Founder's Message Archive
You can read past editions of our Founder's Message. Visit our Founder's Message Archive by
clicking on the button below.
Managing Change, Part 4
[In my last message,
5-25-05, I wrote that I would continue the following week. I failed to
do that. I am truly sorry, and I hope you'll forgive me. Two weeks
later, here is the continuation of the Managing Change Series.]
June 10, 2005
So why did I choose
commissioned sales? Why did I choose the company I chose? What were my
goals? And what did I learn?
Commissioned sales
provided the opportunity
to tap into a system that worked and that I could learn from. I spent
months
grinding it out, to little or no avail. I told my wife one
evening that I was ready to leave, but that I was doing that work
because I was supposed to learn something.
Within a few days, I
learned it. I
already knew and had applied it over and over and over. Yet here I was,
having to learn it again.
What I learned is that in
order to be fully effective, I need to be
doing something I'm passionate about. I also
believe that you can do anything you put your mind to, regardless of
your upbringing, your friends, your financial situation, your physical
limitations, etc. One of the amazing facts of life is that we have been
endowed with flexibility and versatility to adapt ourselves to many
widely varying situations. Remember that if you really are unable to do
something, you will not be able to put your mind to it. That may seem
like a truism, but it is not as self-evident as it may at first appear.
We all have limitations. Some of us are more self-aware than others.
This
type of awareness is difficult to maintain because we are all inclined
toward various common weaknesses, such as pride, selfishness, anger,
bitterness, envy, greed, power-hunger, carelessness, and stubbornness.
We usually prefer to avoid admitting we're wrong. Of course, we usually
don't like being wrong in the first place—but we also have this strange
and destructive tendency to compound the problem by defending the
indefensible!
How does this apply to whether or not we are capable of doing anything
we put our minds to? And how does it apply to whether or not it is
self-evident that we won't be able to put our minds to something we are
incapable of doing? What I've seen happen so many times—in my own life,
too—is that when I attempt to do something that I am don't have the
ability to do, I don't like to admit that I don't have the ability. I'm
proud enough that I don't like to fail at anything. I like to succeed.
I like to take home the prize. I like to take home the big bucks. I
like to seal the deal. I like
to win. When I start a new adventure, I like to carry it through to
completion—no second place, no second best, no coming up short.
Deep down, when that happens, I know I don't have the ability. And that
understanding in my soul keeps me from developing the mindset for
success; it keeps me from putting my mind to it.
Unfortunately, this is where too many people excuse themselves when
they ought to keep on keeping on.
More on that theme next time.
With many blessings
and
wishes for successful positive change,
Courtney Huntington
Founder
|
