5 Unusual Lessons From Negative Experiences

Hi Steemians! My name is Ishwar from the UK and I am an entrepreneur with my own lead generation agency. As I build my agency I will be sharing the pains and insights I am learning along the way to better help others on the path. Boo yah!

Today I am exploring five unusual lessons that negative experiences have taught me. Sit back and buckle up as we flip the script!

1. Laziness taught me to work hard

There was a time when I had it all. I was working in a top consulting firm making big bucks. When I think about it I shudder - I started coasting. I got super comfortable. So comfortable that after 7 years I actually felt I wasn't learning anything anymore.

Life few years down the line took turn for the worst. I recently got married and unfortunately had to leave the job due to being unable to cope with the stress. Reflecting back it was laziness that was the source and to this day I paid a heavy price for it. I lost a lot of confidence, got into debt and put my health and my relationships under pressure.

Now I work super hard. It's not easy but its a cake walk compared to the pain that laziness brought! Have I defeated laziness! Nope! That battle is fought everyday...

2. Anger taught me patience

I'm generally a calm person. But below that calmness sometimes rages anger. It's useful in situations if you can control it, but I've seen how corrosive it can be in situations where where you need to be with it.

With time I am learning patience. Weirdly patience is only learnt when you are pushed to use it. What we often think is patience is an notion of delaying gratification which is great but not the same thing. More on this another time!

3. Taking short cuts taught me the to take the long road

We all want to bypass the hard work and get to success. Often this means trying to find the elusive silver bullet to get our life, business etc working for us. The media doesn't help with stories of success being boiled down to '7 Things A Business Needs' '14 Do Wackies You Need to Loose Weight' as if it's that easy.

In truth I got addicted to shortcuts. Eventually I realised it's like cheating yourself as you get short term success but ultimately your castle is build on sand! I found to achieve something meaning, sustainable and actually worth it I need to commit to the process and stop messing about with one part of the puzzle and follow a system. Every single part of it. Until I get some evidence of traction.

4. Pain taught me to bring the immediate and the 'legacy' into sharp focus

Suffering loss of people, relationship, status over the years has made me focus on here and now as well as focus on what will I leave behind. There is a saying that the wise ones would think about how their actions would affect 5 generations of their descendants. Maybe this is wisdom we could all use. it certainly makes you want to stop wasting time on useless thinks and do and be what matters.

5. Being trapped has summoned my need for real freedom

I've often felt trapped in life. Even right now. It's a sense of not progressing - probably made worse by FOMO, social media and the constructed 'self'. I actually quit Facebook for a time because of this :)

As this trapped feeling has increased, my desire for freedom has increased tenfold. It's an incredible feeling to be driven by the idea of being unbound. We are tied in so many ways, deep down we just want to fly in the limitless sky...

Flip the script on your negative experience and let me know what it taught you. I'll read every comment :)