These unprovoked series of events changed my life.

After 17 years of financial security working for:

The Company

It became impossible for us “COMPEQ” to compete with the final product prices imposed by aggressive companies moving their business to China, these companies, took the human rights of the Chinese workers hostage, and with the complicity of the wealthy, and in the name of “greedy” near slavery conditions were permitted to become legal, and in consequence I lost my Job.

A while ago, I read a phrase that I quote here. 

“It is OK to feel satisfied with what you have but is never OK to feel satisfied with what you are.”

After I became unemployed, I understood the meaning of that phrase better than ever. While I was working at COMPEQ Int., I felt fully satisfied with my life’s and with my performance, I stop looking for improvement, neither on my communications or in my education.

Do you feel falling into this same trap?

During these years working at COMPEQ, everything became routine, we always talk about the challenges of the day, safety, productivity and “on-time delivery”

I remember that during that time, a friend gave me this book “Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson M.D.” Its lecture sent me on the right path, and I started working into form a continuous improvement plan.

 This blog is to show that there is a way out of the comfort trap.

A note of gratitude:       

During all the years working at COMPEQ International, my financial status was well secured. I can only feel grateful for the success this company brought to my life.  I got promoted early as a production foreman, eight years later I move into a supervisor position where I worked for nine years, it was during that time that I learn many valuable skills. I once got invited to visit Taiwan, during that trip I learn from the leaders of the main factories, which was a wonderful experience. I became very impressed with their culture and the discipline they embrace, but overall, I will always be grateful for the hospitality of my Taiwanese bosses and for the lessons that they share with me.

Now coming on point:

During this crazy time the economy started to swirl into depression.

The security I had was gone in one instant. I confess that when I realize the trouble I got in to, I got scared. The national economy was in crisis; high-tech companies were moving out of the Country faster than we could count, a “drain off effect” started sucking all the jobs out of the Country, destabilizing the entire world’s market.

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Outside of my expertise in the Circuit Boards Technology, my skills were insufficient to compete in other venues, and I had very little confidence that I could overcome those arising issues.

However, my family was very supportive; my wife, my son and my daughters gave me the necessary confidence to start working on my education.

I started a two steps Project

First step: Improve my education. I had to obtain a GED and validate my high School degree here in USA.

Second step: Improve my communication skills.

For the first 18 months I kept focus

I attended school and at the same time worked on a part-time job with a temporary agency, while in the meantime I was looking to find a more permanent source of income.

After obtaining my GED. I  keep on going and I start attending college, my goal was to become a Web Designer; at the same time, I study in the Lynda’s training website, (where I got a certification on the video-graphics field), one of my goals was to become self-employed, and for that reason I started my company “DeAve videography,” my intention was, to capture the Latino market, which loves and pays for video-recording their “quinceañeras” and their weddings. 

2 years’ latter.

I got my GED diploma from Horizonte High School,

Following my continues improvement plan I attend the Salt Lake Community College for two years, and I attain a Certificate of Proficiency with a major in Website Designer

But the one thing that stands up to me during this time, is the improvement I attain in my communication skills, and this was as a consequence of consistently listen to Audio books.

After I started listening to Audio books, my vocabulary increased greatly. I have by today listen to 176 books out of which I fully completed 144 of them. I also obtain 30 certifications from the “Lynda.com training site”                                    

In sum:

Applying this maximum “it is OK to feel satisfied with what you have but is never OK to feel satisfied with what you are” will spin your life for better outcomes, and it will do that, by the power of a compound effect.