What do you do when your life's work falls apart? Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen's 7-moment exercise helped her rebuild after a devastating setback. Here's how it works.
Don't be a character in someone else's story. Rewrite your story.
— Jenine Beekhuyzen, data expert, STEM entrepreneur, and Order of Australia Medal recipient
Eight weeks before her Shark Tank-inspired TV show, The Future Fixers, was set to air on a major network, everything fell apart. $5 million, three years of work, and a 25-year dream. All gone.
As founder of Tech Girls Movement Foundation, Jenine Beekhuyzen led 15,000 girls to STEM and held an annual competition for designing and pitching an app. She is a role model in an industry dominated by men.
Ten Australian teens’ ideas were about to be shared with the world, putting them and Australia on the map. Until the show was canceled.
Eight weeks before airing on a major network, it was revealed that the show's male co-host had been sending inappropriate text messages to teenage girls. He had been the subject of three investigations where almost all claims against him were substantiated. The tight-lipped cancellation was reported by David Swan from The Sydney Morning Herald.
Jenine was devastated and felt like she was at the lowest point in her career. After years of production and weeks of filming, her 25-year dream was ruined. The teenagers also trusted Jenine with the project and missed a month of their schooling.
Jenine has built a career around helping people realize they have more potential, whether it’s young girls in STEM, PhD students, or victims of coercive control. Now, she's had to dig herself out and remind herself of her potential.
Here is the exact process Jenine used to rewire her brain after her TV show setback – and she's sharing it so you can use it too.
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I love to go back through my life and find the seven moments I felt like my best self.
Do this exercise and ask yourself:
You can also do this exercise for the seven moments you felt like your worst self.
I wasn't very academic as a kid, but I was a great speller. Winning my school’s spelling bee gave me confidence in writing and comprehension. Even though I came from a place where no one went to university, I thought, maybe I could give it a go. Winning a spelling bee taught me that I had a little bit of smarts somewhere!
Traveling teaches you a whole lot of things, good and bad. When I spent six months backpacking, I did it on a small amount of money and got creative. It was amazing! It showed me that so much is possible.
Being awarded the OAM, and being acknowledged and recognized, was a beautiful thing. Who knew a girl like me would end up leaving a bit of a legacy!
Three years of work and a 25-year dream all down the tube. Ten young people I cared about who lost an amazing opportunity to be on TV. It was the darkest chapter of my life, but it also stopped someone from doing further harm, and that has to mean something.
I rolled my car in the middle of the highway at 3 am, which I don't recommend! In some ways it was awful, but... I wasn't dead, right? I survived when I very easily couldn't have. It became a moment of asking myself, why am I here? I realized there was something more for me and I needed to go find it.
When you go back through these moments, an underlying theme will emerge. Ask yourself where your beliefs about yourself actually come from, because a lot of them come from someone else, not from your own experience.
You've done far more than you realize. Your story is not what happened to you. It's what you discover when you finally look back, reflect, and learn.
