So, It Begins When YOU'RE FIRED!@#$%?

 

Kenny Atkinson, the NBA Coach of the Year for 2024-2025 admits that he NEEDED TO GET FIRED.  Frankly, in the NBA, the education of an NBA head coach DOESN'T begin with success.  The lessons start WHEN the same red carpet that welcomed you is pulled and the security code is NO longer valid at the practice facility and a search begins for your vacated job, the one you worked damn hard to get it for a lifetime [ONLY to be fired at the most unexpected timing].  YES, so it begins WHEN YOU'RE FIRED!@#$%?

So, YES, Coach Kenny Atkinson admitted that WHEN he got fired as head coach of NBA team Brooklyn Nets, he has 'GROWN A LOT'.  Admittedly, Coach Kenny said that after getting fired, he got a 'LITTLE TAKEN ABACK and HOW DO I TURN THIS AND GET BETTER'?  WHEN I was fired  [due to the corporate shakeup triggered when Dole owner David Murdock decided to buy back his controlling shares] from my plum I.T. role at Dole Food, I took it hard BUT I took it calmly.  HOW did I extricate myself out of it?  YES, that opened up new trailblazing career opportunities for me as it hastened my plans to migrate and try my luck in sunny Singapore😢😢😢

True, we all dread it.  WHO WOULD NOT?  Losing your job is the stuff of nightmares especially WHEN you NEVER expected it.  Everything from your finances to your personal life gets affected and WHO knows WHEN the next opportunity will come knocking on your door OR WHAT will it be, if at all.  BUT WHAT if that uncertainty and chaos that comes from getting laid off actually leads you in a direction that's even better than you could have imagined???

Let's revisit the recovery paths most of us [WHO GOT FIRED from their job] plotted quite successfully:

• That MOMENT OF PANIC - Obviously at that point in time, I felt helpless and panicked, NOT prepared to handle the darkest time in my life
• NEXT STEPS - As I did NOT have a backup plan, I had to go back to my drawing board and assess all my options and decide WHICH WAY TO GO
• BIG IDEA - Like a voice from the wilderness, that temptation to try my luck at sunny Singapore was knocking incessantly on my door.  I took that call

Our takeaway:  LESSONS LEARNT once I got fired were the best ever life lessons I have had.  That's WHEN I learned how useful was my networking.  That's WHEN I realized I [still] had the support structure. That's WHEN I looked within and take stock of things if I was still resilient enough, with that stamina and sanity to get over the hump.  YES, these life lessons come hard and sometimes it will hit you you hard lightning quick even before you realized it.  YES, dude, SOMETIMES IT BEGINS WHEN YOU'RE FIRED!@#$%?