I Don’t Want To Ever Forget The Pain

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I found myself saying this statement to myself the other day, ‘I don’t want to ever forget the pain’.

Why?

I suppose, as I am currently embarking on some of the most successful ventures in my 24 years of knowing that I have been called into business, I want to make sure that I never despise my days of small beginnings.

I actually went into business ten years before that when I found myself working for an entrepreneur called Sid who owned a company called ‘The Potch Trading Company’. I was only 18 at the time and was very naive. I remember the day he asked me to carry $9,000 cash down the road to the bank. I refused, and would only do it if he drove me to the bank, because I thought it was such a huge sum of money, and I feared that I would be robbed.

Sid saw something in me that sparked the first seed of entrepreneurial potential in me, so much so that I started my own little jewelery business on the side that Christmas and made a lot of money from friends and relatives. But Sid had a few flaws. He was rude, crude and overweight and indulged in questionable cash only deals and had a taste for pornography. Before the year was up I realised that he wasn’t going to be the best role model for me, and so my business aspirations faded for a few years when I decided to attend teacher’s college.

After college I found myself in a classroom with lots of children. Funny I hadn’t thought about that fact much before that, and I decided suddenly that babysitting children and trying to teach those who had no real desire to learn – well that was my view of teaching at the time – was not where I wanted to spend my entire working life.

I had previously played in bands and had a passion for music. So that was when I first launched my first official venture with a registered business name – ‘ Outasight Music’.

But once again the twists and turns of life led me in the years to come through a range of activities as youth pastor, early morning newspaper deliverer, company director, pastor, traveling evangelist, multi-level marketer, grocery shelve packer, lead generator and even a cleaner – just to name a few – ever searching for the business that would once and for all fill not only my bank account, and enable me to bless others, but to also fit in line with the passions that God had placed in my heart.

Amidst all those formative years there has been much pain. And it was the pain that continued to drive me forward. For without the pain I would have stayed in the deadly state of mediocrity. Pain helped me to rise above. Pain assisted me to overcome. Pain urged me to try again. Pain kept me up late at night. Pain forced me to work harder than the other guy, to reach for excellence, and to discover the dream with a tenacity and a persistence that just wouldn’t lay down and die.

That is why I don’t want to ever forget the pain, and will continue to position myself in line with the appropriate level of pain that will make me reach higher and further all the days of my life – no matter how successful I become.

So don’t despise pain. Pain can be your friend if you embrace her. Use her masterful charm as the catalyst contained in the mix that makes up the essential formula for all your future successes.

Tags: Persistence, Tenacity, Victorious Living