Why Getting Fired Want the Best Thing for My Career

It took me about two years to admit that I got fired from a job. Not laid off…..fired.

I was absolutely mortified and embarrassed at the time, but I can say it now because it ended up being the best thing that could have ever happened for my career.

If you’re going through or have recently gone through a hard time and you’re having trouble figuring out WHY this is all happening to you, stick around because I’m going to share how to find meaning in the challenges you have faced or are currently facing right now.

I'm sharing.....

-How evaluating the WHY of what’s upsetting you can provide clarity
-How pain is actually helping you grow
-How to pull yourself out of despair when you can’t see the light up ahead

You can listen here or read the transcript below.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

PODCAST EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

If you're currently going through or have recently gone through a hard time and you're stuck in the why is this happening to me phase, hang around, because today I'm going to share how to climb your way out and find the silver lining in your situation.

Hi. Welcome to Lessons on Happiness. I'm your host, Val Malnar, and I'm here to talk to you about finding happiness through healing, personal growth, and mindset practice. My hope is that by sharing my story and the methods I've used to become a happier person, I can help you on your journey to do the same. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I hope you enjoy the show.

Hey there, peeps. Today I'm talking about why getting fired was the best thing that could have ever happened for my career in hopes that it helps you gain some insight and helps you through your less than desirable situation. In this episode, I'll be explaining why evaluating the WHY of what's upsetting you can provide you with clarity.

I'll show you how realizing the pain you're going through is actually helping you grow and how to pull yourself out of despair even when you can't see the light up ahead.

Let me give you a bit of a background. In January of 2017, I was hired by a very reputable kitchen and bath company near the small town that I live in. I was super excited about the position and was really looking forward to getting my foot in the door at a company where I thought I could really make some strides. I had recently graduated from the interior decorating program at Conestoga College, and I was really looking forward to working for a company where I could learn and grow from other professionals in the industry and hopefully become a successful designer one day. However, very quickly, I realized that my personality wasn't necessarily suited to their company culture, and I felt like I didn't really fit in. I continued to work away every day at the job, and I didn't mind it. I was a preliminary kitchen designer, so designers would provide me with rough sketches of what they had intended to design for their clients and then I would drop the designs in the cabinetry software so that the clients could visualize how their kitchens and bathrooms would look once the cabinet build was done.

I didn't mind the job. I definitely felt like it was going to be a stepping stone for something later on down the line. I definitely felt like I was kind of more suited for helping to actually design the kitchen and bathrooms rather than doing the drawings for them, but like I said, this was a very reputable company and I just wanted to get my foot in the door. So I worked for them for a couple of months, and I'll say I was progressing at a rate that I thought seemed fairly decent and based on some feedback that I had from some of the people who were working above me. I felt I was fairly on track. However, about a month before my probationary period was up, I was pulled into the office and told that I was being let go because of the fact that I was not learning the software quickly enough. So I immediately became upset and felt kind of like I was being treated unjustly. I remember feeling really nervous and my throat got full and my voice was kind of shaky. And I remember saying that I felt it was unfair to not give me a chance. And they just very quickly shot me down saying that this was a business decision and to not take it personally, that they had found someone else and they were going to move on.

And so I cleaned out my desk and went out to my car and called my husband crying my face off and my husband is a principal software engineer and so he's worked with software for a really extended amount of time and so he was like, what? What are you talking about? You haven't even worked there for two months. They haven't even given you a chance to learn this software. This is ridiculous. We give people who are in the industry, who have been in the industry at least six months to learn a software.This is crazy. So now you know I have a really awesome husband who's super supportive.

Anyway, I'm crying and he's like, I'm so sorry, babe. This is not fair. And in my mind, I'm just like thinking all the worst things and then in the middle of my crying, I said, you know what? I'm not even upset because I love this job so much because I don't. I'm upset because I was upset because I was embarrassed. I had never been fired from anything before. I had never even been written up for anything ever before. I felt humiliated. My ego was bruised.

I wasn't going to miss the job and I wasn't going to miss the people because I already mentioned I didn't fit in there and the money wasn't great. I actually took them the job for quite a bit less than actually what we had originally talked about, but because I really wanted to get into that company. So really I was just upset because my ego was bruised.

I just want to bring that to your attention because sometimes when we're upset about something, we don't sit back and look at why we're upset about it. I mean, have you ever been dating someone who you weren't really that into and they ended up breaking up with you and then you get upset because they broke up with you and then you're like, why am I upset? I don't even really like them. But really, it's just like it's a stab to your ego, right?

So I just want to point that out so that whatever the hard time you're going through is…. And I know this is obviously not as hard a time as some other situations, but the rule still applies. Take a look at the situation and evaluate why is it that I'm upset? Because if you know why you're upset, then you can figure out how to combat that upset. So anyways, getting back to why getting fired was one of the best things that could have ever happened for my career, the next thing is that it really forced me to make a big decision. So right after I graduated, and I should mention I've gone to school several times, I'm a multi, passionate person and so this was my third diploma. Yes, this was my third diploma. I've been working hard my whole life. I started working at eleven years old, babysitting, and with a paper route. I worked at a convenience store, stocking shelves and cleaning merchandise. By age 13, I was working at a retirement home, serving residents food and doing dishes and helping with food prep and I started waitressing when I was 17 and then as an adult had various different jobs and now I am an entrepreneur and the founder and principal designer at Orangetree Interiors.

In all of that time, and actually my whole life, I was always taught that you have to work really hard to make money and so that's what I did. I worked really hard to make money. And when I was fired from this job, I had to make a decision. I had to make a big decision. At 40 years old, I had worked so hard for so many different people.

I went to school three times and I was getting frustrated. I really wanted to make that money that I was told to work so hard for. And so after being fired, I had to make a decision. Do I want to go and find another job where I was going to make less than satisfactory pay and work really hard for someone else? Or did I want to take my earning potential into my own hands and create something on my own?

So I sat with it for a bit. As an interior decorating graduate, I had two clear paths I could take. I could go and work for someone else and learn as much as I could from them and gain knowledge fairly quickly, but make a very little pay or I could start my own thing and work really hard, which I knew I was already good at, and potentially be able to earn a whole bunch more money. So I decided to go for option number two.

In addition to forcing me out of my comfort zone and getting me on the entrepreneurial path, getting fired and starting a new business taught me so many valuable things. One, I can do anything that I put my mind to. Two, I'm smarter than I thought I was. And three, you can learn pretty much anything by searching google and YouTube.

I've learned more in the last four and a half years of being an entrepreneur than I have in my entire academic and professional career. It's mind blowing.

That is super valuable information for me to have. I really struggled with confidence and worrying that people thought I was stupid for pretty much my entire life. And going through this journey and starting a business and having it become pretty successful in a four and a half year period is actually pretty impressive.

Which leads me to the next point, which is there is always a bright side. When I worked at that job that I was telling you about at the beginning of the episode, I felt small. Like my opinion didn't matter, and I was bored with the repetitiveness of the day to day tasks. And I hated that I was away from home 10 hours a day while my kids were still so young.

And while starting a business was demanding of my time, I got to do it on my own terms and from home during hours that suited our family schedule. I got to build a business around a subject that I love and in a virtual manner that would allow me to have more flexibility in my schedule and it would also give me the most important voice in the company so I no longer felt small.

The point I'm trying to make here is that sometimes we don't always see why something is happening to us when we're going through it and it's easy to get stuck there wondering, why me? Why is this happening? Why not someone else?

Don't get stuck there. Instead, have faith that while what's happening to you is shitty, it's part of your journey and it will in some way help you in the next part of your life. I know that can be hard at times, but looking back, in hindsight, I'm so glad I got fired. If I didn't get fired, I never would have started a business on my own. I never would have had a flexible schedule where I could come and go as I please. I never would have realized how smart I am and gained confidence in myself. I never would have realized how creating your own dream life is actually possible. All of this happened so that I would learn all of these things so that it will prepare me for the next part of my life.

So when things get really rough, just think about it. Why are you upset? What lesson are you supposed to learn here? What good could come out of this? Focus on the parts of your life that are good so that you'll be in a better headspace when the next chapter reveals itself.

That's all I got for now. I hope you found this helpful. If you liked this episode, please subscribe and share it with your friends. Thank you so much for listening. Sending you so much peace and love. Bye for now.

Thanks so much for listening to the Lessons on Happiness podcast. If you'd like to know more about the information I'm sharing or how I've become a happier person, check out the show notes, reach out to me on social or email me at val@valmalnar.com. My goal is to help as many people as possible live happier lives, so if you've enjoyed this episode, please take a screenshot and share it on Social and tag @valmalnar so that we can reach far and wide.

I'd also love your feedback, so please leave a review so that I can be sure to create more content that is helpful and resonates with you. Thanks again for tuning in and until next time, wishing you happy vibes and big strides.

I hope my story helped you see that sometimes the blessing is in the hard thing. It’s taken me a lot of years to change my perspective on situations like this, but I’m getting better every day. If you have any questions or want to know more about the tools and techniques I use to keep pull myself out of less than desirable situations, send me a message. I would absolutely LOVE to connect with you.

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I hope we can connect in a deeper way. If you have any questions about any of the information I'm sharing please send me a message and I'll be happy to help.

Sending love and hugs,