The Best Mistake you Ever Made?

Hey man, thanks for the reply and for contributing to the discussion. Those look like some commendable set backs. But the ting that stands out the most to me about you and your list is that you obviously have the intelligence, talent and drive to get yourself into the positions to do those things. And that is something most people will never be able to say.

For example;
In order to lose fifty thousand dollars trading commodities, you first need to make fifty thousand dollars trading in commodities. That in itself is a huge achievement, not many can claim the initiative and ambition to even get to that point.

To lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on countless business failures you first needed to think of countless business ideas and find hundreds of thousands of dollars to put into them. Again this shows the ambition, drive and belief that will set you apart in the future.

And about missing the lofty goals. Setting lofty goals in itself is a commendable achievement.

And you're right, each one of these setbacks will help shape us for the better. Every one of the greats in any sphere, business, sports, writing etc. Had to face setbacks and grow from them. If they didn't then they wouldn't have gained the the tools to truly succeed in the end.

Take the famous Chicago Bulls team of the early 90's for example. I saw a documentary recently that showed me this case in point perfectly.

Before MJ and his team won a single thing they had to overcome the Detroit Pistons who were a dominant force in basketball for a few years at the time when this bulls team was breaking through.

The pistons were a tough, dirty team who used to intimidate and bully teams into losing. Year after year, the Bulls won every match of the season in style, they had the skills, the panache, and they had the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan.

But each time they faced the pistons in the playoffs they couldn't deal with their tough edge, physicality and downright intimidation tactics, and year after year they couldn't het past them.

Eventually though, constantly losing to the pistons hardness caused them to develop a hardness of their own, they hit the gym, developed a tough streak and eventually overturned the pistons, the unpopular bully boys of early nineties basketball. The bulls went on to enjoy an unprecedented period of success, one which hasn't been matched to this day,

Sorry for running away with this but the point is that if the bulls hadnt kept on loosing to the pistons in their early days, they wouldn't have had to develop the tough streak that they needed to finally overcome them and if they didn't develop that tough streak then who knows if they would have become the greatest team of all time?

So without the challenge of the dirt-hard Pistons, we would never have had MJ and the Bulls.......possibly.

Hi alextrevayne, thanks for your comment. That's a great example about moving to Colombia, I'm in the process of something similar myself. Myself and the missus left our 9 to 5's about two years ago and since then we've been travelling trying to figure out what we really want from life. We took a trip home recently to attend a couple of weddings and while I was there I couldn't help thinking whether or not I'd made a mistake. A lot of my friends and ex-colleagues had bought houses and moved up to fairly large salaries and I had effectively put myself back to the position I was in when I left college. But to be honest, when I looked at it realistically, I'd really got myself out of a life that I would never find fulfillment in and set myself on the track of doing something that I really enjoy for a living and working for myself. So similar to your story, it seems success is made by struggles.

Thanks, and best of luck in Colombia to you and your wife.

Hey Jonathan, thanks for your reply and for contributing to the thread.

I have to say that your attitude and reaction to developing schizophrenia is truly inspiring and amazing. That's something that would knock anyone else back big time and turn them into a victim but for you to turn it around, own it, and then use it as a something to build on is remarkable. Have you ever thought about writing a book? It seems you have a truly remarkable story, and it's a reaction and take on this condition that I haven't heard before. I think you have a powerful message to share with the world.

Bravo to you sir.