hit song Collide: Even the best fall down sometimes.
There were days that felt really hard to get out of bed, even before I got fired. I was stressed and unhappy anyway. Each day I felt like I really had to muster up a lot of courage to call strangers up on the phone. Not only was I bad at cold calling, I got super anxious doing so... maybe that fed into my lack of talent on the phones lol!
This has been a time of building myself back up, digging deep into my mind and recalling the things I have done in my life professionally and personally that make me who I am today and NOT a failure. I've accomplished a lot more than I had realized.
So here are some affirmations this week:
- It is okay to fail, I am not the first and won't be the last.
- I am proud of myself for trying new things, even if they are not for me.
- I'm capable of success and good fortune
I used the maneki-neko as the photo to wish good fortune to anyone who may feel the same right now or just needs a bit of good energy their way. GVO = Good vibes only. (my mom always says this)
Make sure to repeat until you believe in it. Gotta build yourself up because your biggest cheerleader will always be you.
xo byeeeeeee
Love,
N@
Good Vibes Only 😘