Comfortable being uncomfortable

As some of you know I was invited to attend the Canadian-Korean Businessman's Association Annual General Meeting dinner last night as a guest of a customer. I agreed to go because I thought it'd be a great opportunity for me to get out and network and hopefully meet some other business minded people in the Korean community. Although many of the people in attendance were a LOT older I was able to have some great conversations and meet some different people from very different industries. This in itself was a big accomplishment for me as I continue to try and become more outgoing and engage people in conversations that I'd normally not talk to.

Also, just to share with you the benefits of stepping outside of our comfort zones, and not just in the physical sphere, I happened to randomly bump into an old roommate and co-worker of mine that I worked with in Korea for the World Cup. It just so happens that he's the Commercial Account Manager for the Prospera Credit Union branch in South Granville and as we got to talking about Langley, and our plans to franchise there, he told us that he might be able to help. Although Guy and I have to still set up a meeting with him and it might not really pan out it's just another opportunity and path that would've never been brought to us had I not gone to this dinner.

The reason for sharing all of this is just to highlight that A) the lessons that we learn and growth we experience isn't just relative to what we're doing at work B) we must continuously challenge ourselves because that's when we'll experience growth (like Curtis said, "We don't know what we don't know") C) there are A LOT of benefits that come from being able to "story tell" and share the experience of what we do and why we're so passionate about what we do.

AND....to cap it all off I may have a referral for Curtis in White Rock so all in all it was a great night.

- Paul -