When Bad Luck Turns Good

“There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties,
or you alter yourself to meet them.”
–Phyllis Bottome

In Issue #215

When Bad Luck Turns Good
by Krista Jones

I completed a freelance project recently for an author that I’ve worked with for the past five years. Susan is always very warm, gracious, and genuine whenever I work with her.

As I was interviewing her for this project, I learned she has faced three very challenging situations over the past several months. The details of each challenge aren’t important, but suffice it to say, each one was tough enough to stop most people cold.

Some would have been too prideful or felt too vulnerable to admit these troubles. Yet, Susan was just as open and generous as she is when things are going very well in her life.

So I asked Susan how she was able to move through a betrayal, a tremendous emotional loss, and a devastating financial blow with such grace. Here’s the story she told me:

A man named Sei Weng owned a beautiful mare which was praised far and wide. One day this beautiful horse disappeared. The people of his village offered sympathy to Sei Weng for his great misfortune.

Sei Weng said simply, "That’s the way it is."

A few days later the lost mare returned, followed by a beautiful wild stallion. The village congratulated Sei Weng for his good fortune.

He said, "That’s the way it is."

Some time later, Sei Weng’s only son, while riding the stallion, fell off and broke his leg. The village people once again expressed their sympathy at Sei Weng’s misfortune.

Sei Weng again said, "That’s the way it is."

Soon thereafter, war broke out and all the young men of the village except Sei Weng’s lame son were drafted and were killed in battle. The village people were amazed as Sei Weng’s good luck. His son was the only young man left alive in the village.

Sei Weng said, "That’s the way it is."

Like Sei Weng, Susan knows how to accept fortune and well as misfortune without letting either knock her too far off center. Plus, she knows how to make the most of each situation.

As we near the end of 2008, take a moment to think about all the good things that have happened to you this year. Then flip the switch and think about the bad things that happened.

Now let me ask you: Is there anything you could have done to make the “bad” things on your list a little or a lot better?

Even if you did nothing more than accept the situation it might have kept you from wasting your energy fretting about something you couldn’t change. And what if you had done what Susan did and took things a step further? Maybe there was something you could have done to turn adversity into an opportunity for you or someone else.

As we move into 2009 under conditions that most consider far less than stellar, let’s agree to keep those two things in mind.

Resource Referral: Get Paid to Improve Your Life

The assignment I was working on with Susan is a self-help project. I love getting paid to meditate, improve my health, and create more abundance in my life. I’ve been specializing in the self-help market for six years now and I love it just as much now as I did on day one.

If you think Nightingale-Conant Corporation, Sounds True, and Learning Strategies are the only self-help companies out there, you’re in for a big surprise. Personal development is an $8.5 billion industry that is still growing. There are hundreds of self-help companies that could use the help of a good copywriter.

If you’d like to get paid to improve your life, check out AWAI’s Secrets of Writing for the Self-Help Market: Creating a Path to Personal Success. The program provides a collection of tips and secrets you need to break into and do well in this field.

Survival Tip: Manage Your Schedule Online

Last year I reported that I was going to try to move away from using the dry erase board I’d had prominently displayed in my office for years. I used the board to keep track of all of my projects and deadlines. I color-coded the projects so all it took was a quick glance at the board to see which deadline was next, which weeks were overbooked, and when I could afford to take some time off.

This year, I started using Google Calendar, hoping it would help me retire my old dry erase board. I’m happy to report that it worked! I’ve lost my dependency on the board, and even though I haven’t been able to toss it out just yet, I have managed to move it to the closet.

One thing I love about Google Calendar is you can share it with business partners, clients, and friends and family if you’d like. It will also email your daily schedule and reminders if you ask it to.

Did I mention that Google Calendar is free? So if you’re looking for a way to manage your schedule in 2009 and coordinate with others online, give it a try.