As many of you know, I consider myself a book junkie. Ever since I turned 35, I have been a bookstore’s favorite visitor.
My bookshelf is jammed with volume after volume of sales and marketing texts–all underlined and dog-eared.
From time to time, I will grab a book off of my shelf and open to a page just to read what I underlined on that particular day at that particular moment.
On Saturday, I picked up Dr. De Angelis’ book titled “How Did I Get Here” and flipped randomly to page 21. There was a quote from Pema Chodron:
“The most precious opportunity presents itself when we come to a place where we think we can’t handle what is happening. It’s too much. It’s gone too far … There’s no way we can manipulate the situation to make ourselves come out looking good. No matter how hard we try, it just won’t work. Basically, life has just nailed us.”
Have you ever been “nailed?” I know I have, more than once.
If you are involved in sales in any way at any level, I think I might have just hit a chord, or worse yet, a nerve. Believe me, if you just hang on you will find that this too shall pass.
Sometimes we are the windshield and other times we are the bug. That is just the way it is in this game of business–and in life in general I suppose. That goes for me; and it goes for you as well. And that is the secret–knowing that we are all in this together.
When things go wrong, as they most certainly will, and you feel like quitting or giving up, just remember that if you are not being “nailed” today you will be getting “nailed’ soon. You can count on it.
The difference is that you and I will know that it is coming and we will rebound, recover, and reposition ourselves back on the firing line and get ready to celebrate life as soon as the next opportunity presents itself. No surprises for us. We are forewarned and forearmed.