Wade Berzas, Professional EOS Implementer®, speaker, and entrepreneur, speaks to how adversity is the only path to growth. Wade was the lone survivor of an airplane crash in 2019, leaving 75% of his body burned. He knows better than most that the only route to success is to struggle and celebrate the little wins along the way.
If You Want Change, Ask For It
Wade reflects on his way of life in the early 2000s, when he was starting his career after college. He was in a bad place — chasing things that didn’t matter, sifting through broken relationships, living a life without professional challenges.
He recalls that one night he decided he wanted to change. From there, he shifted his focus away from acquiring material things toward living a good life.
[6:00] “I’m a man of faith, and the first thing I did is I just asked to be changed… It was just that admission that I wasn’t where I wanted to be that empowered me to make the changes that I needed to make in life.”
Without admitting he wasn’t where he wanted to be, Wade says he likely would have kept trying to convince himself that his current life was enough.
[7:15] “I think it’s in the struggle that we find who we really are and we start to shape ourselves into our best self.”
Progress, Not Perfection
Wade shares that only recently has he become at peace with the fact that he will never be finished making progress. For him, achieving peace depended on realizing that no experience of his journey was wasted; everything has contributed to putting him on the path he’s on today.
Wade remembers when he first woke up from his coma after surviving the airplane crash, he was too weak to lift his hands. He thought he’d never recover.
However, a burn survivor visited his room and served as a witness that recovery and normalcy were possible. That experience taught Wade two lessons about progress:
- Progress is impossible without others’ support.
- You can only face adversity when you celebrate the little wins — often.
Wade attests that there’s always something good that comes after a hard time. The key is to focus on progress, not perfection.
Embrace the Challenge
Living The EOS Life® is no walk in the park. Wade says going through hard times of life early on helped prepare him to survive the plane crash and come out with a positive mentality, no matter what.
[29:47] “The EOS Life®, for me right now, is just going to be a continuation of [my] journey. That hill I’m on today… that’s just a hill on the way to the next calling farther down the road. I’m excited to see where it takes me.”
Wade urges entrepreneurs to embrace the challenges that crop up in their journey — and to even be grateful for them.
[30:41] “Embrace [adversity]. We were never promised that our existence on earth was going to be easy and simple. As a matter of fact, look at the growth of humans… the only way that we grow is through struggle.”
If you’re facing adversity, Wade encourages framing it as an opportunity to grow. When you persevere, you’ll get to the other side and will be better and stronger for it. Everything you go through now is leading you down the path toward something better — toward your EOS Life.
Learn More:
- The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Also Mentioned In This Episode:
- Wade’s website
- Wade’s LinkedIn
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