Don't Give Up

When Beethoven was young, he was told by his music teacher that he was hopeless as a composer. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper because he had "no good ideas." Henry Ford's first two automobile businesses failed. Michael Jordan was cut from his High School varsity basketball team. And Ray Krok failed as a real estate salesperson before he came up with the idea for McDonald's.*

These important people in history remind us not to give up. It's really important to stay committed to your vision - persistence pays off.

Ignore those singular messages that may make you believe your goal isn't obtainable. Don't focus on the occasional setbacks that shake your confidence. Instead, focus on the broader array of messages that support the worthiness of your intentions. Stay aware of the infinite creativity and resourcefulness that you own as a human being. You can come up with endless possible ways to solve any problem, and if you get stuck, there's an endless number of people around you to collaborate with and get insights from. This mindset makes anything possible.

As an example of how persistence can work for you, I'll the share the following information from Wendy Weiss, a. k. a. "The Queen of Cold Calling:"

• 25 % of sales people make a second contact with their prospects and then stop.
• 12% of sales people make three contacts with their prospects and then stop.
• Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts with their prospects.

Now the flip side:

• Only 3% of sales are made on the second contact.
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact.
• 80% of all sales are made between the fifth and twelfth contact with a prospect.

No wonder good sales people are hard to find, with only 10% of them pursuing beyond three follow ups, while 80% of sales are made from the fifth and beyond! The message is clear: stay with it, find appropriate ways to follow up, and always keep building relationships.

This message is true for personal goals as well. When I was in my twenties, I had a friend named Mike**, who was ready to find the right woman and start a family. He was dating a girl named Debbie, who seemed like she was "it," for about 8 months before they broke up. He was disappointed, but got right back in the dating scene and met Veronica. She was pretty cute, but unfortunately they didn't last. Then there was Joanne, who turned out to be a disaster. Next up was Suzy, who lasted another six months. At one point I said to him "Man, this must be horrible." He said "Yeah, but I'm not quitting. I'm going to have a family." After that, he met Michelle and twenty years later, they have two wonderful children, they're living in Florida and are very happy with each other.

Whatever your goal is, business or personal, don't give up. If you never give up, you can't fail. If you stay focused on your intention, there's either quitting, changing gears, or succeeding. If you don't quit, you can't fail achieving an outcome, or the intention that outcome is designed to achieve.

If you have any thoughts or questions on this subject, share them in the comments section of this blog, or send me a private e-mail. And keep me posted. I love good news.

*source: www.dontgiveupworld.com
** Names altered to protect confidentiality

Contains over 628 motivating words!