The year is 3/4ths over, and quarter 4 starts tomorrow! All the best teams know how important the 4th quarter is, so let’s stay focused!
‘Grateful is our Mindset’
Below is a true story of gratitude that happened to me. I hope it inspires one person today!
The day was September 11, 2020, which was just a few weeks ago. I had just received a report that had me excited for a moment but later had me concerned. The report stated that TLC had sold 80,000 samples in the first ten days of September. This should have been great news for me, but that day I didn’t see the good in those numbers; I only saw the negative. I said to myself we just had a 3-day promotion on samples, and instead of thinking “wow 80,000,” I kept thinking, “what the heck, only 80,000.”
The reason I was concerned is that after many years of experience, I have learned that much of the activity we do in our business does not show up until 90 days later, so I knew if we had slower activity in September, we would have low performance in December and it concerned me.
This emotion had me researching our data, and I realized that the greatest month of sales and activity in our history had been exactly three months after we had sent 400,000 samples as a team throughout the world; that was all I needed to see! I knew at that moment that if we were going to finish this year the way we wanted to that we would need to do 400,000 again! I have been working under Jack Fallon’s mentorship for 20 years, so I also knew that if our old record was 400,000, our new goal should be 500,000 for September.
I started second-guessing myself, though. There were only 19 days left, and the math told me it was almost impossible to achieve because we got off to a slow start, but I did what I have learned throughout the years, I put the goal out there into the universe and spoke it into existence.
I informed our executive team that I would tell anyone that would listen that we would have a goal of 500,000 samples that month. Judging by the look on the face of a few of them, I think they also may have thought this was going to be impossible. Because of those looks, I knew we were on the right track because I knew that the people that have changed the world were the ones who had set out to achieve the impossible, so I knew it was game time!
For the next three days, I told anyone who would listen that we would send 500,000 samples in September; I also informed everyone they knew that we would send 500,000 samples.
We told every employee we could, regardless of their job or department. We told all of our Life Changers every day, our customers, our families, our friends, and I even told all of our vendor partners, many of whom had nothing to do with samples or sample products, but I told them anyway. I even told my mom, who still doesn’t truly understand what we do at TLC other than ‘sell vitamins,’ but she said she was sure we would do it because she said God loved us. We wanted the whole world to know our goal because we knew the entire world needed to help us, and they would if they just knew, even if it was just a prayer or ‘good luck’ message, we knew it was needed!
I was so pumped! I kept saying to myself, “If we get to 500,000, I will be so happy! If we get to 500,000, we will be so happy. If we get to 500,000, Jack will be so happy.” That’s all I was focused on. But I realized now that was wrong, and I will explain why below in a minute.
What happened next was amazing. I could list 30 names of people that did extraordinary things to help us achieve our goals, but I would be afraid of leaving someone out since they did so much! The ideas came pouring in from everyone. Some were great, some not perfect, and some not good at all, but everyone was focused and excited to try! That’s when I knew that we would triumph! I learned once that triumph means to win, and if you want to triumph, you need to focus on the first syllable of the word (TRI-umph); you have to try, try, try.
As the month went on, we made significant progress, but it just did not appear it was going to be enough. We had good days and some bad days, but we just kept trying. We had sales, promos, giveaways, training, begging, praying, and whatever else you could think of, and still, we woke up on September 30th and realized we were still 100,000 away from our goal.
It took us 29 days to do 400,000. How in the heck were we going to get 100,000 in just one day? I was driving to TLC, asking myself that question, and I had no idea how we would do it, but I knew we would. Many amazing things happened in the next few hours, and so many amazing people did so much to make it happen, and many of you know we did it! I was so happy, and I knew I would be because I kept saying it all month long, remember? If we get to 500,000, I will be happy I will be so happy. I had thought it or said it 1,000 times!
At around 8 PM on September 30, we celebrated live on Facebook and told the world we did it! It was a happy night but what happened next is were the gratitude lesson occurred for me, and maybe it can help you stay grateful in the future.
When I arrived home and reflected alone on what we had achieved, I realized my gratefulness was in the wrong place, and I was overcome with emotion, and I even cried as I reflected, and here is why. Remember, I kept saying if we get to 500,000, I would be happy? Well, I was happy but as I reflected, what I was most grateful for was not the 500,000 but rather the process of getting there. That includes the belief and hard work, the prayers, the cheers, the ideas, the positive attitudes, and all the learning we did as a TLC family along the way. This is where the real gratefulness should be, and throughout the month, I was so focused that I had forgotten that, and I learned a lesson.
This story was about a business goal, but it could have been about anything, and my message to you would be the same! PLEASE do not focus just on the goal and seek happiness at the end; open your eyes and see the great things along the way and reflect on them and be grateful. I was waiting to get to 500,000, so I could be happy, but there were 1,000 things along the way that should have made me happy, but I was so focused on the goal that I forgot to be in the moment and enjoy the process every day, don’t let that happen to you!
Set goals, and when you achieve them, set another and if you do happen to fail, try again but don’t ever allow yourself to not see all the great things along the way because being grateful for the process is most important. The people in your life, the belief others have in you, the home you live in, the car you have, the food you eat, and the breath you just took reading this, which is never guaranteed and always something we should remind ourselves to be grateful for!
Live life, have fun and do great things but along the way, always put on your GRATEFUL glasses and open your eyes to the blessings you have all around yourself, even if you have a bad day and can’t see it, please find a mirror and look into it. You will be looking at a person that had a 400 trillion to one chance of being born exactly the way they are and tell that person they are a miracle, and the world is grateful for them because the world is!
Thanks for reading. I am grateful!
Be extraordinary this week and tell someone how grateful you are for them; it will make them feel good and make you feel even better!
