Discovering Wisdom in Unexpected Places: How 15 Careers Shaped My Personal Journey

I once heard Flint Wilson say, if I had my whole life to live all over again, I wouldn't have enough energy. Well, even though that's sort of humorous, I certainly can identify with that. And I will share with you in this particular podcast a story that happened with my second daughter as she was introducing herself to all of the other sorority girls when she was in college.

Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert A. Rome, author and world renowned public speaker, as he shares stories involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good spirited, positive and fun way. Here's Dr. Robert A. Rome.

So my second daughter, Esther went off to college and she was telling me this story. They were all sitting around one night getting to know each other in her sorority and they were all talking about them a little bit about their background, a little bit about their family. And it sort of became very funny and interesting, somewhat even silly in a matter of minutes. One of the girls said, my bio. My, my dad's a youth director. Esther said, so is my dad. Another girl later said, well, my, my dad's a school teacher. Esther said, so is my dad. Another girl said, my father's a school principal. She said, so is my dad. The next one said, well, my father was a football coach. She said, so is my dad. The next one said, well, my father. And it began to go in. My daughter had started laughing and she said, dad, that was the first time I realized you've done everything. You've done everything there is to do in life. Well, I'm not saying this in a boastful manner or a bragging manner, but I have had 15 different careers. Now if you don't think that's exciting or interesting or exhausting life, I'm going to go through it real quickly and share with you. First job right out of high school, I went off to college, of course, got an education. My first job, 1971, I was a youth director. I did that for about a year and then someone told me, if you really want to get with the kids who are coming to your church, you ought to go teach part time in their school. So I found that I could get a part time job teaching in the school. And it turns out that the person that I was substitute teaching for ended up getting sick and having to quit early. I became a schoolteacher. I did that for a couple of years. The school grew. I had a friend of mine who wanted to start in his church, a Christian school. He called and knew that I had been a schoolteacher for a couple of years. Asked me if I'D take that on. At 24 years old, I became a school principal. I mean, I was as green as grass. I even forgot to order the books one year. But I learned how to be a school principal and I grew up for eight years doing that. Then during that time I also became a football coach because we had a football team in our elementary and middle school and we didn't have anybody who could coach it. So I played football in high school and college. I knew enough about it. I jumped right in. Then also I soon became a Bible teacher in our school because we needed someone who could do that. And that was part of my background and it led me to becoming a director of curriculum. So I started putting learning how to put together curriculum for school as the principal and as a teacher. Then the next thing I went back to school and I got my PhD with my doctoral minor in counseling. I did a lot of counseling. My biggest fear is when I die, somebody else's life's going to flash before me. I've listened to so many people and so many problems and so many challenges. As a counselor, I want to be clear. I never became a licensed marriage and family therapist, but my doctoral minor is in counseling. And I learned enough about it that it is a challenge. And you really have to have some patience and listening skills that I did not possess if you want to become a full time counselor. The eighth thing I did was I became a college professor. There was a need in nearby school for someone to teach, so I did that as an adjunct professor part time. I started teaching college. Then in around 1991 I saw that all of my education and the things I had done for 20 years were fun, but. But they weren't really making me any money and I had to have a little bit of expense. And in 1991 I became a business owner. I didn't know a whole lot about that. I had a rich background in education and in ministry, but being a business owner was a whole different ball game. Well, I traveled so much, I found out that if I was a travel agent, I could get discount. I enrolled in a class, I became a licensed travel agent. I learned how to do that. I am a traveling expert. I know probably more about anybody. You'll. I've been around the world I think seven or eight times. Know a lot about travel. Although I have let my license expire, I didn't need to keep doing that. I know how to be a travel agent. Then I wanted to take some of the money that I was learning in earning and use it correctly. Somebody said, well, you need to become an accredited investor. I had never heard that phrase before. So I learned what it meant to become an accredited investor. That would involve some paperwork and learning how to invest money wisely. And then that led into becoming a motivational speaker, sharing with audiences the things I had learned through the DISC model of human.

