Setback May Be Preparation for Next Encounter

A line one executive placed at the end of his essay, which I reread often: "Failure may have been preparation for the next encounter." He lost his business to COVID — his life's greatest setback — but it taught him to return to his true calling, and on that path he met me. So he could rename failure "preparation."

Everyone in this series lives the same structure: past the despair of zero English I met lifelong friends; my partner met me just after losing everything; the man denied his Olympic dream became a businessman beyond that bitterness. In the midst of a setback, no one can believe it is preparation — I couldn't either.

So this is no magic phrase for those in the whirlpool. Only this is fact: when a setback closes one door, those who keep walking to where another opens earn the right to say, afterward, "that was preparation." Keep walking. Your next encounter is already flowing toward you.

What do you work for?