When Hustling Fails, Let Gratitude Win
When Hustling Fails, Let Gratitude Win
I’m not sure if you some of you realized, but I have been out of pocket for the last six weeks or so working on different projects, and one in particular. The Monday after I got back from FinCon, a project fell into my lap; and I moved forward with it as soon as I could. It was not something that I had planned for, but it motivated and excited me, which made me want to pursue it.The initial phase of the project consumed a solid two full weeks of my life, and I realized in the middle of the project that if I were to move forward, I would need to clear a good portion of my schedule to make the tight timeframe, so I did.I worked hard on the project alongside a friend/teammate to put forth our best effort and win the business, all the while not making additional income from this effort and pushing other business down the line. After the intense two weeks, while our work was reviewed and analyzed, I caught up on life and the work that didn’t get done; and just last week I emailed the company only to find out that they awarded the business to a larger firm.
We All Get Bad News
During the call where the company let me down easy, they remarked that there would be other opportunities down the road; however, it wouldn’t happen on this project. I graciously accepted their decision, hung up the phone and cried like a baby. No matter how much I told myself that I was okay with whatever outcome happened, it still hurt to get rejected.Realizing that the pain of rejection was real, I took the night to throw myself a pity party where I had a drink and cried like it was my job. I don’t normally love or embrace activities that are not productive, but sometimes all that we need to move forward is the proper mourning time, and I acknowledged that I needed to mourn that night.
We Need to Remember to Balance Bad with Good
I woke up with puffy eyes the next morning and started to think about the next steps for me. Initially, all I was focused on was the missed opportunity; however, whenever one of those thoughts invaded my brain, I forced myself to find the positive. My inner dialogue, sounded something like this:
Bad Attitude: I worked for two weeks and didn’t get paid.
Gratitude: I learned something new from the experience and the quality of my work opened up a new opportunity in the future.
Bad Attitude: I didn’t schedule new business because I wanted to be open for this project.
Gratitude: I now have availability to pursue other goals and meet new people.
Bad Attitude: I didn’t win the project.
Gratitude: There’s a better project for me down the road.
Bad Attitude: They don’t like me.
Gratitude: They actually like me more because I proved myself.
Bad Attitude: Where is the next dollar going to come from?
Gratitude: When have you ever been without?
Do you choose gratitude?
It’s easy to succumb to the bad attitude thoughts, and I'm living proof of that. I am truly a glass is half full/optimistic kind of gal, but I am not a robot. As my friend Stephanie reminded me last week, I'm human and humans make mistakes and humans experience a range of emotions. The important thing to remember is that when you experience those negative emotions, you need to balance them with gratitude.
The first day when I threw the pity party, I let every bad feeling come out through my tears; however, when I woke up the next day, I reminded myself that life needs balance and for every bad thought, there is truly an equal and opposite good thought and if we only head down one path, we are missing the balance we need in life.As I write this blog post, do I wish I were writing something that would make me more money? Yes. But I’m thankful that I have the time to write this blog post and reflect on my human emotions. If I speak to and inspire at least one person with my experience, then the rejection was truly worth it in every sense of the word.I have thrown dozens of pity parties in the past, and each one has always led to an equally beautiful celebratory party. I’m not yet sure what my celebration will be after this last pity fest, but I will keep you posted and embrace gratitude until I discover it.Gif source: Giphy