Retire Before 25

I watch Heroes on NBC. As a matter of fact it is one of my favorite TV shows. (One of the only ones I’ll watch all season long.)

And Heroes had a lot to teach me last night.

(If you’ve never watched the show before don’t worry, I’ll explain everything you need to know.)

Last night’s episode focused on Hiro Nakamura, one of the central characters on Heroes. Hiro can “bend space and time”. He is able to slow everything down or freeze time itself; He can teleport through time as well. Hiro wants to use his powers for good, so He begins a service called, “Dial-a-Hero”, and in this week’s episode he receives a disturbing phone call from a man named, “Tadashi”.

Tadashi is going to jump. He is humiliated, he has dishonored his entire family. Suicide is the only way that he can see out of this mess. You see, Tadashi has done something that most of us have wanted to try at one point or another. He has photocopied his butt. Of course his butt-copy became famous around the office and before long he was fired from Nakamura Industries.

Hiro, wanting to make things right decides that he will go back in time and stop Tadashi from photocopying his butt. If Tadashi had never done this, Hiro thinks, he would not have lost his job, and if he had not lost his job he would not be standing on the ledge of a very tall building threatening suicide right now. Simple, right? Easy, right?

Wrong.

Hiro returns to the “new future”, the one where Tadashi was prevented from photocopying his butt. Mission accomplshed. Good job, Hiro. Suddenly the phone rings, it’s Tadashi, he’s on the ledge again. It seems that although Hiro prevented Tadashi from photocopying his butt the first time, Tadashi still managed to find the time to sit his bottom on the scanbed and press, “Start.”

As the episode continues we learn that Hiro attempts to stop Tadashi from copying his butt a total of 47 times. Each time Hiro saves him from making this mistake he finds another way to make it happen. It’s as if he is bent on photocopying his butt, no matter what.

But that isn’t the real issue here. The real issue here is that Tadashi was prevented from learning from his mistakes. Of course he is going to photocopy his butt! He wanted to the first time and since he does not have the experience of the consequences of that action he is going to continue to plot that course for his life.

Experience builds character. Sometimes God lets us go through things, horrible things even, so that we learn from our own mistakes and establish stronger character. God is not responsible for you photocopying your butt and getting fired from your job! But oh how many souls will stand upon the ledge of life and blame him for all their own problems.  God wants to  help you grow in character through your successes as well as through your failures. Each experience (the good and the bad) is important in your journey towards success.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity take a quick look around. What could you learn from this circumstance? What might God want to reveal to you through this experience? It doesn’t matter what your circumstance is and it doesn’t matter whether it is easy or difficult, simple or complex, good or bad. What is going on in your life right now and what can you learn from it?

So, the next time you photocopy your butt, don’t worry about it! You have an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and help others along the way. Don’t you bet that Tadashi wishes someone had come to him and said, “Tadashi! Do not photocopy your butt! I tried that once and lost my job…”?

“Embrace adversity and you will rise above it,  fear adversity and you will sink beneath it.”

Cheers,
Cody Miller
214-682-5331
cody@retirebefore25.com

Tags: Entrepreneurship, Motivation, Tips, Training

Categories: Cody Miller , MLM Training , Young Entrepreneurs