If you’ve ever been fired from a job, you know the humiliation that experience can saddle you with. It can feel like you’ve failed and will never bounce back. But the truth is, you are not alone. Some of the most successful people in the world were fired before they found their true passion in life. J.K. Rowling was fired from her mediocre job as a secretary in London. Madonna lost a job at Dunkin’ Donuts after one miserable day. Robert Redford was let go from an oil company for sleeping on the job. All of these people have one thing in common. They didn’t let getting fired define them as people. Here are five reasons getting fired might change your life for the better.
You are free to find a job you love
Let’s face it, most of us don’t have the courage to leave our steady jobs in pursuit of something that’s right for us. And if you were fired from your job, chances are you didn’t love it anyway. But you didn’t have the motivation, energy, or time to freshen up your resume and start interviewing. Now you have no excuse. And hopefully you got a little bit of a severance check to tide you over so you don’t have to settle for anything but what you really want.
It will give you the courage to take action against your employer
If you knew some things were happening with your job that shouldn’t have been, you might have been too afraid to lose your job to speak up. For example, do you feel you were fired because of a workplace injury or that you might be due worker’s compensation? Now is a perfect time to talk to your workplace accident lawyer about your options.
You are free to start your own business
Billionaire and former mayor Michael Bloomberg was fired from the well-known investment firm Salomon Brothers when he was 39. So what did he do? He used his severance check to start his own financial services company and never looked back. Maybe you’ve wanted to start your own business for a long time, but people kept telling you it was crazy to leave a steady job to pursue a pipe dream. Well, guess what? Nothing is stopping you now!
It will teach you to be better prepared
Were you unprepared to lose your salary this time? Well, you can bet you won’t ever let it happen again. Even if you don’t dream of starting your own business, you now know the importance of learning some strategies to earn money on the side in case you’re ever in this situation again. And if you’re not in this situation again, you’ll have a decent amount of savings and may be able to retire early. You can start by educating yourself on investing with something like an options trading strategy for beginners. Options are good to start with because they are low-risk investments.
It gives you time for self-reflection
Rather than allow losing your job to rob you of your identity, use this time to discover what your true identity actually is. Using self-reflection, you can find out things like your weaknesses, strengths, happiness factors, and skills. Finding out more about yourself can help you discover what you really want out of life and help you find your dream career.
Follow in the footsteps of people such as Robert Redford and JK Rowling. They didn’t let getting fired stop them from living their best lives. They realized they were just in the wrong professions and went out and found the ones they were right for. And that’s exactly what you should do. Learn from it and move on quickly. There’s something out there you’re destined to do!