"It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you've got to have is faith and discipline when you're not yet a winner."
--- Vince Lombardi
Tough times require tough minds and the discipline to keep keeping on when it would be easy enough to just throw in the towel. When you started your business, you suspected that there would be rough days, but you knew that you would somehow survive. The elusive "somehow" is what causes some business owners to question continuation in the race.
Survival today requires innovative ideas for your products and services, your marketing, and your sales presentations. But, at the basic root of all of that is energy.
"The average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think."
--- Jesse Livermore
Energy is the missing ingredient for those fallen soldiers of business. It is what is wasted by those in our industry that have given up and blamed their exit on the economy, demanding customers, and even the weather. We can all appreciate their plight, but still we push onward.
Sometimes the slightest edge you may have over a competitor is energy --- having enough steam both mentally and physically to outpace others.
"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough."
--- Og Mandino
There is a story about a young woman determined to swim the English Channel. She trained for a year and was ready. She swam well for hours until exhaustion set in. Her mother, riding in the support boat, yelled for her to keep going, that she was almost there, but the swimmer could not wrap her mind around "almost there" and stopped swimming. Shivering in the boat, she looked to see how much further she had to swim. She was only fifteen yards from shore.
Many business success stories become success stories because the characters of the story went past the mark. They took one more step, stayed up past bedtime, called on one more client and stretched for the finish line.
"I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know."
--- Colonel Sanders
Today, balancing life's activities is difficult at best. There are those who make it look so easy, but a closer examination will reveal that these are the folks who put plans to paper, who prioritize goals, and who review their goals daily. All this requires energy at a level above the norm.
Make it a point to access your energy level this month. Look at where the leaks in your energy bank are and find ways to plug them. Either review or begin writing your goals and discover where you will put a good chunk of your energy. You may find that you have a back-up reserve of energy you haven't tapped into yet.
"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand."
--- Sun Tzu
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