Lessons from getting fired

I got fired once. And while at the time I was super embarrassed about it, today I call it one of the best things that has happened to me. 

Here’s why.

After my MBA I found my way into tech - it seemed like the ‘right' next step and I’d get some experience that looked good on my resume. 

It turned out I don’t really care about tech and generally didn’t enjoy it, but regardless I continued to stay in the space and ultimately found myself running marketing for a seed stage hardware start-up. 

And after 6 months, the CEO asked me to leave.

I spent months beating myself up, telling myself I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, all the horrible things. Not a great space to build a career from.

Culturally we tend to associate getting fired with the idea failure

and we associate failure with the feeling of shame, 

resulting in low-self esteem 

which impacts what’s possible in our career. 

But in reality getting fired was the wake up call I needed. 

I was forced to be honest with myself about what I really wanted to do at work every day, what topics I wanted to think about, the types of people I wanted to work with.

Because I got fired I came to terms with the fact that I found tech boring.

And that growth marketing wasn’t that interesting to me. 

And that really what I was excited about was coaching and personal development.

So I took a role at a training and coaching company.

And took 2.5 years to learn about the industry from the inside

I figured out where I fit best within it.

And this year I became a full time entrepreneur, doing what I can confidently say is my unique path to career fulfillment.

Ultimately, getting fired is simply a fact. It happened to me. 

I have the choice over the perspective I take on this fact.

I choose: It was a pivotal step in my career that helped steer me onto my path.

A much better mindset to build my career from.

It’s ridiculous, really, that failure is so stigmatized.

How else do you realize what’s important to you?

Are you really living your #bestlife if you’ve never failed?

Celebrate failing.

This is how you create a career and life you love.

PS. I teach my clients how to look at their career in a constructive and positive way, so they can take what they’ve loved and what they’ve learned and use it to write the next chapter - a chapter that’s a great fit for them. Schedule a Career Strategy Call to discuss how this would work for you.