Don’t you just love the phrase? “To tell you the truth, I …” This is on the same page as “I’ll be honest with you.”
Here is a novel idea. Let’s be honest with each other for a change. Let’s see how it feels to tell the truth. You go first.
Well to tell you the truth, this leads me to today’s message. Keeping this among us, there are times when I just feel like throwing in the towel. Things just stop working the way I had envisioned them to work. The harder I try, the more I find myself questioning my tactics, education, experiences, up-bringing, choice of religion, personality, and choice of after shave. Why bother? I remember once blaming it on my haircut (It doesn’t get any worse than that!)
Now you know the truth. I am human being and experience every form of self-doubt that you do. I get frustrated. I second-guess things. I blame and wish things were different.
Disappointed? I don’t blame you. After all, if the people you rely on to pick you up regularly also spend time in the dumpster, who can you turn to for support? What is this world coming to?
I have an idea. Let’s schedule a webinar and have one huge, Guinness-Book-of-Records-Caliber Pity Party. This could go viral, and we all would become world-famous cry-babies.
Or, we can try something else. Like remembering how lucky we are to be in the best industry imaginable. To count our good clients and be thankful for every one of them. To call a good friend, mentor, coach, or associate who will give us a swift kick in the hind quarters and remind us of what still needs doing. To look at how far we came in this business, and how far we still need to go. There is more I can say, but I think you are getting the picture.
To tell you the truth, I don’t like me when I find myself feeling like this, and thinking this way. I think it is selfish as it takes too much time away from the good I could be doing. “Cut the crap, Mike. Get back to looking for that next travel agent you can help. Get back to doing what you do best, and that does not include whining. Be human if you insist. But then get back to being the exception. Practice what you preach. People need you.”
And to tell you the truth, people need you too.
I feel better already. Sometimes we just need to vent, to talk to somebody, to document our feelings, to remember how good we have it. I’ll see you around. I have things to do, places to go, people to meet and mountains to climb. (And so do you.)
Mike Marchev freely shares his experiences, strategies and observations with travel professionals in an effort to keep them on top of their game. For a complimentary copy of his 12-Word Marketing Plan send him an email at mike@mikemarchev.com.
Mike’s daily column is made possible by AmaWaterways
