Seeing the End From The Beginning

These kinds of statements tend to be repeated years after a chance meeting or the overcoming of some great adversity and a sufficient amount of time has passed to see the end from the beginning. I believe those phrases because time and time again things just seem to work themselves out. A person I met by happenstance turns out to be instrumental in some way or a challenge soon reveals the opportunity hidden beneath the work of it all. Let me illustrate my point with a personal story:

 

My Mother was 16 years old and she was driving her mother to the store one afternoon when they decided to stop for gas. As my Mom tells it, she was arguing with her Mother and when the young man asked what kind of fuel they wanted, she curtly said, “fill it with premium”. The young man went about filling that ’58 T-Bird with gas, washed the windows, checked under the hood and capped off his service by checking the air pressure in the tires (those were the days ). When he came back to the window with the receipt and a flashy smile, my Mom said ‘thanks’ and drove off as she continued her banter with her Mother. It was then that my Grandmother asked my Mom why she had been so rude to the nice young man. My Mom said, “Oh- that’s just Charlie- I know him from school”. Later that afternoon, my Grandmother went to pick up a few things from the store and came back to prepare dinner. Just as my Mom was serving up the evening meal, there was a knock at the door. When she opened the door, there stood the young man from the gas station; the one with the glorious smile. He said, “Your Mom invited me to dinner and my name is not Charlie- its Greg”. That chance meeting at the gas station was the beginning of a 50 year romance and Greg, the guy with the amazing smile, turned out to be my Dad!

 

We do not always know how or why things work out the way they do. There are many elements to all of our stories that we would probably not wish to shine a light on, but every challenge we encounter, every person we interact with and every road we travel down, reveals both lessons and precious gifts if we take the time to see them. Your business is the same way! There are all kinds of situations and experiences that will eventually lead to where you are going! The financial challenges, the employee struggles and the growing pains are there for a reason. They are present in your life to help you grow and become the person needed to handle your business years from now. Just remember these statements and smile knowing, that the obstacles you are overcoming are paving the way for amazing things: