I had sold a business for close to a million dollars and a few years later was totally broke, driving a car that was about to fall apart, and unable to afford to go out to events with my friends. I kept my plight secret from family, friends, and even a steady girlfriend who was my closest confidant mainly because I was so embarrassed to have been given so much and then to have lost it.
I spent more of my free time watching television and one week I ended up viewing five biographies of entrepreneurs. Each person had failed multiple times. They had been in far worse situations than I had, both financially and personally, yet somehow they had all recovered from massive indebtedness. Many well-known, successful businessmen had all been there before me. Perspective finally hit home and I accepted emotionally what I knew intuitively, which was that I was not alone. It was the moment when I first began to hope that my circumstances might change for the better.
Gaining the perspective that I was not unique in succeeding and then failing in spectacular fashion allowed me to begin to hope. I dreamed of the day I would be out of debt and thought of it every moment. Beginning to hope created a mindset and certainty that I would succeed—and a few years later, I did!
