You Against Yourself

Life is a roller coaster; at some point, you’ll be up high in the sky; other times, you’ll go down.

Everyone has problems; some have better problems than others. You get to choose what you become; you are the only one responsible for that.

Luck and Opportunity

I’ve dealt with a battle against myself for quite a while: not knowing what to do or what’s next. You get to the point where you ask yourself, “What am I doing wrong?” The thing is that you are not looking at the bigger picture; everything is built on tiny steps.

You get blinded by this big idea that something fascinating will happen. Life doesn’t work that way; you have to place yourself in a position of opportunity. You can only achieve luck by placing yourself in a position that allows the luck to exist. In simple terms, find opportunity.

Stubborn

I’ve always said I’m not smart; I just have more knowledge. Not that long ago, I got mentored in sales, wanting to learn how businesses worked. I was stubborn and arrogant, thinking I already knew it all. Oh, I was very wrong. Wanting to learn from him, I quit my job, knowing I would burn through my savings.

I was horrible at it; when I say horrible, I really mean it. I got told no after no. I’d tell my mentor I was horrible at it and that this wasn’t for me. There wasn’t a moment I didn’t feel like quitting. Starting out, I froze mid-sentence a lot from how anxious I was, but it was my fear of rejection. It was all emotional; no one was going to stab or shoot me; I feared hearing the word “no.”

Who Cares?

I felt like giving up. I said to my mentor, “Sales isn’t for me.” He came closer to me, gave me a hug, and told me, “Who cares?” My confused brain didn’t understand. He continued, “People yell and get angry all the time at me; who cares? Our goal is to make sales; if they say no, who cares? Our job is to find those few yeses; it’s all a numbers game.”

That conversation changed my perspective on how I perceived rejection; every belief I had to that point was against it. It was me against myself. The following day, I told myself I’d do my very best even if everyone told me no. I took some drugs (coffee), made more than 300 calls, sent more than 500 messages, booked 7 meetings, and landed 3 clients that day.

I’m still horrible at it, but I don’t care; you only get good at what you are willing to fail at. When most people see others succeed, they say they’re lucky. Only a few are really born into luck. At some point, you have to view it as if luck exists for everyone but you.