Why is your pipeline empty? Have you forgotten how to prospect? Below is a story John Maxwell shares in his book “Success: One Day at a Time” that may help you answer these questions:
For years, Monterey, California, was a pelican’s paradise. The town was the site of many fish canneries. In fact, it was the home of Cannery Row, a street popularized by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck in his novel of that name.
Pelicans loved the town because fisherman cleaned their catch, discarding the offal, and the pelicans would feast on those scraps. In Monterey, any pelican could be well fed without having to work for a meal.
But as time went by, the fish along the California coast were depleted, and one by one, the canneries all shut down. That’s when the pelicans got into trouble. You see, pelicans are naturally great fishers. They fly in groups over the waves of the sea, and when they find fish, they dive into the water and scoop up their catch. But these pelicans hadn’t fished in years. They had grown fat and lazy. And now that their easy meals were gone, they were actually starving.
Environmentalists from the area wracked their brains to figure out a way to help the pelicans, and finally they came up with a solution. They imported pelicans from another area, ones that were used to foraging every day, and they mixed them in with the local birds. The newcomers immediately started fishing for their own food, and it wasn’t long before the starving native birds joined them and started fishing for themselves again.
If you find yourself starving for success, one of the best ways to get things going in your life is to be around people who are achieving success. Spend time with them. Watch how they work. Learn how they think. You will inevitably become like the people you are around.
3 Growth Questions:
- Are you hanging out with the successful or the unsuccessful? …Take a successful person to lunch this week and ask them how they did it.
- Who are you spending your time with…the nay sayers or the dragon slayers? ….Hanging out with negative people will not improve your quality of life.
- Who is teaching you how to fish? …Perhaps it’s time to hire a professional guide.
(Want to know if we can help you? Take this 3 min survey to find out: 10 Quick Questions to Find Out if You Need a Practice Management Coach)
Bill Edmonds is an “Outside-Insighter” who works with CEOs, Business Owners, and Financial Advisors to help them grow their business while having fun doing it (see bio). If you are successful, yet feeling a bit of “smoldering discontent” in your current role, don’t despair. Reach out to us to discuss how we might be able to help you get you back on track to take your business to the next level: info@northstarlead.com / 803-457-1617.
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