No. Not a Fit.

"I will push the negative away and will be more successful."

• Mike Lindsay
  

No. Not a Fit.

I was sitting at a large round table surrounded by friends, people I work with. We aren't all representing the same company, but we work as a team to help each other succeed. If there was no other reason to be sitting together during a celebration, that would be enough! After all, in a competitive world, true friendship and cooperation can be a rare thing.

And, if you were to gauge the ability to succeed economically by what is constantly pushed through your ears on a daily basis you'd have to come to the conclusion that no one is doing well. No one has a chance to have a successful business. There are lots of reasons one can use for giving up.

But there in front of me was flyer filled with names. They were all listed in alphabetical order. And, as I looked at it I was beginning to be more and more curious. After all, there was no title on any of the pages. There was no clue as to what it represented. There weren't even any page numbers on any of the sheets.

I picked up the other papers at my spot and tried to figure out their association to this alphabetical list. It inserted it within another flyer and studied them together. No. Not a fit. I finally just decided that I would know soon enough. The annual awards luncheon was about to begin.

The President of the company began the meeting with a presentation about change and how fast it was coming at us. He then went over our industry numbers and showed how sales in our industry had declined dramatically year over year. Then he held up the paper containing the alphabetically listed names and said, "This is a list of people that were more successful than they were last year."

I looked at the list again. It was a large list. In fact, by my estimation the names represented more than one quarter of our company! That is cause to celebrate; especially when forty percent of people in our industry didn't have one sale during the entire year.

So, what was different about these people? I sat and wondered. I looked around. I knew that the people sitting at my table had their names on this list. I studied their eyes. I didn't come to any conclusion until I heard one statement from the individual who had a sales year better than anyone else.

Mike Lindsay said, "I will push the negative away and will be more successful."

Everyone on that list had made the same decision. They had come to the conclusion that there was opportunity out there and they would seize it. Then they had done whatever it took to go out and be successful.

I looked across the table once more and saw one friend who had been on the brink of losing her home. I saw the gleam in her eyes as the meeting went on. She had more to celebrate than most. She could have given up and said, "It's the market. There's nothing I can do. "

But she made a different choice. She said. No! This is not a fit. I will go out and go to work. I'll save my home. I'll be the difference. And she did!

Now you know about "The List." I invite you to put your name on this list. I invite you to push the negative away and be more successful this year than last. Make success a fit!