I write about this every year since I feel the message is so relevant to travel professionals of all ages.
The evening before the annual Induction Ceremony, Main Street is cordoned off so a bevy of Ford Pick-up Trucks can transport former Hall-of-Famers eastbound to the Hall of Fame building while waving to the crowd.
Each side of the street is mobbed with baseball aficionados, and family members who might not know 3rd base from a dugout but still appreciate all the hooting and hollering. Whether you think the game is too slow or you feel that Candy Crush is America’s favorite past time, the atmosphere soon makes you a believer and you become a member of the baseball cult. Welcome to Cooperstown.
Not unlike a recurring dream, each year I find myself inching as close to the action as possible while my mind slips into the same thought pattern. The script is always the same.
“I’m looking at the best players in the game. They once were big and strong. They once were fast and agile. They once were a lot younger than they are today but they were once the best. They paid the price. They paid their dues. They worked harder than the guys who are not riding in the back of those shiny Ford trucks. What if I…I could have… I should have…”
That’s when I become melancholy and think of the days when I used to suit up. I look around at the throng of men in the crowd and I have to believe that they are all reliving the same dream…. singing the same song. After all, they all owned a glove and knew how to swing a bat just like me…just like those men in the trucks.
If they are like me they’re thinking: “The older I get the better I was.” If I did not invent that saying, I could have. Last night I was in the midst of a crowd of “strangers” applauding men who were once the best at their trade.
And so I arrive at today’s question. Are you the best in your game? Are your clients and followers lining up to show you their approval of the work you have done? You could be. You should be. After all, you are still suited up. You are still in the game.
The reason why they were in the trucks and I was watching was because they worked harder than I did. They had a dream, and made it their business to achieve it. They did not allow set backs get in their way. They continued to believe in themselves when things got rough. When they struck out, they stepped back into the batter’s box and tried it again. When they walked a batter they continued throwing hard. They refused to believe their bad press. They took their good press with a grain of salt. When they made an error, they sloughed it off and resumed play. And when the competition became intense, they dug in.
Regardless of what position you are playing today you can become the best. You just have to make it your business to be the best and start paying the price. If they can do it, we can do it. Let’s do it.
Mike Marchev has plenty of stories, strategies and tactics to keep you on top of your game. Ask to be placed on the distribution list to receive his periodic Motivational Memo. Click Here to Join Now.
For information on Mike’s 6-Week Online Selling Course, email Mike at mike@mikemarchev.com with the words “sales course” in the subject box.
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