Never quit on a bad day.
If you are in business, if you are doing anything that is challenging, there are going to be bad days.
An early mentor had a talk with me about this. He likened selling to being on a roller coaster ride. There are three places on a roller coaster ride where you can get out of the car without getting hurt. You can get out of the car before it starts moving. In other words, get out before the ride starts.
You can get out at the end. You may be a bit shaken up, and your knees may be a bit wobbly; then again, you may be pumped and excited. Either way, the car is stopped, and you can get out with no problem.
The third place you can get off the roller coaster ride without getting hurt is at the top of the ride, where the car is at a point at the top of the track that there is very little speed. If there were a platform there, you could just step off. Easy.
Where you would get hurt getting off is AT THE BOTTOM of the ride, when the cars are moving the fastest.
The bottom is where most people quit!
This is what happens when you quit on a bad day. That’s when you get hurt: when things get tough, when nothing seems to be working, when it seems to make the most sense to throw in the towel. Quitting at the bottom is when you get hurt.
When you quit on a bad day, the most important – and most damaging – thing that happens is that you lose your belief in yourself, your belief in your ability to stick. You lose your sense of grit. You get a sense that life has beaten you. In your mind, your new identity is ‘quitter’.
Recovery from that is very hard indeed.
Never, never quit on a bad day.
Never get off at the bottom.
Dig in and work your way to the top.
Then, if you want to quit, fine. Then, you are leaving on your own terms.
Michael Stammer is a Sales | Life | Performance coach available for individual and group coaching and speaking to organizations. For more visit www.coachmichael.com
Header photo by lisa runnels from Pixabay
