Written by: Stevie Orrill, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The Return
It was the 16th of March 2020. I took a call from my Sales Manager. She was a good friend of mine and relatively new to this particular role. We made some small talk and discussed a few different topics. I could sense she was nervous. And then she said, “We’ve decided to put you on an informal performance improvement plan.”
My heart skipped a beat. This was something I’d heard of. Something that happened to people who struggle with performance. I’d always been a high achiever. It made no sense to me. The injustice made it difficult to process. I had my instincts as to who and what might have been behind it. I reacted as I’d conditioned myself over the course of a lifetime to react. I went on the attack and stood up for myself.
After a few sleepless nights, I took on a corporation, made my case, and enjoyed a small win. The winning has little significance. I took no joy from that. What’s more relevant is…
All my life, I’ve been an underdog. When I feel a sense of injustice, my instinct is to stand up for the truth.
Opportunities to find strength & courage come when life seems most challenging.
My 15-year career working as a corporate employee ended a few months after this phone call, entirely on my terms. There can be no future without trust.
This was the push I needed to break through fear and pursue my true purpose and passion in life. I might never have jumped had life not intervened. At that moment, I took control of my life. How is it that we end up following a path that is not the one we would choose voluntarily?
The Call to Adventure
As a child growing up in the ’80s and ’90s. I was often subject to ridicule or humiliation. My experience was no different to most children trying to find their place in Thatcher’s Britain at that time.
There’s one particular experience I remember vividly. I was with some “friends,” smoking around the back of a mobile classroom during a school lunch break. We must have been about 13 or 14 years of age. There was one lad – a really big lad – determined to show me how he could make smoke come out of his ears. I knew it was a ruse. To avoid any prolonged conflict, I went along with the experiment.
All I had to do was stand behind him with my hands around his chest and watch his ears while he inhaled. Of course, smoke never came out of his ears. Instead, I received a sharp burn to the back of my hand from his cigarette. That was the punchline to this schoolyard party trick.
I don’t remember if I laughed with my friends at the time. I don’t remember how much it hurt, physically or emotionally. What I know is that this experience – along with many others – left an indelible mark on my emerging character. My personal brand was taking shape…
When I’m faced with the choice of being humiliated or responding with conflict, I’ll always choose conflict. Whatever the outcome, my soul can rest much easier when I take a stand.
I instinctively empathize with those who are silenced, victimized, bullied, or made to suffer in any way.
My desire for safety would play an integral role in the decisions I took as a young adult.
Our early experiences lead us on an adventure. It’s an adventure where we are searching for ourselves.
Into the Abyss
At 26 years of age, I was married and living in an apartment complex in Tampa, Florida. The paperwork I needed to work in the US legally had recently arrived. I could have done anything.
A lively social scene meant I was able to establish friendships with a number of my neighbors. One friend, in particular, was keen to help me find a job. He had recently moved from New York and was looking for qualified people to work for a Computer Software company. He secured an interview for me, and I was soon offered a job.
I took that job for one reason… the compensation package. My need to feel safe was the subconscious driver behind that decision. My true passions, desires & talents were given little consideration as I made that decision. They were given little consideration for the next 15 years.
The decisions I made allowed me to feel financially secure. Peers respected me. I attained a certain prestige in my life. But how secure was I really? Working in an environment that I had no passion for meant that I had to drag myself out of bed every Monday morning.
It meant I was constantly looking over my shoulder, trying to prove myself against whatever metrics were the latest to be arbitrarily asked of me. It meant that the work I came here to do – the work that allows me to enjoy blissful happiness and positively impact the lives of others – was put to one side.
However, there are no arbitrary experiences. We are all destined to face our shadow selves before we can ascend to a higher plane.
Without these experiences, I wouldn’t have been exposed to the insight that allowed me to transform. Here’s what I know now, that has taken me half a lifetime to work out…
When we allow fear and material desires to guide us, we move away from our true purpose and the things that make us happy.
Words really do not teach. Your true knowledge comes from your own life experience.
You only hear what you are ready to hear.
Nothing is a coincidence.
This is my story. We each have our own unique, powerful story.
We begin our lives in the “ordinary world” before being called on an adventure and are plunged into the “unknown world.” We experience trials, are subject to ordeals, encounter mentors and enemies before returning – often reluctantly – as the master of two worlds.
All too often, we dismiss our stories. We write them off as coincidences. The truth is, they encapsulate our greatest gifts.
This story is my brand. It is the life and the gift that was given to me. Your brand is in your story. The most significant story you ever need to tell is your own.
You’re invited to join me for a free 5-day workshop from March 22nd-26th, where we will get deeply connected with our stories and learn how to turn them into profitable brands - https://www.todaywillbe.com/passiontoprofit.
As Joseph Campbell said, “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
Stevie Orrill, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Stevie Orrill is a leading mindset coach. Following an epiphany that his traumatic childhood meant that he was relying on outdated survival-based programming, he made a conscious choice not to settle for a life that isn't fully aligned with his true purpose. Directed by the powerful experience of his own personal transformation, he is an expert at taking high achievers to become the fulfilled and fearless leaders they were born to be. His mission: To create a reality where people wake up every day feeling on purpose, fulfilled, and in love with their life. He is the founder of Today Will Be and his work is underscored by a belief that every human is capable of achieving extraordinary things… if they make the choice to connect with it. He has created programs that transform the life experience of others.
