Use Setbacks To Set Up Success
At some point in our lives we will all experience grief. Losing a loved one, ending a marriage, or failing at a job can be difficult to overcome. So how can we bring ourselves back up when life kicks us down? As John Maxwell says, “Only by taking action can we pull ourselves out of the pits we find ourselves in.”
No stranger to grief, Amy Barg wouldn’t wish her experiences on anyone. After a long marriage, Amy went through a painful divorce due to her husband’s infidelity. But life wasn’t done with her yet. She went on to endure a major surgery, the loss of both of her parents within nine months of each other, and the loss of two jobs in a five year period after moving to a new location for one of them. Single and alone in a new city while collecting an unemployment check, Amy needed a change.
In 2014 Amy was an avid reader of John Maxwell’s blogs and online teachings and she sensed that it was time for her to invest in herself. She says, “The John Maxwell Team was the perfect next step to incorporate my past experiences as a teacher, non-profit professional, and a marketer into a speaking, coaching, and training business.” She took some money her parents left her and made the decision to invest in herself.
“You can use binoculars to see how far I’ve come,” Amy says. “I’ve transitioned from working for someone else to becoming an entrepreneur. I stretched my interest in personal growth to a new level. The John Maxwell Team gives me confidence and credibility I could not have gained another way.”
Amy was determined to turn her painful experiences into valuable lessons to help others grow. She considers herself a “growth environment specialist” and she has made a career of helping others to overcome their obstacles to live the best lives they can. “I create new ways to engage people in experiences that bring joy and expand thinking. I help them to create a growth environment for themselves and their teams.”
In 2016, Amy published her first book, Seeing Blind Spots: Leadership Lessons from Real Life. Amy met and married her husband Sam, and the two have been inseparable ever since. She credits her decision to join the John Maxwell Team with providing her the creativity, freedom, and partnership she needed to turn negative experiences into positive life lessons. “The John Maxwell Team is this incredibly encouraging, friendly, limiting belief exterminator. It was the best decision. I would NOT be where I am today if I hadn’t taken that step to join the team.”
While Amy’s journey has been difficult at times, she has managed to turn negatives into positives by committing to growing herself every day. She believes that you can make a decision to change your life no matter what you’ve been through. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.”