A Chance Encounter that Opened Up My World

The 5 Second Rule has been centrally important to my thinking and life choices these days.  Looking back at an interaction that occurred before I read Mel Robbins' book, I realized that I experienced the magic of the rule before I knew it!  

On a very cold morning this past January, I met my friends to run the SeaWorld Rescue Run 5K.  I had a great time, and was given a t-shirt with the runā€™s logo on it for participating in the run.  As we left the park, I changed into the t-shirt before heading to breakfast. 

Meet Debbie

Shortly after breakfast, while shopping in HomeGoods, a woman approached me asking if I had just run the race.  We struck up a conversation, and I learned that sheā€™s a dedicated runner who has completed triathlons and even a Half Ironman!

Her name is Debbie, and we talked for about 15 minutes.  During the conversation, she told me of another race that wasn't even on my radar - the Winter Park 10K, which was scheduled for early March.  There was such a natural, easy flow between us; it seemed to me we were no longer strangers!  But when it was time to go, I almost hesitated to ask her to connect on social media: would she think that was a strange request? 

Pushing past the fear in 5 seconds

Rather than let my fear kill the moment, I gave myself a push and asked, ā€œHey, do you want to connect up on social media?ā€ 

ā€œIā€™d love that,ā€ she said, with a big smile.

This may seem an innocent and simple encounter, but this simple push beyond fear has started a mind-blowing stream of realizations that continues to flow, even today!

The magic continues

We did end up staying in touch, and agreed to meet up at the Winter Park run.  The day of the race was another blistery, cold morning. 

Debbie was there when I arrived, in her car with the heater on; she invited me in to warm up.  As we chatted, I learned that she lives on the same street where Iā€™d lived a few years ago!

I'm told there are no such thing as coincidences

This ā€œyou canā€™t make this shit upā€ moment amazed me.  It was pure coincidence (or was it?) that I had met her at all.  I was filled with awe at the synchronicities.

The big, ongoing lesson to me is that coincidence is far more meaningful than sheer luck.  As I stay open and aware, inspiration and intuition bring abundant gifts, including whatever assistance I need to reach my goals.

The race hadn't even started yet, and I wondered how the day could get any better than it already was.  There was more magic in store for me, though, and you can read more about how it unfolded by continuing the story below.

Mike Wozniak

About the author

For more than 30 years, Mike Wozniak has used his passion for finding innovative ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of businesses through the use of technology to redefine the way things are done. Mike is the founder of SoftwareKey.com, a cutting-edge software licensing technology provider, and the inventor of ArrivalOSā„¢ and EnRouteā„¢ by Floqque, a Predictive Queuing Platform. When he isn't working, he likes to travel and do burpees! Why do burpees on vacation? Just Because He Can!

Mike Wozniak

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