I. Rejected by seven universities
When I was 18 I wanted to be a computer scientist. So I applied to seven US universities that are known for computer science. MIT, Cal Berkley, Georgia Tech etc. But I was rejected by everyone.
Shortly afterwards, a school counselor told me to apply to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, which had a rapidly growing computer science and engineering program. I did it out of desperation. And I was accepted and received a scholarship.
And when I settled in Orlando, the move changed my life.
I met Angel there – my wife and the love of my life. And I met a professor, Dr. Eaglan, who persuaded me to move from the Faculty of Computer Science to the Faculty of Computer Technology, with a strong focus on web design and technical writing – two skills that I use today to run the blog you are reading now (one Website that makes me happy and supports my family financially).
If I hadn’t been rejected by these seven computer science schools, none of these priceless encounters would have taken place.
II. Your writing is not good enough
During my school days I started enjoying my technical writing lessons so much that I decided to take a few optional subjects for creative writing. I absolutely fell in love with inspiring stories and expressed myself in prose.
So I applied for a part-time editorial position at the school newspaper. I sent them five articles that I wrote along with my application. I received an email two days later explaining warmly that my writing was not good enough.
That afternoon I went home with an injured ego and told Angel what had happened. She hugged me and said, “Regardless of what someone says, if writing makes you happy, you should keep writing. Because that’s exactly what happy writers do. You write. “
And after a bit more discussion, she added: “I also like to write. We should start our own little writing club and write together. “A few minutes later, Angel and I turned on my computer and registered the domain name marcandangel.com. Our blogging days started.
In other words, if my five articles had not been rejected by the school newspaper, the article you are reading would never have been written.
III. Fired to do the right thing
After college, Angel used her business degree to become a head store manager at a major retailer. She was in her twenties and ran a $ 40 million store alone. Even though some of the regional leaders thought she was too young, she was far too good to do anything about it.
Until one day in 2009, when one of her floor managers got a DUI on Friday evening and went to prison. He didn’t have enough money to leave a $ 600 deposit, so he called Angel to let her know that he wouldn’t be able to get to work the next day. Angel decided to lend him the $ 600 he needed. The regional leaders found out and released Angel the next morning without a valid statement.
Suddenly Angel had a lot of free time. While looking for another job, she spent her afternoons marketing our blog. She learned everything about social media marketing and opened accounts for us on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites – the main source of traffic for our blog today.
We didn’t know it at the time, but traffic would increase exponentially over the next three years, and by January 2012 our blog would make enough money to completely replace Angel’s lost salary so that she could work full time on it and get it paid for happy to be passionate.
If Angel hadn’t been fired, none of this would have happened.
Failures on the way to happiness
As our friend Steve Jobs once said: “You cannot connect the dots if you look ahead. You can only connect them backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will connect somehow in your future. You have to trust something – on your stomach, your fate, your life, your karma, whatever, this approach has never let me down and made the difference in my life. “
The truth is, it just happens. What looks like the end of the street can only be a dead end. It feels like rejection. It feels like a failure. But that’s not it.
You simply ran out of road on this route. Time to back up, turn around and search for a new route to get where you want to go. And as long as you keep smiling and moving forward, the way ahead will be far better than you can imagine. After all, it leads to happiness through all its twists and turns.
If you’re having problems, stay tuned. Remember, sometimes the best thing that can happen to you in the long run is not getting exactly what you want.
