I recently found myself coasting through life a little bit.  I was happy and content with where I was and what I had accomplished.  I am not sure if I was starting to get distracted from the things that helped me accomplish everything I had.  I can’t say for certain at what point I found myself drifting…but suddenly I was.

I met with a client who asked that I cut my budget in half.  This was extremely traumatic for me.  Typically it would have been enough to send me over the edge – this time I am grateful it was more of a wake-up call.  I did what I used to do – I started to get anxious, then angry and then frustrated.  I began to worry and speculate how my imminent failure was going to happen.  I started to compare myself to others and became resentful.

The most amazing experience I had as a result of this engagement with my customer was a stark reminder of how and why A Plan for Living works!  Before going back to My Plan, I felt as though the emotions above were going to help.  I truly began to believe that I could worry myself into a better place.  I immediately got defensive and tried to sell my value – to not only my client – but to myself…

After walking away from the meeting, my head held high while my soul was dragging along the pavement – I started to reframe and examine my thinking.  I started with a gratitude list.  I put the fact that I had retained the client first!  I was grateful for that as I have left meetings before where I had to completely start over.  This was NOT that situation.  As I continued to expand on what I was grateful for I began to focus on my family – my wife and children.  I began to see that this one incident in my life didn’t define my life.  My re-wiring was working as I found my own happiness level was improving despite my emotions.

I started to realize that executing A Plan For Living on a daily basis keeps me moving in the right direction!  I was thrilled to know that even though I was temporarily drifting through life – as everyone does – that I could quickly return and gain the much-needed stability and warm embrace that the universe provides if you just ask for it.

Today, one day after waking up in a ball of discomfort and frustration, I am moving forward.  I started to focus on what my part was in the relationship – rather than why my client was doing this to me.  In the end, they weren’t doing anything to me personally.  They were making their own decisions based on their own facts and opinions.  For the first time in my career, I didn’t take it personally.