Trying to Be Patient Is Impossible Without Learning to Be Patient with Larry Hagner

Larry Hagner shares with us the humble beginnings of the Dad Edge. He opens up his heart and shares a story that inspired him to create the Dad Edge. Before Larry statrted the Dad Edge, he was a leader in his workplace. However, his marriage and relationship with his kids were failing. One night in 2012, Larry had a moment that would change the course of his life forever. Larry spanked his four year old son out of anger and hit him so hard that he fell on the ground. He went to help him up and his son looked at him as if he were a monster. From that moment on, Larry knew he had to make a change or his relationships would suffer for the rest of his life.

As a faith-based man, Larry had a moment of divine intervention. He sat down in front of the computer and the words "Good Dad Project" came out onto a Facebook page. From that moment on, Good Dad Project/The Dad Edge was born. Larry made a committment to learn something new every day that would help him become the husband and father he was meant to be. 

If you want to have more patience in your life, you have to surrender to the fact that you are always going to have stress in your life. Whether it's professional, mental, physical, or emotional, stress is always going to be present. However, that doesn't mean that we can't manage it with a little patience. Patience does not start in the moment of chaos; patience starts from the moment your feet hit the ground in the morning. Patience and emotional resiliency do not come naturally. There are skills needed to learn patience. Patience is tied to emotional resiliency and mental toughness, which are learned through consistent practice and a dedication to becoming a better person. 

The other thing Larry talks to us about today is failure. In Larry's sales job that he had before the Dad Edge, he was nominated to become the sales manager. However, he lacked the necessary skills to be a leader in the workforce. After he was humiliated in an interview because he didn't know any of the leadership questions, he went out to learn those skills.

What Larry learned from this event was that there is no failure, only learning. He learned the necessary leadership skills he needed for that job, went back a year later, nailed the interview, and got the job. If he had defaulted to failure and let it consume his thoughts, he wouldn't have gotten the job. He took that failure, learned from it, and came back harder than ever.

The moral of the story is to never let failure define you. You can take a failure in life and turn it around to be a lesson that you learn from. If you give up, you take away any chance you have of improving yourself and turning the situation around. 

For the show notes and exclusive links mentioned in this episode go to https://thedadedge.com/friday12/

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