Chapter 41
It Ain't Over Yet
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Today's Empowering Quote
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"The most rewarding things you do in
life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done."
- Arnold Palmer
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Today's Empowering Question
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"What can I do or say to fix this
situation now?"
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Today's Fast Session
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In the movie 'The Godfather,' there's
a scene in it where Robert Duvall (Tom) is given some news that
Marlon Brando (Godfather) isn't going to like at all. So as soon as
he can walk out the door, he does... to go break the bad news.
The guy who told Tom the bad news
wants to know what the hurry was. Tom says that Godfather
likes to hear bad news right away.
Well, because Godfather got the
information quickly, he was able to take immediate action and get
his creative plan under way...
And as a result, he got his way.
Oftentimes, mistakes and bad outcomes
can be fixed, but only if we act FAST.
In my business career, when there is a
problem with an important issue, I want to know about it as fast as
possible.
So I could worry longer?
No, so I could jump in my car and
visit or pick up the phone within seconds. Not minutes.
Seconds.
One time I did the craziest stunt to
keep a client who said they never wanted to work with my book
company again.
See, one of my employees didn't
program the newest cash register with all our titles before it was
packed for an event. So when the customers were lining up to
pay for their books, none of their purchases were scanning properly.
So now each title had to be manually
entered into the register... a painfully slow process when dozens of
people are waiting and waiting, many not very quietly.
Well, my contact person wasn't
pleased.
When the phone call came in a month
later, telling us we were out, my office immediately called me on my
cell phone, I went to the office, picked up all my sales awards,
packed them into a large duffle bag and proceeded to this client's
office...
...a two and a half hour drive away.
When I walked in the door, you
should've seen her face.
Total shock.
She told me that the board made the
decision, and that there was no sense in discussing it.
I made the case that if there were
anyone in the world she could trust to fix this situation, never to
allow this to happen again, it was me. That's when I began pulling
the awards out, explaining what they were for. Not to impress her,
but to show her it wasn't just talk.
These awards, I explained were the
results of total commitment to her and others in positions similar
to hers. I was recognized as the best, and that's what I
promised her... the best from the best.
I kept the account.
They were worth over $25,000 in sales
per year.
By immediate action, creativity, and
by not accepting defeat, a lot of people won. She won. I
won. And all those book lovers she was responsible for won
big.
And more importantly, I learned,
again, that "It ain't over 'til it's over."
So please, please... when all seems
lost, and I know sometimes the situations we often find ourselves in
seem hopeless, 90+% of the time it is not hopeless.
But 90% of the people quit.
I feel your frustration. No one
is immune from life's crashing waves of defeat and torment. No
one.
But the only time we can truly lose is
when we quit.
Breakthroughs usually come when it
looks the darkest.
And when you find yourself in no-win
situations and consistently keep plugging away, you'll succeed so
many times that you will learn this, too. "It ain't over 'til
it's over."
So pick up the phone, get in your car,
write that email, make that apology, do whatever you have to do to
fix whatever isn't working.
Now. Yeah, right now.
You'll be so happy you did.
Even if things don't work out this
time, you'll have put yourself in a position to win. Do that
enough times and you'll be...
A winner in life.
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Today's Winning Beliefs
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-- I always look for ways to come out
on top
-- Victory is always close by
-- I always believe I will succeed no matter what
-- I am a winner
-- I create other winners
-- I am surrounding myself with winners
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