I have experienced something of a turnaround in my personal
and professional life, and I owe it all to my mentor, George Costanza.
Yes, I’m actually talking about the character played by
Jason Alexander on the sitcom “Seinfeld”.
I made a conscious decision about a year ago to follow George Costanza’s teachings, and it is actually working. It is certainly more worthwhile than reading “The
Secret”.
You might remember the episode of “Seinfeld” in which George
casually mentions that every choice he has made in life has been the wrong
one. Jerry replies that he should just
do the opposite. “If every decision you
have made in life has been the wrong one,” states Jerry, “then the opposite would
have to be the correct one.” George’s
eyes widen “Yes! I will start to do the
opposite!”
Such is my life. I
spent many years making what seemed like good decisions at the time (to me),
but in actuality they turned out to be mistakes. Not finishing college was one of those
mistakes.
So a year ago, I started to do the opposite. OK, the credit doesn’t go entirely to George
Costanza. It was actually a decision I
reached on my own, but the theory is the same.
If working in the same line of work has barely been able to pay the
bills, then doing something completely different, the opposite, must be better,
right?
So I left a profession in which I had worked for more than
20 years. I took a leap of faith and
applied for a job that looked interesting to me…and I was hired. The result:
a pay increase of nearly 30 percent.
I had always managed to get hired based upon my extensive
work history and the reputation that preceded me, but before landing my new job
I started studying with Penn Foster
College. I made a decision to finish my formal
education. If dropping out of school to
work a series of low paying jobs is the wrong decision, changing careers and
resuming school would be the opposite.
As a result of my long hours of work in my previous
profession, I did not exercise, ate foods that were bad for me and the stress from
my job caused me to develop a couple of medical conditions. A few months ago, I started working out and
watching what I ate…the opposite of what I had been doing. The result?
I have dropped about 25 pounds and no longer rely on many medications I
had been taking.
George Costanza, perhaps unwittingly, has a lesson for many
of us. If what you are doing isn’t
working…whether it be your job, your study habits, your relationships…then do
what you KNOW is right. Do the
opposite. It is scary stepping outside
of your comfort zone. Perhaps you are
afraid of failing, and it’s that fear that keeps you from making any real,
significant change in your life. Doing
the same thing, however, ENSURES failure.
If something is not working, why keep doing it?
I had only been studying a half hour or an hour a day, if
even that. My studies were really
dragging. Now, I am doing the
opposite. I am studying two hours a day
and I will finish my Principles of Marketing course this week. Doing the opposite of what I had been doing
helped me finish faster than my previous method of studying.
I have no regrets about any of my “opposite” decisions. They have all worked for me, so far. I have a few more things on my list of “opposites”
to complete…begin paying myself first each payday, investing my money, buying
instead of renting my home and eventually running my own business. These are all things that I have done the opposite
of my entire adult life, and I feel that continuing to do “the opposite” will
only continue to pay off for me.
I’m only sorry I didn’t listen to George Costanza earlier.