or How to be the MacGyver of Your Own Life
“Just think of all the shit I can burn with this one little match.”
What if your biggest inadequacy was actually your greatest asset? What if not having or being everything you want or need right now is forcing you to be more creative and unique? What if seemingly negative circumstances have given you remarkable gifts?
In short, what if destiny is calling upon you to be the MacGyver of your own life?
Well, it is. It’s calling upon all of us. That’s the only way forward. Our only option is to be grateful for what we have and to do the best we can with it.
Like MacGyver, you can’t defuse a bomb with tools you don’t have. Sometimes you only have bailing wire and bubble gum, and we’re all going to die if you don’t stop complaining about what you don’t have and figure this shit out with what you do have.
Why? Because scarcity inspires creativity. Problems create problem solvers. Wounds lead to healing. It’s how the world works.
Just think about it:
- Some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs grew up penniless. They were hungry and had nothing to lose. Growing up rich, on the other hand, is often (but not always) a sure-fire to avoid taking risks and never really do anything with your life.
- Many of our greatest healers were once the most injured. Tony Robbins was a fat, broke kid with an abusive step-father, but he went on to build a coaching empire. Oprah was sexually abused numerous times as a child and young woman, and she channeled that pain into building a media empire around healing. Eckhart Tolle was lost and alone in the months before being inspired to write the Power of Now.
- Some of our most powerful leaders grew up fatherless. Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both grew up without father-figures. Ronald Reagan’s and Gerald Ford’s fathers were abusive alcoholics. Instead of lamenting the lack of male leadership in their lives, they developed an innate ability to take care of themselves and to lead others.
- A great number of our most inspiring athletes are disabled. Still feeling sorry for yourself? Watch the Paralympics this summer. There are few events that can inspire more awe and remind you how lucky most of us really are.
So, what are you “missing?” What do you sit around wishing you had? If only I were taller. If only I were thinner. If only my father had believed in my dreams. If only I wasn’t born in Idaho…or Sri Lanka.
Whatever tragedy has befallen you…whatever you wish you always had…whatever wound you are still nursing…I am deeply sorry for your loss.
But this is all you have right now. And if you want to have more bricks and tools to build an even more beautiful life sometime in the future, you need to do the most with the beat-up and imperfect bricks you have now.
Just like a moonless night makes the stars seem even brighter, sometimes not having something makes our less obvious gifts and opportunities more apparent to us.
So, ask yourself… What has my life made me uniquely suited for? Who can I inspire and heal with my story? What skills did I have to learn to make up for not having things handed to me? What gifts did the universe bestow upon me to make up for not having gifts somewhere else?
Answer those questions, and you will become the MacGyver of your own life.
…
If you liked this story (even a little), please click the little heart below. It will help other people read it, and it will mean a lot to me.
Edward Sullivan is the founder and head coach at LeadWell.co — a boutique coaching and training organization. With offices in San Francisco and New York, LeadWell helps leaders and their teams optimize their performance and overcome obstacles to growth. He can be reached at edward@leadwell.co.