“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter, hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will spilt in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it – but all that had gone before.” Jacob Riis

Winners never quitHere, in this chapter, Art reminds us to never give up and tells us how to make sure we can avoid that ever happening. Anybody can quit, in fact most people do. If this were not so, the winners circle would be a lot bigger and far more crowded. If you hang on and refuse to give up, you dramatically increase your chances of winning.

Here are two good reasons not to quit; the first is that losing, like winning, is a habit. All quitters are good losers. If one keeps losing a second and then a third time, quitting, like winning, becomes a way of life.

The second reason is that, since you want to be somebody, if you quit, your opportunity to achieve your dream is lost. Chances are, if you quit once, you’ll never bounce back, and will have to live being average and ordinary for the rest of your life.

I (Doug) want to tell you a quick story about a guy named Gary who came to work for a service company in Orlando after answering an ad in the paper. The manager told him that he had to hire 3 people by week’s end, and since Gary was breathing pretty well, he was hired. Gary went home and told his wife that he probably wouldn’t make it there, but that he had a 3-month guarantee, so he was going for it.

Gary was a sponge and soaked up everything he was taught, but really didn’t sell much during that 3 month probation period. He wanted to quit most every day and endured lots of rejection. He was less than 30 days from leaving the company more than once, but partly because his wife was such a great motivator, he stuck it out.

He finally found his niche, working with service employees to generate sales leads, and qualified for the annual President’s Club sales incentive trip by the end of his first full year. How much poorer would that company be today, and where would Gary’s family be, if he had thrown in the towel and quit after those first few months?

Failure is only the end if you let it be. I’ve heard Gary say that “failure is the halfway mark on the road to success.” Many salespeople get discouraged and then do less than before, creating a career death spiral. But the best cure for discouragement is to double and triple your efforts, in order to keep on going. Even if you don’t know exactly what to do…do something! Don’t stand still and watch your dreams collapse around you. Keep pushing!

Never give up
When you bump up against tough times, use these three fundamentals to help you “hang tough”:

1. Use the magic of thirty days – Set specific short-term goals. Little victories can mean the difference between giving up and seeing enough hope to help you hang on until things get better.

When you feel like quitting, make one last surge with a 30-day goal. Thirty days is short enough for you to see an end in sight, and it’s long enough to allow you to build some momentum.

2. Use a reward and punishment system – Set your weekly goal and if you make it by Friday night, reward yourself and take the weekend off and relax. If you are short of your weekly goal by Friday night, then punish yourself and work Saturday. You may also need to get on the phone on Sunday afternoon to make some appointments for the next few days to insure you get back on track.

3. Give your efforts time to compound – Many times people quit when they are so close to breaking through. The problem may be impatience, meaning that they haven’t failed but rather they haven’t succeeded fast enough.

Winning is never easy but it’s always worth it. These next three coaching points are tough, but you need to hear them because it’s important to “tell it like it is”:

You never get used to rejection – Just because you love what you’re doing doesn’t mean that everybody’s going to love it, too. When you face rejection, just remember all the people that believe in you and listen to that little voice inside that says, “I know I’m right, and nothing will keep me from succeeding.”

Things are never as good as they seem or as bad as they seem – When things are going good, don’t ever assume you’re home free. When things are going badly, don’t assume your career is over. During the good times, don’t get complacent, and during the bad times, don’t start doubting.

Before you can be good, you’ve got to be bad – Most people have to slug it out through a learning process. Things usually start out crappy, but eventually they get better. Just remember:

Before you can be great, you’ve got to be good

Before you can be good, you’ve got to be bad

But before you can be bad, you’ve got to try

Art concludes this topic by telling us to pay close attention to his advice on how to make it easier to stay “up” most of the time:

Don’t compare yourself to others – Wherever you are on the road to winning, even if you’re just getting started, be proud of where you are and who you are. You don’t have to apologize for anything.

Don't get discouragedDon’t get discouraged – One day the devil decided to go out of business, and he decided to sell all his tools to the one who would pay the price. He displayed all his tools; malice, hatred, jealously, greed, and deceit among them. One tool had a price tag much higher than the rest, and the devil was asked about it. He said, “That is discouragement, and with that tool I can pry open a person’s consciousness and let all the other tools do their work.” Keep your dream alive, and never, ever give in to discouragement.

Don’t almost do enough

Most people almost work hard enough to win

Most people almost hang in there long enough to win

Most people almost have enough determination to win

When you feel like giving up, make a promise to yourself to hang in there one more week, one more month, and when that time’s up…do it again. Don’t do almost enough. Somebody’s going to score sooner or later, and it might as well be you.

Please Speak Your Mind and leave a comment about Art’s principles on never quitting. Have you ever tried any of these, and if so, how did they turn out?

©2013 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC