Small Business Success

John Curran’s Journey of Self-Discovery

Hi my name is John Curran, and many of you may not know me, so I’ve created this video to share my story so you can get to know me at a deeper level. Hopefully what I’m about to share with you today will help to inspire you to overcome whatever adversities and challenges you may be experiencing right at this moment. Each of us is endowed with unique gifts and talents that are part of our DNA, which was given to us at birth.

Today I'd like to talk about three periods in my life, and some of the defining moments which caused a transformational shift in my thinking and behavior. They can also be thought of as “breakthrough” moments or epiphanies. We all have them at sometime in our life. I’m sure you can relate.

I was born in 1959, growing up in a city near Boston and having a typical childhood with the usual ups and downs. I went on to college, got my degree and started working in the medical field as a respiratory therapist. Unfortunately, during my free time I would get together on weekends with my friends to hang out at local bars to drink.

I did this for many years until I received a wake-up call while living in San Diego: I was pulled over and arrested for DUI. As a result, I lost my license and was required to attend a 3-month program. I completed the program and stopped drinking for a short time. But unfortunately a year later I relapsed and was arrested again and received another DUI. This time I was required to go through a more rigorous 18-month program, which involved some jail time due to fines that I owed to the court. I can remember how humiliating it was to spend 30 days in jail, being stripped of my freedom and self worth.

This was one of the lowest points in my life. But despite how I felt, I found the inner strength to quit drinking. On March 22, 1998 I became sober with the help Alcoholics Anonymous and many friends. I continue to stay sober to this day. I am grateful for being given a second chance.

The second period of my life involves my 30 years in the field of respiratory therapy. During this time I’ve worked in a variety of staff and leadership positions where I discovered that I have a passion for helping others. I’ve learned that I have a gift of teaching and speaking. Like any job it has positive and negative parts to it. One of the challenges in dealing with death and dying, are the patients we call the “frequent fliers”, those who continue living an unhealthy lifestyle after we patch them up for the umpteenth time.

Needing a break from respiratory therapy, I took a sabbatical from my full time job to work as a facilitator certifying life coaches for an international coaching and training company. I traveled up to Toronto, Canada in order to get the necessary training and skills. This turned out to be a real learning experience for me. I ended up making very little profit after my expenses were paid for the hotel conference room along with advertising and marketing costs to promote the event. I realized that I had just replaced my full-time job with another one that paid a lot less. I was building someone else’s dreams instead of my own, which was a big mistake.

Now, nearly broke, I returned to respiratory therapy. I needed a steady paycheck. During this period, I went on to get additional training in coaching technologies, client attraction, and developing the entrepreneurial mindset. I am now certified as a business strategy coach, and am continuing my training in obtaining additional certifications in accountability and assessment.

Now here I am at age 51 looking back on my life and having another of those defining moments, and entering into the third phase of my life. I think of this phase as “The Journey into Life Coaching.” Being both a student and teacher of the self-help business for the last 30 years I have always been drawn to the life coaching business and the psychology of what makes people tick and behave the way they do. To this day my role models are Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Steven Covey, and many other inspirational leaders.

Some of the most gratifying moments for me as a coach is to bring out the best in others and watch them grow and develop over time. It’s a gratifying experience when I realize that I have played a significant role in shaping someone's life. It’s a feeling that’s priceless. It’s a feeling that money can’t buy. It’s the reason WHY I do what I do.

And now I find myself having another one of those defining moments. This time it’s a little different because I’m now working with a coach who I recently hired to help me to get clear on my purpose in life. As we peel back the layers of the onion, so to speak, and drill down to my unique purpose, I realize that I’m approaching another fork in the road. I can chose to continue working full-time and gradually transition into working part time as I build my coaching practice, or take a leap of faith and focus my time and energies exclusively on building my coaching practice.

For the moment, I’ve decided to continue working full time until my income from the coaching business is adequate to replace the income from my full time job.

Transitioning from working for someone else to being an entrepreneur is a big step. I’m inspired by my younger brother who has transitioned into becoming a successful entrepreneur. He tells me that it was the best decision he ever made. He is able to spend time with his wife and three children, watching them grow up.

Do you find yourself in a similar situation? Are you trying to decide what direction to take in your life? Does this bring up some fear for you? Do you feel stuck, stressed out or unfulfilled in your current job? Well you’re not alone. I’ve experienced these feelings too. That’s the reason why I’m here talking to you today, and sharing my vey personal story with you. It’s not something I normally share with people. In fact, it is uncomfortable. But I realize that my story has the potential to help many people who are suffering with similar challenges.

I’m here to share with you my experiences, so you don’t have waste years of your life. I’m here to save you the time and money, so you can learn through my experiences and dramatically shorten the learning curve. It’s never too late to make a U-turn if you’re going in the wrong direction. I’ve had to do it numerous times, and you can to do it to.

Life has a way of teaching us the lessons we need to learn. If we don’t learn the first time around, then we are forced to repeat it again until we finally grasp what we need to learn in order to move to the next lesson and phase of our life. Unfortunately many people never learn the lessons they need to learn and keep doing the same things over and over again, which as you know is futile.

I know that you’re not one of these people because you’re still with me listening. I want to reach out to you to let you know that I’m here to help. You’re not alone. You can accomplish so much more in your life then even realize right now! You have unique gifts, talents and potential within you to achieve greatness. You were put on this planet for a purpose. You were born to make a difference in the world. You were born to leave a legacy, to bring something here that was not here before you got here.

We live in a world where we are told more about our limitations than our potential, so in order to counteract all of this negativity we have to surround ourselves with a network of people who empower us, and an environment that uplifts us. We need to plug into inspirational messages. Why is this critical to our success? Let me share some interesting statistics that I learned from one of my mentors Les Brown, which will blow your mind.

MIT did a study. They discovered that when we say, "John, you CAN'T do that,” whatever the goal is, that someone else has to come along and say 17 times, “You can do it." Hearing "You can do it" 17 times, will neutralize that one time that I said "I can't do it." So I say to you “You can do it.”

As you can see from this MIT study, it takes a significant amount of momentum to overcome the gravitational force of all the negative energy in our lives.

One of ways to stack the odds in your favor is to work with a coaching partner. Some of the most successful people I know have a coach. They immerse themselves in an environment of like-minded, kindred spirits, who challenge and bring out the best in them. People like coaches, role models and mentors who see WITHIN YOU what you cannot YET see in yourself.

If something I’ve said today struck a chord in you and resonates with you, then you’re the person I’m here to serve. I’ll be posting this video on my blog, so that you’ll have a platform to share YOUR STORY. I want to hear from you. I want to know what some of your fears, frustrations, and challenges are. I look forward to reading your comments and hearing your stories!

If you want to connect with me, you can do so by clicking any of the  Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube icons on the right hand side of this blog. I want to thank you for your time and honor you for being here. Talk to you soon!

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