Through the disc model of human behavior, learning how to teach and train people to work better with themselves and with others. Turns out that a friend of mine who had been in my youth group 40 years ago, they lost their pastor in the church. He asked me if I would fill in for three Sundays and that lasted seven and a half years. I did that, enjoyed it very, very much. Then in the last two endeavors I have become a business coach and consultant where I work with businesses and coach CEOs and help them learn how to run their business. I did all this with information I had learned over the last 40 plus years. And now I'm in the 15th profession of my life and it's the one I want to share with you for a few minutes today. My goal, my dream, is now to become a wise sage. That's what these podcasts are all about. Learning how to do life with wisdom. Learning how to be a wise person. Now listen carefully. Please hear my heart. I'm not sharing with you that I've done 15 different things to brag or boast. Actually, somebody could listen to this and very well conclude, wow, you are a very unstable person because you haven't done anything for a career. When I hear people who've worked for 40 years for a company and they've retired and they've had a great life and now they've got a steady income. I, I just, I say to myself, wow, I am so proud of you. I think that is such a great honor that you were able to do that day in and day out for 20, 30, 40 years. You had one career in one profess, and you did that your whole life. That has not been my experience. And I'm not saying that because I'm better than anyone. I'm just saying that was not my experience. But looking back over 40 years ago, if I could have had my choice between doing one thing the entire time, I can see some real value in that, especially when it comes to retirement and benefits. However, I've done 15 different things over the last 40 years and I have found that that suits my personality and that suits my way of living a little bit more. And I'm not saying that because I'm right or wrong. Or good or bad. I'm just saying that's what has happened to me. And here's what I have found. I have found that life is not a jet boat ride. Life is a sailboat ride. You say, now what in the world are you talking about? I've been in Australia, and we were riding in a jet boat. We were going everywhere the boat could fly. I even I felt of the boat, it was so light. And I asked the driver, I said, what is this boat made out of? And he said, aluminum. And I thought, aluminum. What in the world is that? And I looked at the guy sitting next to me. He leaned over and said, aluminum. Oh, I didn't know that aluminum and aluminum were the same word. It was pronounced a little bit different. Well, I realized that in a jet boat, you can go straight ahead as fast as the motor will take you. But in a sailboat, it's a whole different story. You see, if you're in a sailboat and you're at point A and you want to go to point B, you don't go straight ahead. You go to the left. And you go to the left far enough that the wind is blowing you. And then after a while, you stop, you let down your sails, you turn them, and. And then you go to the right, and you go far as you want to, to the right. Then you let the sails down, or when the wind dies down, and you pull the sails back up and turn to the left. If you're visualizing this, just think of the word zigzag. You go in a zigzag pattern back and forth. It's called tacking. Tacking, that's the way a sailboat works, is designed to go from one side to the other side, to the other side, to the other side, to the other side, to the other side, until it gets to the destination where it wants to go. You see, a sailboat by design is not created, hear me well, to go in a straight line, but it is created to get to its destination. Now, I don't know where you are in life. I don't know if you're just starting out or if you've been in the journey or on the journey for a long period of time. Here's what I'd like to say to you. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the journey. Don't be upset. Well, if only I coulda, shoulda, woulda. That doesn't do any good. None of us is going to live a perfect life with everything unfolding exactly like we had planned. Someone once said that the Wisest and best plans of mice and man.

Need to be done or need to be done all over again.

Sorry. I wish I could tell you how to have a perfect life with everything falling right into place. But the best laid plans of mice and men will soon need to be over Will soon need to be done over all over again. We are on a journey. This is the journey called life. We're going to get some things right and we're going to get some things wrong. We're going to make some really wise choices and we're going to make some really dumb choices. What I have learned in this last phase of my life, the last step is I want to be a wise sage. That's why you're on this podcast today. I want to share with you what has taken me over seven decades, over 70 years to learn. I don't think I'm better than anybody. I don't think I'm smarter than anybody. I don't think I'm more wonderful than anybody. But I do feel like I have been greatly blessed. I've been around the world several times. I have five college degrees. I have a World Series ring that I got from doing coaching and consulting with Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. I own my own business. I am very happily married. I have four daughters and six grandkids. And I love my family. My family loves me. We have a great life. I'm not saying any of that in a boastful manner. I'm saying it with all gratitude and humility. Here's what I want you to do. Here's my best advice for you. Here's my best coaching. Number one, live one day at a time. Number two, do the very best you can in each of those one day experience. I'm not looking forward to one day. Everything in my life's going to be perfect. That's not going to happen. I'm looking forward to just step number three. Just do the next right thing. I wear an arm bra, an arm banner, an arm. I wear an arm bracelet. It says just do the next right thing. I'm looking at it right now. Just do the next right thing. I had these made. If you're ever in an event where I'm there, I usually give these out. That's the real secret to life. Just do the next right thing. Notice not do the best. Don't do the next best thing or don't try to do the next thing. You can figure out just do what's right. If you do what's right, think about this. Paul, Peter, James, John, Biblical characters, they always did what's right. Now, people named their boys Paul, Peter, John, James, the Roman Emperor. His name was Nero. How many people have you ever met named Nero? People don't name their boys Nero. They name their dogs Nero. That was the Roman Emperor. He was the one that fiddled while his kingdom and his empire burned to the ground. You see, we don't follow. Do you.

Are you.

Are you aware this is shocking? There were many Hitlers in the New York phone book? I once read that one. There were many people whose last name was Hitler in the New York phone book before World War II. Do you want to guess how many Hitlers were in the New York phone book after World War II? None. They all changed their name. See, they didn't want to be associated with someone who represented evil and hatred and murder. We want to be associated with doing things right. Just do the next right thing. Have a good attitude. All of Life is your ABCs. We've talked about this before. Have a good attitude. It doesn't matter what endeavor you're in, you get to control your attitude. Second, have good behavior. Don't be saying things and doing things that, oh, if I got caught doing that, I'd lose my job. Now, that's bad behavior. Don't, don't. Don't be the kind of person that when nobody's looking, you have a secret agenda. Now, just be a person who does the next right thing and has good behavior. A, have a good attitude. Be, have good behavior, and C, have a good. Everything I've said on this podcast today would fall under the category of c you know what it is conversation. Are you aware that everything I've said on this today, this podcast has been uplifting, encouraging, helpful, hopefully a little bit humorous, very instructive. Teaching you there is no way to have a perfect life. But there is a way to have a good life, and that's by doing the next right thing and learning whatever profession you're in or whatever you're doing. Do it to the best of your ability. I hope today's podcast has been helpful again. Let me say one more time, all of these things I've done in my life were not meant to brag, weren't meant to show off. But just see, I didn't plan any of them. I didn't plan any of them. I just let my life guide me in the way that I thought by doing what's right, it would take me to my destiny. I think that's happened. I hope that happens for you. I trust that you'll have the best life possible. Live each day to the fullest and the best of your ability. And one day you'll look back and see that your sailboat ride was successful and you got to where you needed to be. I'm Dr. Robert Rome. I hope these thoughts have been helpful. I look forward to our next podcast together.

For more information about this podcast, please visit www.becomingwiserpodcast.com.