So we continue the series on the lessons that I learned from my underbite surgery back in March of 2011.  If you missed the last post, you can find it here.

Underbite Surgery Lesson #2 – Enjoy Your Food

So with that being said, let’s jump into lesson # from what I learned from my underbite surgery.

Underbite Surgery Lesson #3 – Monitor Your Mindset

During my surgery and after my surgery, there were a lot of things that I had to deal with on a mental level.  I was dealing with questions such as:

• Am I doing the right thing by going through with this surgery?
• What type of pain will I feel after the surgery and for how long?
• What does it REALLY FEEL like to have your jaw BROKEN?  *Shivers*
• How am I going to eat or feed my body if my mouth is completely shut for at least 3 weeks?
• How much weight am I going to lose in the process and will I be willing to get back into the gym and put the weight back on?
• What type of feeling will I have in my jaw/mouth area?  Will I lose any feeling due to nerve damage?
• What will I look like after the surgery and after the healing process has completed?  Will I look like Shrek because my jaw has been broken and my facial features might have been moved slightly?

These were just a few of the questions that I was asking myself leading up to the day of the surgery.  Looking back at it now, these were definitely legitimate questions that I’m sure a lot of people who go through this surgery probably ask themselves at one point or another.

So how much did these questions and thoughts racing through my head really affect me?

To be quite honest, not too much actually.  Maybe I have a propensity to not even worry about stuff like this, OR MAYBE I just do a really good job of not getting caught up with questions/doubts that are out of my control.  Perhaps that’s just my way of coping with things that are stressful.

Whatever it was, I remember that the days leading up to the surgery were pretty stress free.  Additionally, I wasn’t too worried on the actual day of the surgery.  I remember the process of being in the pre-operating room for over 1 hour just waiting for the surgeon and anesthesiologists to do a final check on me.  From that point in time all the way until they were carting me into the operating room, I remember joking around with them in a light hearted manner until *ZONK*.  I was KNOCKED OUT!

Here's an image I found of an operating room. *I just noticed the person in the background of the image. This scared the heck out of me because it reminded me of one of those scary movies!*

Next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room with my head wrapped in ice, my mouth completely shut, barely being able to breathe because my jaw area had been broken, and feeling completely sick from being knocked out during the operation.  I instantly had to throw up and cough up blood that had gone into my stomach during the operation.  I just remember thinking to myself, “Man, I’m in hell right now.”

All in all, that 1st night in the hospital was one of the most difficult days in my life, but I remember one thing that stuck with me.  That one thing was my MINDSET.  Just like before, my ability to stay focused on the end goal was the thing that kept me moving forward, minute after minute, hour after hour.  There was no room and there was no time to get caught up in a pity party because frankly, what good would that do for me?  Absolutely nothing!

So where does that bring us?  And how does this relate to business?

Well, if there’s one thing that I learned, both in my personal life and also in my business life, it’s the importance of having an end goal or having your eye on the end result.  For my personal life (at the time of the surgery), I was focused on the end result of being healed, getting healthy both mentally and physically, and being back on my way to serving other people.

From a business perspective, I see a huge correlation to my personal life in terms of having an end goal that I’m heading towards.  From a business standpoint, I’ve always categorized it according to these 4 items:

My Dream: To inspire people worldwide to reach their full human potential.

My Vision: To create the McDonald’s of Small Business Consulting to inspire, educate, and empower the unemployed, underemployed, self employed, and small business owner worldwide.

My Purpose: That every person leaves a legacy before the end of their life.

My Mission: To invent the system through which every individual can transform their lives regardless of their current situation.

By defining these 4 items, a person’s Primary Aim for both their business and their life can be discovered, which ultimately will be the driving force for the business that they create to serve the world.

With that being said, that’s lesson #3 from my underbite surgery.  Until the next time we meet, remember 1 thing.  Your mindset is 1 of the most underrated things that you live with on a day-to-day basis.  Although it may be one of the most underrated things that you live with, it is the ONE thing that you have full control over.

Enjoy the rest of your week my friends and I hope that you’ve enjoyed the lessons leading up to this point.

To Your Success,

Edmund

So in my last post, we began the series detailing the lessons I learned from my underbite surgery back in March of 2011.  The healing process was long, but during that period of time, I learned countless lessons that have transferred over to both my personal life and also my business.

If you missed the last post, you can find it here.

Underbite Surgery Lesson #1 – Cherish Your Loved Ones and Family

With that said, here we go with Lesson #2 from what I learned from my underbite surgery.

Continue reading →

So it’s been nearly 1 year since my underbite surgery back in March of 2011. Previously, I had mentioned that I would write a blog series detailing some of the lessons that I learned as a result of that experience.  It was a long journey, but as I look back on it today, there were numerous life lessons learned from that long process.

Since it’s been almost 1 year to date (Surgery Date: March 23, 2011), I decided to do some reflection out by the beach as I was out kayaking.  Here were some photos from today.  The sunset was gorgeous and you can probably see some of the changes in the overall facial structure of my face.

Kayaking - Post Surgery - Front View

Post Surgery - Side View

Post Surgery - Front View

So without further delay, let’s start off with Lesson #1 as a result of my underbite surgery.

Underbite Surgery Lesson #1 - Cherish Your Loved Ones and Family

If it wasn’t for my family (more specifically my parents), I’m not sure how I would have dealt with the hardships that come from having such a surgery.  Whether it was taking me to the hospital on the day of the surgery bright and early in the morning, being with me as I was waiting to be carted into the operating room, being present in the recovery room after I came out of surgery, taking me home the next day following surgery, or making sure that I was cared for throughout the entire day during my recovery, my parents were there for me every step of the way.  For that, I am forever grateful.

I’ve noticed that as the years pass by, life seems to get busier and busier.  I’m not sure what it is, but it just seems like there is more and more to do each day with less and less time to actually get things done.  In a sense, I wish I could just freeze time or even create 10 duplicates of myself.

It’s true what they say, time is the most importantly commodity that we have, not money. We can always get more money, but we can never get more time.  And to be honest, at the young age of 28, this concept has begun to stick out more and more.  To deal with this, I find myself creating more and more efficient systems for both my business/life, finding ways to outsource and get more help (my version of duplicating myself 10x), and making sure that what I create for my business is in alignment with my dream of helping people worldwide reach their full potential and leave a legacy before the end of their life.

Amidst all of this though, I sometimes find myself leaving my family on the short end of the stick and being guilty of not spending as much time as I would like to.  I justify it to myself by saying phrases like:

• “when I do this…then I will have more time”
• “when I accomplish this…I will finally have more time”
• “as soon as this happens…then I will finally be able to spend more time with them and be grateful for everything they’ve done and continue to do for me”.

The thing is though, I’m in a race with time and quite frankly, cherishing loved ones and family is something that starts today and continues day in and day out.

Whether you still have your parents around in your life or your other family members, it is important to remember that tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us.  The only thing that is promised to us is today.

With that, I want to leave you all with a short video BELOW that brings home the point even further.  It’s only 6 minutes and it WILL get you thinking.

Whether it’s your parents, your significant other, or other members in your family, it is critical to cherish them day in and day out amidst all the hustle and bustle that may be happening in your life.

Enjoy the rest of your week my friends.  I hope that you enjoyed Lesson #1 from my underbite surgery.  Look out for more lessons moving forward as I continue to detail what I learned as a result of my surgery.

And more importantly, what is 1 action that you can take today to show your loved ones that you appreciate and love them?

All the Best,

Edmund