This past week, we found out that New England Patriots' QB Tom Brady's four game suspension for Deflategate was upheld by the superior court in NYC.
It's become apparent that the whole Deflategate investigation and "scandal" was a league manufactured scam to go after the all too successful Patriots at the behest of other NFL owners and league officials with an ax to grind. It doesn't matter that the evidence was highly questionable or that they the league ignored science; it looks like Brady will still have to serve the ridiculous suspension...unless of course he can get the court to rehear his arguments.
The point of this post however isn't to discuss Deflategate. Instead, I'm using that situation to point out a very important point in life...it's not always fair.
There are many examples from my own personal life where life wasn't fair, but I'll tell you about one in particular that forced me to change the path I was on.
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| The Contemporary Resort at WDW |
I once worked at Walt Disney World managing multi-million dollar resort renovation projects. I loved working there and had long-term career aspirations. I was told I was doing a fantastic job by my immediate bosses and was bringing in all my projects on-time and often under budget. I even worked many weekends inside one of the theme parks at an attraction so I could learn the operational side of the business; all in an attempt to be more well rounded and meet my career objectives.
Then one day, I got called in by human resources. I thought I was getting my annual appraisal, but instead was told I was being laid off. I was utterly shocked. How could this happen? Neither of my immediate bosses knew it was coming and we later learned because I had applied for another position in the company that would have been a promotion (which I was selected for and turned down because I realized that I really liked where I worked), that I was perceived as "disloyal" by the department's director.
Yes, I know that makes no sense, but because of that perceived transgression I was laid off with about a dozen others. This particular director was well known for screwing people for all manners of things that he thought were disrespectful, including one co-worker who was distracted and didn't reply to a "good morning."
My bosses did their best to argue against the action, but there was no changing the director's mind. People had to be laid off and despite my performance (and I was running circles around most of my peers), I was on his list. Thankfully, I got hired by another company we were doing business with, but my career aspirations with Disney were dashed.
(Ironically a few years later, one of the new directors told me only days before I left Florida that I never should heave been laid off and he wanted to bring me back. By that point, it was way too late...though I greatly appreciated it.)
In the end it all turned out well, but I learned a valuable lesson that day. LIFE IS NOT ALWAYS FAIR. Tom Brady is learning that now as well.
Did my dreams of a career with Disney being smashed deter me from moving forward in my life? No, it was simply a setback and I came back stronger from it. Tom Brady will I assume do the same.
For some however, there's no coming back from loss. They whine and complain that it wasn't fair and let their lives crumble around them. It's more of the blame game I discussed in an earlier post. I see it a lot in our society today, especially amongst Millennials. They weren't brought up to accept failure and when they have to deal with it, they shut down, blame others, etc.
I was told a long time ago by a mentor that how we deal with failure and roadblocks, defines our character. I truly believe that.
Learning that life isn't fair is an important step in realizing your full potential. You may not have the career you want, but when it comes to your character, you can be anything you choose to be.
