In the past week, I connected with a business owner, who for the past 25 years, has been involved in the travel industry.  When Covid hit, he shut down his travel business.  The shut down left him with a mountain of debt, which has for all intents & purposes now been paid off.

The business owner reached out as he wanted to achieve a level of clarity & comfort about what his next steps back into the business world could look like.

At this point, I asked the business owner to tell me about a time in his travels around the world where he felt alone, lost and uncertain about what would happen next.

After a couple of minutes, he related the story about his experiences during a visit to Jamaica 20 years ago.  He arrived in Jamaica as a solo traveller with just a backpack and the intention to explore the island.  Within 24 hours of arrival, the American dollars designed to fund the visit were stolen (though not his travel docs).

At that point he pretty much felt defeated and wanted to get on the next flight out of Jamaica.  However, he was not prepared to allow this setback to dampen his enthusiasm to explore Jamaica.  With this positive attitude, he committed to stay and do what was necessary to remain.

He ended up staying for three months.  Whilst he loved the time spent in Jamaica there were times when he struggled to survive both emotionally & financially.  However, he was clear about what needed to be done to live and was focussed on making that happen.

I responded with a question…what is the difference between what happened in Jamaica and what is happening today?

I saw a lightbulb moment on his face being that the only difference was his attitude.  In Jamaica, he went out and took on the challenges without knowing what the outcomes were.  Whereas now he was sitting on his hands waiting for the path and the outcomes to be clear.

I suggested he get a wristband made up with the following letters inscribed to remind him success is built on attitude:

WWIHDIJ

To decode – What Would I Have Done In Jamaica