Episode #17
How to Recover from an Awkward or Embarrassing Experience
Mindset Monday - Episode 17 Transcript
What was the most awkward experience you've recently had in the last couple months?
Really think about it, what was the most awkward experience you had. I will share with you a story of the most awkward experience that I had in the last couple months.
There I was driving home after an aikido training session at the dojo. My car was looking pretty dirty from the salt on the roads and I knew that I needed to get a carwash.
So I enter the automated touchless car wash. I decided it might be a long wash because I purchased the luxury mode, so I decided to turn my vehicle into the accessory position listen to some music. At the same time, I was working on my phone catching up on some email and doing a few things of the organizing nature and the carwash completed. I tried turning over the key to start the car and guess what...
My car wouldn't start!
My car died in a carwash. So I ended up going and seeing the attendant. They came out and luckily there's a couple extra attendants working at the gas station who pushed my vehicle out of the car wash bay. I was able to call roadside assistance.
This is an awkward story to tell you and one thing that I learned from this experience is that my vehicle needs to remain running and cannot be in the accessory position for more than a couple minutes, otherwise it drains the battery too quickly. The good news to the story is that roadside assistance was able to be there within about 15 minutes to jumpstart my battery and get me on my way.
It's important for us to remember that we all have awkward experiences in life and it's the mindset that you have during the awkward experience that will make or break the situation into one that you can tell other people like I am doing for you right now.
With a poor mindset, it could break you and devastate you if you're not prepared for the awkward experience.
But Shane, how do you prepare for an awkward experience?
You prepare for an awkward experience by being prepared generally.
A lot of people in life talk about the cost of things, but they never consider the investment. I invest in a roadside assistance protection plan for these days and this type of emergency. Paying $90 a year for roadside assistance membership is an investment in awkward experience recovery.
I would rather pay the $90 per year and never have to use it, then not pay the $90 and be stranded without any help. I don't know about you, but in my neck of the woods one tow truck call without roadside assistance costs over $125. At the end of the day, my paying the $90 membership actually puts me ahead of the game, even if I make one call like I did. And the thing is, you never know when you're going to need the help.
So this week's mindset Monday lesson for you is to have a mindset of preparation. Prepare for those awkward experiences in advance and you will recover faster.
What did I do during the moment in question?
Yes, in the moment, I was frustrated and felt a little bit embarrassed. Actually, a lot embarrassed by having to go and get help to push me out of the car wash bay… very awkward and embarrassing especially when the Attendant said that in all her years working there, "this was a first for her".
Napoleon Hill once said that every negative experience bears with it the "seed of equivalent benefit". Let me repeat that again… every negative experience that you may encounter life always bears with it the seed of an equivalent benefit. What Napoleon was talking about is that if you have the right mindset in every situation that you might perceive as negative, you can find a silver lining, or a seed of equivalent benefit.
For me, my seed of equivalent benefit was knowing that someday at the right time, I would tell you the story and share with you something funny and embarrassing.
When you're able to share these awkward and embarrassing experiences, you loosen the grip of fear over you. A lot of times, were afraid to make mistakes because of what other people might think of us. The sooner you can get over that and be able to admit that yes, I made a mistake and it was really embarrassing, you are shedding light on the experience. And fear brings with it a sense of darkness that tries to create more darkness and create fear which suffocates your real brilliance.
When you tell others about your so-called awkward experiences, you break the darkness and instead, you shed light on the situation, and you free yourself to move on to other more rewarding experiences.
So this week, I encourage you to go out and break the darkness and shed light on your awkward or embarrassing experiences, because when you do this, you minimize the grip that failure has on you. Being able to do this will allow you to go out and seek more opportunity, take more chances, and lead a better life. That's what we're here together to do, is to work hard together, train together and lead better lives.
I'm Shane Fielder with Samurai Innovation where we blend the secrets of the samurai with cutting-edge strategies to sharpen you and your business results. Make sure you subscribe to this channel if you're watching us YouTube. And make sure you go to our homepage at SamuraiInnovation.com where you will find lots of great resources like this and other tools that we offer to our Dojo Members for free all because we want you to live a better life.
End of Mindset Monday Transcript
What is your most awkward experience that you need to share & what did you learn from it?
Leave us a comment so that we can see how you turned your formerly embarrassing experiences into a positive by finding the seed of equivalent benefit in each one. I shared mine with you, now it's your turn. See you in the comments below... don't be shy.
Domo Arigato.
