447. A Career-Ender Becomes a Door-Opener

Tim left school at age 16, deciding to differentiate himself from his sister and brother. “I just wanted to get into work and to control my own destiny a little bit more. I found it fairly easy to use my initiative. As a training manager at a number of sports facilities, my employers thought it was great that I could just figure things out on my own without a lot of direction. Maybe it is no surprise now that I am an entrepreneur, because that is what I do. I look for the best use of my time and put my efforts toward that.” In the 1990s Tim’s competitiveness came out strongly in a commission-based sales position at a dot.com technology company.

Ignoring his perceptions that he was not on the right career path, the internal pressures mounted until he had his first full-blown panic attack on stage delivering a presentation in front of a group.  “At the time, I thought I was having a heart attack.  I started to sweat and shake. I had to stop the presentation and leave the room.  That was the beginning of the end of that period of my life career-wise. It still took me another year or so to leave that job, but I knew from that point forward that something had to change. Until that point, the concept of anxiety wasn’t even on my radar. I realized I couldn’t go on.”

“This is where a mentor came in for me. I wanted to fix my anxiety but change nothing in my life. Based on what I now know, that idea was absolutely ridiculous. At the time, I just thought I needed the panic and anxiety to go away so I could keep working and keep this machine humming. Most people just go to the doctor, get medication, and try to carry on. I tried that but I just did not feel well on the medication, so I stopped taking it. Over time, I realized I had to focus on the root causes, and to share what I learned with other people if I wanted to recover.”

1. Pay attention to the signs your life is out of alignment with your core values and sense of self.

2. Reach out for help in finding where your life is out of alignment. Don’t accept chemical solutions alone, without looking for root causes.

3. If you experience panic or anxiety, recognize that you are not alone. You are not broken or damaged.

4. With help, you can learn to overcome anxiety’s power to dictate the way you live their life. You can recover.

The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss

Rich On Paper Poor On Life, by Philip McKernan