Darrell Woodman is a 2%er and is one of our incredible trainers. However, it hasn’t always been that way. Darrell tells us what it was like in the olden days:
“Going back around 13 years, I was a dad of two young children and was working at a senior role in a radio station. To be frank I was burnt out. My job had changed and I had 18 months of being a really miserable mood hoover. I felt angry and without purpose.”
Darrell was on a rollercoaster but was in a big dip and was waiting for it to go up again. But it wasn’t happening. He was just trying to get through the day and was consumed with self-pity and annoyance.
He outlines specifically what Mondays felt like:
“It was particularly bad on a Monday morning. Just the thought of having to go through another week filled me with dread. But I wasn’t willing to work out why I felt the way I did. I just had to get through another week. I remember thinking I really don’t want to be doing this and before I knew it another Monday would come.”
Then a friend saw the levels of stress in Darrell and reached out. She gave Darrell the book The Art of Being Brilliant. Darrell explains what happened next:
“Wham! It was the start of an awakening; a cloud was beginning to disappear. It had an incredible impact on me as soon as I started reading it. I looked in the mirror and saw what a miserable person I had become. And importantly what a negative impact I was having on my two children. I then ventured on to a guilt trip, but this was a positive guilt trip where I started to work out why things were wrong”
Darrell started to see his negative behaviours and how he would feel good at one point but then pivot back to being grumpy and miserable. He had the opportunity to go to a new job at a new radio station but he then read the book What Colour is Your Parachute? This helped him identify what career he felt he should be in.
Darrell explains some of the conclusions he drew:
“I needed to do something different and I identified that I should work with children, I didn’t know how, but I knew that this was the course I wanted to take. My radio role now didn’t play to my strengths and if I was to look at the job description, it wasn’t a match for me. Whilst I had been successful at the radio station, I was making a difference and winning awards etc, it was now time to move on. And I also decided that my why was to be a brilliant dad.”
With his new-found purpose Darrel just dropped an email to the Art of Brilliance’s website.
But this wasn’t with any intention, other than to say thank you for the impact the book The Art of Being Brilliant had had on his life. Dr Andy Cope responded and a relationship was soon built up. And during this time redundancy was offered to Darrel and this gave him the opportunity to change his whole life.
Darrell tells us about the continuing change, both in him and his life:
“Interestingly if the offer of redundancy had come four months earlier, I am not sure I would have taken it, as I wasn’t sure how to change my situation. So, I started to learn how to be a trainer and continued io develop and learn and enjoy having a positive impact in people’s lives . And I was now even helping with household chores, the practical stuff really mattered. I realised I needed to look after myself, so that I could look after others.
And importantly this meant I had become a better dad, not begrudging reading a bedtime story, but loving it and not finding excuses to avoid playing games but becoming immersed in them. I had found my why and it is felt so good.”
It is now safe to say that Darrell became and is a brilliant dad. He changed so that he gives his love, time and attention to his treasured family.
Darrell has continued to develop himself and also in his role, which included getting a Masters in Positive Psychology. Darrel concludes:
“I was training wellbeing when wellbeing wasn’t a thing., And now it is more pertinent than ever. I get such an incredible buzz in what I am doing. The penny dropped for me, so when I am sharing the Art of Brilliance’s message, I love to see nodding heads. And this could mean that someone may also get that lightbulb moment that I did. Brilliant!’